An EU-funded project examining the expansion of offshore use of terrestrial GSM networks has completed a successful demonstration test, improving the coverage and capacity of high-speed, low-latency 5G services beyond coastal areas.
The 5G-ROUTES project was conducted by the VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland, working with Vediafi, Cumucore and Airbus, and with support from Ericsson, Nokia, Digita, DNA, Telia and Goodmill Systems.
The partners successfully trialled a ‘multi-hop’ 5G system near Turku, Finland, extending 5G coverage up to 10 kilometres offshore. This involved combining multiple communication technologies—public 5G networks, ship-to-ship private 5G and satellite communications—into a cohesive system that connects vessels as they move farther from the coastline.
The setup utilises public 5G networks for coastal connectivity, private 5G networks for vessel-based communication and satellite connections as a backup to provide high availability.
“This was a groundbreaking multi-hop test of 5G networks in a maritime environment. The project aims to solve the coverage and capacity challenges for data transmission at sea, to allow the creation of new solutions for the passengers and the whole maritime industry,” said Anne Lönnqvist, Research Manager from VTT.
The partners note that the system is still in a proof-of-concept phase, with constraints still to be overcome in national regulation, the density and pattern of vessel traffic and access to public 5G networks in areas where capacity may be limited.
The 5G-ROUTES project is funded by the EU’s Horizon 2020 programme.
