Abstract: 5G-DIVE targets end-to-end 5G trials aimed at proving the technical merits and business value proposition of 5G technologies in two vertical pilots, namely (i) Industry 4.0 and (ii) Autonomous Drone Scout. These trials will put in action a bespoke end-to-end 5G design tailored to the requirements of the applications targeted in each vertical pilot, such as digital twinning and drone fleet navigation applications. 5G-DIVE’s bespoke design is built around two main pillars, namely (1) end-to-end 5G connectivity including 5G New Radio, Crosshaul transport and 5G Core, and (2) distributed edge and fog computing integrating intelligence located closely to the user. The latter pillar extends significantly beyond the EU- TW-Phase-I 5G-CORAL solution framework by adding support for automation based on artificial intelligence and distributed ledger technologies. The targeted intelligent tailored design is envisioned to achieve optimized performance and thus boost significantly the business value proposition of 5G in each targeted vertical application. 5G-DIVE trials target pilots running for several weeks on the premises of the vertical applications in real-life testbeds in Europe and Taiwan, leveraging noticeably the European 5G end- to-end facilities from ICT-17 call and Taiwan’s testbed facilities.

The 5G-CORAL project leverages on the pervasiveness of edge and fog computing in the Radio Access Network (RAN) to create a unique opportunity for access convergence. This is envisioned by the means of an integrated and virtualised networking and computing solution where virtualised functions, context-aware services, and user and third-party applications are blended together to offer enhanced connectivity and better quality of experience. The proposed solution contemplates two major building blocks, namely (i) the Edge and Fog computing System (EFS) subsuming all the edge and fog computing substrate offered as a shared hosting environment for virtualised functions, services, and applications; and (ii) the Orchestration and Control System (OCS) responsible for managing and controlling the EFS, including its interworking with other (non-EFS) domains (e.g., transport and core networks, distant clouds, etc.). Through the 5G-CORAL solution, several Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) can be achieved, notably an ultra-low end-to-end latency in the order of milliseconds. Moreover, new business prospects arise with new stakeholders in the value chain, notably small players owning computing and networking assets in the local service area, such as in shopping malls, airports, trains and cars. These environments will be used to validate the system in three complementary end-to-end large-scale testbeds in Taiwan, supporting innovative applications such as augmented reality, car safety, and IoT gateway.

Superfluidity is “a state in which matter behaves like a fluid with zero viscosity”. Our project aims at achieving superfluidity in the network: the ability to instantiate services on-the-fly, run them anywhere in the network (core, aggregation, edge) and shift them transparently to different locations. The SUPERFLUIDITY project tackles crucial shortcomings in today’s networks: long provisioning times, with wasteful over-provisioning used to meet variable demand; reliance on rigid and cost-ineffective hardware devices; daunting complexity emerging from three forms of heterogeneity: heterogeneous traffic and sources; heterogeneous services and needs; and heterogeneous access technologies, with multi-vendor network components. The SUPERFLUIDITY solution is based on: a decomposition of network components and services into elementary and reusable primitives; a native, converged cloud-based architecture; the virtualization of radio and network processing tasks; platform-independent abstractions, permitting reuse of network functions across heterogeneous hardware platforms, while catering to the vendors’ need for closed platforms/implementations; and high performance software optimizations along with leveraging of hardware accelerators. As a result, the 5G network will benefit from: i) location-independence: network services deployable in heterogeneous networks; ii) time-independence: near instantaneous deployment and migration of services; iii) scale-independence: transparent service scalability; and iv) hardware-independence: development and deployment of services with high performance irrespective of the underlying hardware. Through these properties, SUPERFLUIDITY will provide a converged cloud-based 5G concept that will enable innovative use cases in the mobile edge, empower new business models, and reduce investment and operational costs. The SUPERFLUIDITY consortium gathers an impressive and uncommon blend of Telco and IT players that can make its vision a reality.

The vision of the 5Growth project is to empower verticals industries such as Industry 4.0, Transportation, and Energy with an AI-driven Automated and Sharable 5G End-to-End Solution that will allow these industries to achieve simultaneously their respective key performance targets. Towards this vision, 5Growth will automate the process for supporting diverse industry verticals through (i) a vertical portal in charge of interfacing verticals with the 5G End-to-End platforms, receiving their service requests and building the respective network slices on top, (ii) closed-loop automation and SLA control for vertical services lifecycle management and (iii) AI-driven end-to-end network solutions to jointly optimize Access, Transport, Core and Cloud, Edge and Fog resources, across multiple technologies and domains. The main objective of 5Growth is the technical and business validation of 5G technologies from the verticals’ points of view, following a field-trial-based approach on vertical sites (TRL 6-7). Multiple use cases of vertical industries (Comau, Efacec_S, Efacec_E, Innovalia) will be field-trialed on four vertical-owned sites in close collaboration with the vendors (Ericsson, Interdigital, NEC, Nokia) and the operators (Altice, Telecom Italia, Telefonica) in the project. 5Growth will leverage on the results of 5G-PPP Phase 2 projects where slicing, virtualization and multi-domain solutions for the creation and provisioning of vertical services are being developed and validated, e.g. 5G-TRANSFORMER and 5G-MONARCH. Two ICT-17-2018 5G End-to-End platforms, 5G EVE and 5G-VINNI, have been selected for the Trials to demonstrate the 5Growth specific vertical use cases. In addition to the impact on vertical-oriented standards (e.g., EN50126 (IEC62278) for railway signaling), the verticals in the consortium will be offered an opportunity to influence ongoing 5G standardization by leveraging the involvement of leading experts in the various relevant SDOs.