Germany: Thales and Vodafone use 5G to conduct driverless train

The driverless trials are being accomplished at the Smart Rail Connectivity Campus in Erzgebirge, Germany, making use of Thales’ Lucy lab train, while Vodafone has actually installed the first  5G base stations in the Erzgebirge region of Saxony, Germany.

To enable Lucy to be regulated from another location, Vodafone makes use of the 5G modern technology Network Slicing, which aids different online networks share a physical network framework, but supplies a separate 5G network for railway tests. This indicates that remote-controlled mobile radio abilities are always available to manage the train remotely, even if various users in the immediate vicinity additionally browse the web. Furthermore, the data is processed straight on-site in a little data centre in the immediate vicinity of the mobile base station by means of a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC). Due to the fact that the data does not have to traverl  long distances, it can be processed without delay. The 5G modern technology makes it possible for data to be transfered at thoughput higher than 500MB/second on the track and also lowers the latency, to less than 10 milliseconds.

Thales has actually offered the control and also safety systems for the 5G job in the Erzgebirge. This consists of the installment of the envirionment and also sensing units, with a remote control system for the train in cooperation with the German Aerospace Centre (DLR) and also Railergy.

“We’re putting 5G on the tracks for the first time,” says Mr Alexander Saul, managing director corporate customers with Vodafone Germany. “Together with our industrial partners, we are examining which new applications will be possible with 5G.”

5G’s major interest relies on B2B markets. This next generation of mobile innovation will be the structure for the change of B2B and will be the foundation of commercial operations, which will certainly benefit the rail sector specifically.