Phase 1 - 5G CAL
5G CAL
The NEAA and partners Sunderland City Council, Newcastle University, Vantec, Coventry University, Connected Places Catapult, StreetDrone and Perform Green, secured funding for a 5G enabled connected and automated logistics (CAL) pilot and proof of concept.
This £4.9m project received £2.4m from 5G Create, a £30 million open competition combining British creativity with innovative new uses for 5G, as part of the wider £200 million 5G testbeds and trials programme (5GTT).
The project delivered a huge stride forward in CAL, proving last-mile delivery for an autonomous HGV up to 40 tonnes on a private road. 5G is essential as it will uniquely enable the removal of the safety driver from the process, allowing remote teleoperations to overcome abnormal situations.
WHAT IS 5G CAL?
5G CAL (5G Connected Automated Logistics) involved building an outdoor 5G Network for proving driverless ‘last mile’ HGV delivery in a live industrial setting. The project involved retrofitting a Terberg 40-tonne electric HGV so it can be autonomously driven and developing software so it is capable of being remotely controlled in case of experiencing situations that the autonomous capabilities cannot manage. 5G is essential in this scenario as it has low latency (lag from input to response) and bandwidth can be tuned to allow massive uplink of data – essential in this scenario.
