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.
Concept
The global deployment and market adoption of 5G in one of the industry’s main priorities, but a global technology consensus and spectrum harmonisation still remains a key issue before 5G standardisation is finally approved. International collaboration and alignment among key regions are essential to facilitate this process, with Europe and China being two of the main regions in this regard.
The European Commission (EC) has taken the first step to boost 5G global cooperation with many countries and regions, including through jointly funded projects, global 5G events and other initiatives. The EC and China have agreed to fund joint projects on 5G trials to address two of the most promising 5G deployment scenarios, namely enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications. 5G-DRIVE, in collaboration with its Chinese twinning counterpart , has the ambition to fulfil this goal.
5G-DRIVE will bridge current 5G developments in Europe and China through joint trials and research activities to facilitate technology convergence, spectrum harmonisation and business innovation before the large-scale commercial deployment of 5G networks occurs. 5G-DRIVE will develop key 5G technologies and pre-commercial testbeds for eMBB and V2X services in collaboration with the Chinese twinning project. Trials for testing and validating key 5G functionalities, services and network planning will be carried out in Europe and China.
Objectives
5G-DRIVE’s objectives are structured into three main areas: technical, regulatory and business objectives:
Build pre-commercial end-to-end testbeds in two cities with sufficient coverage to perform extensive eMBB and Internet of Vehicles (IoV) trials. Joint test specifications will be defined through the collaborative agreement with the Chinese project.
Develop and trial key 5G technologies and services, including (but not limited to) massive multi-input multi-output (MIMO) at 3.5GHz, end-to-end network slicing, mobile edge computing (MEC) for low latency services and V2X, software-defined networking (SDN) for transport and core network, and network and terminal security.
Develop and trial cross-domain network slicing techniques across two regions for new services.
Demonstrate IoV services using Vehicle-to-Network (V2N) and Vehicle-to-Vehicle (V2V) communications operating at 3.5GHz and 5.9GHz, respectively.
Analyse potential system interoperability issues identified during the trials in both regions and to provide joint reports, white papers, and recommendations to address them accordingly.
Submit joint contributions to 3GPP and other 5G standardisation bodies regarding the key 5G technologies developed and evaluated in the project.
Evaluate spectrum usage at 3.5GHz for indoor and outdoor environments in selected trial sites and to provide joint evaluation reports and recommendations on 5G key spectrum bands in Europe and China.
Investigate regulatory issues regarding the deployment of V2X technologies, i.e. coexistence in the 5.9GHz band, and to provide joint reports.
Investigate and promote 5G business potential through joint development of 5G use cases and applications.
Strengthen industrial 5G cooperation between the EU and China.
Promote early 5G market adoption through joint demonstrations in large showcasing events.
Concept
The global deployment and market adoption of 5G in one of the industry’s main priorities, but a global technology consensus and spectrum harmonisation still remains a key issue before 5G standardisation is finally approved. International collaboration and alignment among key regions are essential to facilitate this process, with Europe and China being two of the main regions in this regard.
The European Commission (EC) has taken the first step to boost 5G global cooperation with many countries and regions, including through jointly funded projects, global 5G events and other initiatives. The EC and China have agreed to fund joint projects on 5G trials to address two of the most promising 5G deployment scenarios, namely enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Vehicle-to-Everything (V2X) communications. 5G-DRIVE, in collaboration with its Chinese twinning counterpart , has the ambition to fulfil this goal.
5G-DRIVE will bridge current 5G developments in Europe and China through joint trials and research activities to facilitate technology convergence, spectrum harmonisation and business innovation before the large-scale commercial deployment of 5G networks occurs. 5G-DRIVE will develop key 5G technologies and pre-commercial testbeds for eMBB and V2X services in collaboration with the Chinese twinning project. Trials for testing and validating key 5G functionalities, services and network planning will be carried out in Europe and China.