FENIX Consortium Members at the 5G Techritory 2021

FENIX is one of the flagship projects of ERTICO and it aims to increase the efficiency of the TEN-T Core Network Corridors by supplying an integrated trans-European network. Many EU Member States are now in the phase of further extending their ITS services with upgraded equipment and new technologies. In some Member States, the early stages of ITS deployment are being carried out for which substantial investments are needed in order to secure the efficient operation of their road transport network. In the context of moving to multimodality and its dynamic version, i.e. synchromodality, the industry is emphasising collaborative planning approaches, which involve multiple partners in collaborative planning and forecasting.

The session “5G intelligent transport system and services” on the 2021 Edition of 5GTechritory Forum on November 2022 was moderated by the FENIX project coordinator Dr. Eusebiu Catana and tackled also the digitalisation of logistics that represents a hot topic heavily discussed for the impact and potential it holds. The event gathered over 2000 participants over four days and featured several never-before-seen elements, including presentations from leading countries in 5G development sharing their experiences and approaches. This session was also dedicated to the impact of the 5G technology on transport & logistics services, featuring representatives from T-SYSTEMS, VICOMTECH, ICCS, and ININ.

“FENIX will support the development, validation and deployment of digital information systems alongside the EU transport Core Network and the TEN-T corridors” said Dr. Eusebiu Catana. FENIX was also introduced in the framework of digitalisation as a means to tackle climate change: “Freight transport’s answer to the climate crisis and the European Green Deal and FENIX is pushing forward this work”. “FENIX will be a catalyst for market opportunities in the logistics and port operations domains, thus being a pillar of economic development and business innovation and promoting local innovative high-tech SMEs and start-ups” continued Dr. Eusebiu Catana.

To implement and demonstrate the capabilities of these technologies, the partners presented the following use cases related to ports & transport & logistics as follows:

  • Operating port STS crane will be equipped with industrial cameras to capture and transfer UHD streams to the Container Management System (CMS) for identification of container markers and detection of possible structural damage of containers using advanced video analytics based on AI/ML techniques. In addition, the transfer of remotely gathered information will be enabled and made available to other port support systems, e.g. Terminal Operating System (TOS).
  • Port equipment monitoring & remote metering will be performed for scenarios supporting operating machine monitoring (such as terminal tractors) by means of capturing and transfering the key information (consumption, positions, and another related measures) to the targeted port support system.
  • A resilient 5G-based operational network scenario will be implemented to provide alternative 5G network capabilities to the established operational WLAN network, supporting data transfer redundancy between the operational port infrastructure and the operation centre.
  • Edge computing is a pioneering technology that enables the evolution to 5G and it is designed to place applications and data closer to devices and their users (targeting diverse market verticals), in order to overcome the intrinsic problems of the traditional cloud, such as high latency and the lack of security. Far-edge computing will therefore be exploited to overcome the issues traditional clouds have.
  • To target remote automation of port operations and logistics support focusing on detecting the presence/absence of container seals. Currently, the identification of presence or absence of container seals occurs manually, i.e. by an appointed employee, raising safety concerns, sub-optimal use of human resources in yard equipment and port operations, and increased manual effort (e.g. manual database update, etc.). The envisioned use case employs a similar far-edge computing (5G-IoT) device operating at port machinery (such as lifts, forklifts, terminal tractors, etc.), utilising a 4K video stream and e.g. computer vision techniques, to automate and manage end-to-end the life cycle of the service for detecting container seals. 5G transmissions will relay the inference of the model to the MANO platform targeting the logistics sector and Industry 4.0 scenarios.
  • Emission data from floating vehicles/trucks will be made available in a cloud-based centre to enable situation monitoring on emissions.
  • Current and predicted traffic light signaling will be made available from traffic centres to vehicles in order to allow an optimised trajectory planning for automated vehicle manoeuvring across intersections, saving energy and emissions.
  • Data received from floating vehicles/trucks and other data typically used in environmental traffic management will be used to trigger traffic management measures (strategies) in traffic control (e.g. changing traffic light framework programs, setting speed limits or providing instructions and directives to vehicles). For this use case, data from vehicles and traffic light status/predictions are based on real data linkage, while traffic management measures (i.e. real changes in signal control or speed limits/advice to the broad public) are demonstrated as a concept.

Proposed use cases cover a broad range of applications and services supporting logistics operations in ports and hinterland, both at the operational level (e.g. increase of the overall efficiency, reduction of handling/transit times, preservation of assets, reduction of costs, etc.) and socio-environmental level (e.g. reduction of emissions, the safety of operating personnel, etc.). Activities carried out by FENIX partners showed a high degree of cooperation and integration between involved stakeholders, both at pilot site level and at the global level, contributing to reaching a common understanding of the project goals and the ways to pursue them, which is the key for the successful prosecution of activities.

By using new innovative concepts, applications and devices, FENIX aims to pave the way towards efficient freight and traffic operations at ports and logistics hubs.