The companies have commissioned an 8000-hectare area of the port in which to carry out trials of key functions, in particular network slicing. According to a statement, an antenna has already been installed on the Hamburg television tower to facilitate connectivity.
Use cases for 5G being discussed by the Port Authority include the management of traffic lights within the port area, as well as the collection and processing of environmental measurement data in real-time.
The two-year research project is known as 5G MoNArch (aka '5G Mobile Network Architecture for diverse services, use cases, and applications in 5G and beyond'). A second testbed in Turin will focus on multimedia applications.
Claudia Nemat, board member for technology and innovation at Deutsche Telekom, said: "This testbed in Hamburg is an important development along the road to 5G.
“Our goal is to understand how we can best adapt our network to customer requirements. The production industry and the logistics sector in particular are going to reap the benefits of 5G as a powerful lever for many applications."
CEO of the Hamburg Port Authority Jens Meier said: "5G offers a level of security, reliability and speed never seen before in mobile networks. We can start gathering experience of this cutting-edge technology right now and shape the standard. This is going to benefit the whole City of Hamburg, not just the port."
