And one more year. Arcep has decided to extend its 5G experimentation window until December 31, 2023 on the 3.8-4.0 GHz band. Since the opening of this window last March, the telecoms regulator has already issued 25 authorizations to use these frequencies, which complete the range hitherto accessible (3.4-3.8 GHz band) .
This counter is aimed at manufacturers, logisticians, energy companies or health and smart city players who wish to test new use cases for 5G. Authorizations are issued for a maximum period of three years.
Autonomous car and communicating operating room
According to the map of experiments proposed by Arcep, Orange is testing in Charbonnières-les-Bains (69), not far from Lyon, new equipment of the network core type, antenna system and 5G terminals. On the Digital Region Campus, the operator’s 5G Lab supports start-ups, SMEs and industrial ETIs in the appropriation of new mobile services requiring very low latency, local data processing (edge computing) or guaranteed quality of service for the most critical applications (network slicing).
In Balma, near Toulouse, another Orange 5G Lab is preparing, with its partners, for the arrival of connected and autonomous vehicles. The objective is as much to detect moving “objects”, such as pedestrians or bicycles, as to orchestrate traffic.
In Palaiseau, in Essonne, the CEA aims, with its PI5G project, to accelerate the development of products and services combining augmented reality technologies and 5G for industry 4.0. Three types of use cases have been identified: 3D telepresence, immersive telerobotics and immersive simulation. Still at Paris-Saclay, EDF is also studying the possible synergies between 5G and augmented reality, but for its own needs.
The East of France concentrates experiments related to health. In Saint-Martin-d’Hères, near Grenoble, the Franco-German 5G Forum project should highlight the contributions of private 5G in operating theaters. The new standard should ensure the interoperability of medical devices and thus reduce risks during surgical operations.
The Franco-German 5G tandem is also involved in the 5G-OR project carried out at the IHU in Strasbourg. Here again, thanks to the coverage of a private 5G network, it is a question of creating a new generation of communicating, robotized and data-driven operating theaters, in order to carry out personalized and secure minimally invasive interventions.
Railway remote maintenance and “smart port”
At the same time, Arcep indicates that the 26 GHz band also remains open to experimentation. It is on these high frequencies that the use cases turn out to be the most disruptive. These so-called millimeter waves offer very high performance, but over a range reduced to a few hundred meters. An ideal compromise to finely cover a site.
Among the experiments in progress, we can also mention the one carried out by Orange in the new SNCF station in Rennes. Different B to C or B to B use cases are advanced. At the quay, passengers can almost instantly download a film or series before boarding. Railway workers should benefit from remote maintenance and augmented reality training.
5G also lends itself ideally to the smart port concept. The Grand Port Maritime du Havre, associated with Siemens, EDF and Nokia, is exploring various avenues concerning energy, such as the management of intelligent networks (smart grids) and the charging of electric vehicles, or logistics with the traceability of containers for reduce loading and unloading times.
Connecting port water bodies and collecting a multitude of data on the weather or the state of the seabed should also make it possible to optimize maintenance operations or secure daily dredging campaigns for channels and basins .
Finally, Arcep has allocated frequencies at the other end of the spectrum, in the 2.6 GHz band, for private 4G mobile networks with a possible upgrade to 5G. EDF, Hub One (subsidiary of Aéroports de Paris) or Transdev have already obtained authorization.