5G projects and trials in Finland

5G/6G technology

The DEDICAT6G project develops sixth generation (6G) wireless networks, which will be deployed in the early 2030s. The main aims are to achieve dynamic coverage extension and distributed intelligence for human-centric applications. The aims also include a more efficient use of resources; the reduction of latency, response time and energy consumption; the reduction of operational and capital expenditures, and the reinforcement of security, privacy and trust. The project involves four use cases to be demonstrated: smart warehousing, an enhanced user experience, public safety and a smart highway.

6G Flagship Read more about the 6G Flagship (External link)

The SecurePax (external link) project aims to develop methods to better identify passengers and check that no prohibited items are taken to ships. Potential future security and ICT solutions will be piloted in the passenger harbours of both Turku and Stockholm. The project will also involve the testing of a 5G network in the port area.

Cities and municipalities

KETO - the path to implementation for sustainable growth environments.

Road transport

The 5G-Safe-Plus project aims to prevent traffic accidents and avoid casualties by delivering 5G-enabled time-critical road safety services to vehicles. To ensure smooth transition to a “5G world” and to maximize the reliability, the project considers hybrid network environments, including 4G/LTE, 5G, ITS-G5 and satellite communication.

5G-MOBIX develops and tests automated vehicle functionalities using 5G technology. The project will develop and test automated vehicle functionalities using 5G core technological innovations along multiple cross-border corridors and urban trial sites, under conditions of vehicular traffic, network coverage, service demand, as well as considering the inherently distinct legal, business and social local aspects.

The NordicWay 3 – Urban Connection project will study the use of 5G in Cooperative Intelligent Transport Systems (C-ITS) pilots. NordicWay 3 will continue the activities of the previous NordicWay projects.

5G ROUTES will conduct advanced field trials of innovative CAM (connected automated mobility) applications seamlessly functioning across a designated 5G cross-border corridor (‘Via Baltica-North’) spanning across three EU member states borders (Latvia-Estonia-Finland). The aim is to accelerate the widespread deployment of 5G end-to-end interoperable CAM ecosystems and services in digitised motorways, railways and shipways throughout Europe.

Ports and shipping

The PORT OULU Smarter digitalisation project aims to develop and promote the utilisation of modern port digitalisation between Port of Oulu customers and actors. A new type of data platform will be set up jointly in a multi-actor environment to collect data about the Port functions and situational picture. The activities aimed at developing the digital infrastructure in the area also include solutions for local connectivity needs.

The main aim of the 5GFINLOG (5G Future Innovation Platform for Logistics) is to create a new kind of 5G logistics and port testing and innovation platform for the Port of HaminaKotka.

ARPA (Applied Research Platform for Autonomous Systems) is a joint RDI initiative of Turku University of Applied Sciences (TUAS) and Novia University of Applied Sciences. The project will create an ambitious new platform for applied research on autonomous systems, one that enables different operators' concrete RDI work on smart operating environments.

Sea4Value SMARTER (Smart terminals) project focuses on digitizing harbour operations and its purpose is to provide easily reproducible solutions for passenger and freight terminals.

The three ports of Pori form a maritime logistics centre that serves as a growth platform for business. A 5G private network is being set up in the area that will be available to businesses in the area for testing purposes.

MASSPorts is an international pioneering network of Maritime Autonomous Surface Ships (MASS) in ports, in which Finland is represented by the Ministry of Transport and Communications.

5G merenkulussa is a project led by Ålcom and Ericsson to support the development of 5G applications for maritime needs. They make the Ålcom network available on the Åland islands for testing purposes.

Sea4Value Fairway project targets on following demonstrations and experiments, which are important milestones on the journey towards smart and autonomous maritime transport system: Smart fairway navigation experiments, ePilotage working environment (on shore) and remote pilotage experiments.

Drones

The Drolo project will examine, develop and pilot solutions for traffic management in lower airspace, 5G connections and the utilisation of printed and embedded electronics. The project will test out smart drone services for use in ports, the use of drones in the vicinity of an airport, a drone weather service and the suitability of hydrogen as an energy source for drones.

Rail transport

Digirail The railways of the future need a modern and cost-effective solution for securing the competitiveness of railway traffic. The project will involve the building of a test railway and a laboratory to pilot railway data communications that represent pioneering technology at the European level.

Finished projects

The goal of the Vt 8 Älyväylä project is to start a long-term development work towards smarter road transport.

The FABULOS (Future Automated Bus Urban Level Operation Systems) project focuses on how cities can use self-driving minibuses in a systematic way. The goal is to procure the operations of an automated bus line.

Read more about FABULOS (External link)

5G Drive The Horizon 2020 project 5G-DRIVE: 5G HarmoniseD Research and TrIals for serVice Evolution between EU and China (2018-2021) will trial and validate the interoperability between EU & China 5G networks operating at 3.5 GHz bands for enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and 3.5 & 5.9 GHz bands for V2X scenarios.

Route51 is a concept used to set up projects to develop national road 51 into a smart road ecosystem of smart transport technologies and services.

AUTOMOTO is a project implemented by the Finnish Transport Infrastructure Agency and supported by the entire Ministry of Transport and Communications administrative branch that investigates the current status and development needs of Finland’s main roads from the perspective of automated road transport. This project is part of the NordicWay 3 project.

Read the final report (External link)

LuxTurrim5G ecosystem, which is a multidisciplinary group of companies and research groups led by Nokia, is creating a digital backbone of the smart city and new data-based services in two parallel projects: LuxTurrim5G+ focuses on the productisation and practical piloting of the 5G smart pole concept created by the ecosystem, while the Neutral Host Pilot creates a platform utilising data in a reliable and secured way and develops new digital services to meet real needs of cities. This also includes evaluating and piloting the Neutral Host operating model in practice.

ASCENT - Demonstrator of license assisted spectrum access satellite networks Finding and understanding the protocol bottlenecks in a sharing scenario when a high latency satellite connection is involved is one of the challenges in the activity. The applicability of the licensed shared access (LSA) concept is studied and validated with system level demonstrations.

The goal of the 5G-RANGE project is to design, develop, implement and validate the mechanisms to enable the 5G network to provide an economically effective solution for Internet access for remote areas.

Sat5G project will bring satellite communications into 5G by defining optimal satellite-based backhaul and traffic offloading solutions.

Priority will research, develop and trial Critical Communication solutions for authorities and remote businesses. A key target will be to complement existing Mission Critical voice and messaging services with broadband data capability, using commercial 4G and 5G wireless networks. The project will focus on three application scenarios: 1) Search and capture 2) Smart rural business 3) Emergency response. The solutions will be trialed in live network deployments, by applying the 5G-Force platform and scenario-specific technology blocks.

5G Test Network Finland (5GTNF) consortium offers an integrated technological environment for research and trials. The aim of the 5G-FORCE project is to study and develop 5G technology and the related 5G test network environment for the needs of research and development projects of various verticals.

GOF USPACE was an EU project consisting of eight large demonstrations to develop drone traffic management systems. The project was launched in 2018, and it ended in early 2020. Based on the project results, the European Union Aviation Safety Agency (EASA) was provided with conclusions and recommendations concerning the development of traffic management systems and data communications solutions via the project sponsor SESAR JU.

5GKIRI was a 5G network project between eight cities, the aim of which was to ensure the cities’ ability to support the construction of 5G networks through more agile and nationally integrated processes. In addition to the Finnish Transport and Communications Agency, the project partners included Espoo, Helsinki, Jyväskylä, Kuopio, Lahti, Oulu, Turku and Vantaa, which funded the project. The project was implemented by Sitowise Oy. The project ended on 31 March 2019, and it has produced many further discussions and projects led by the cities.