The collaboration within the LuxTurrim5G ecosystem, driven by Nokia and coordinated by Spinverse, has progressed nicely despite the challenges posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. The extensive company consortium developing a digital platform for the smart city has now reached an important milestone when its key element, the 5G smart pole, has progressed from the development stage into the pre-commercial product. It is in fact a product family of smart poles, which can meet the various needs of cities. The modular structure allows for poles in different sizes, integration of various devices, and implementation of required digital services based on usage and surrounding area. The ecosystem partners are currently working on finalising the collaboration model to bring the product to markets.
The smart pole concept integrating various equipment such as weather and air quality sensors, video cameras, monitors, radar and lidar devices, an electric vehicle charging station, and other devices, has been systematically developed and piloted in an extensive joint project between companies and research institutes. Now the general development work has been completed and the result is a versatile family of smart pole products, which enables the digital backbone for a smart city. The smart poles bring not only super-fast, low-latency 5G connections, but also an extensive network of sensors for the users. This, in turn, enables the collection and utilization of diverse data to develop new services for the needs of the city, its citizens, and businesses.
A unique smart city pilot environment built on Nokia campus in Espoo, which includes for instance 19 smart poles, two smart bus stops and a total of more than 250 interconnected IoT devices, has played an important role in the development of both the smart poles and digital infrastructure and in the piloting of data-based services.
“The last two years has truly been a challenge but despite the global pandemic, the ecosystem has come through and was able to develop a product family of modular smart poles soon to be ready for commercial deployments,” says Project Director Joni Turunen from Spinverse.
The product family of smart poles will boost the digital green development in the cities
Different usage environments require different smart poles. A key feature in the design of the LuxTurrim5G smart pole has been its modular structure. It allows for the smooth integration of poles of many sizes for different usage, such as for wide or narrow streets, parks, market squares, or other open spaces. Tehomet Oy and Orbis Oy have had the main responsibility in the design and manufacture of pilot smart poles. Building, maintaining, and servicing the smart pole network offers its own set of responsibilities, which has been taken care of by Destia Oy.
Public safety and situational awareness as examples of services using data
Central in the service development is the utilization of various data flows for real needs. Smart poles, drones, and autonomous vehicles collect for example weather, air quality and environmental data, location data, and camera imagery. This data can be combined with other data sources to create a wide range of targeted services, related to security, full situational awareness, or low-emission traffic and logistics to mention a few examples.
“Overall security is one of the most important elements dictating the development of smart cities. The solutions developed by Teleste aim to improve the safety of citizens, increase the sense of safety and support the work of the authorities, ”says Dr. Jani Väre from Teleste.
World Expo as a gateway towards a growing business
The LuxTurrim5G ecosystem has ignited a lot of interest both in Finland and around the world. The consortium is now aiming for more extensive pilots in real urban environments. Readiness for pole deliveries has been fine-tuned not only with technical development in mind but also various business models are being prepared. Tehomet, Orbis, and Destia are currently working on a shared model for bringing the product to the market. An important gateway to the global market is the Expo 2020 Dubai opening in October. In the event, the LuxTurrim5G offering and two functional smart poles will be showcased by Nokia and other partners.
“Of course, our development work does not end here. The second part of the ecosystem project will continue at the end of the year 2021, focusing on the development of the data platform and marketplace and the piloting of new services. Smart pole development will be continued as needed in connection with pilot projects,” says Project Manager Pekka Wainio from Nokia Bell Labs.
In Espoo, the planning of the Kera area is going forward and there are also smart city plans for the Otaniemi-Keilaniemi area. This will offer new piloting opportunities for smart pole technologies. The City of Espoo, VTT, and Aalto University, together with Finland's top companies, intend to build the region into a leading international development environment, Smart Otaniemi.
More info:
Juha Salmelin, Nokia, Ecosystem leader
juha.salmelin(at)nokia.com, 050 5223508
Markku Heino, Spinverse, Ecosystem coordinator
markku.heino(at)spinverse.com, 040 7191221
Pekka Wainio, Nokia Bell Labs, 040 58111211
Jani Linna-Aro, Orbis Oy, 040 3501866
Sami Huuskonen, Tehomet Oy, 044 7465583
Background info:
www.luxturrim5g.com
LuxTurrim5G video
White paper, 25.5.2020
LuxTurrim5G ecosystem includes the following partners:
Nokia Bell Labs, Nokia, Premix, Teleste, Vaisala, Indagon, Rumble Tools, Orbis, Tehomet, Destia, Sitowise, Caruna, A-Insinöörit (AINS Group), Link Design & Development, Vediafi, Agora Networks, Sensible 4, City of Espoo, Finnish Transport and Communications Agengy Traficom, VTT, Aalto University, Tampere University, University of Helsinki and Spinverse as ecosystem leader.
The project is funded by the participating companies and Business Finland.