Vodafone starts first marine-focused 5G testbed in Plymouth

Vodafone, Plymouth City Council and Plymouth Marine Laboratory (PML) have announced the world’s first marine-focused 5G testbed, with trials running at the Plymouth Smart Sound.

The state-of-the-art connectivity will enable advanced communication capability from the quayside to more than 20 miles offshore.

The first-ever marine-focused 5G testbed, deployed by Vodafone in partnership with Nokia and operated by PML, will be powered by a 5G mobile private network (MPN) to provide full, private coverage across the coastal proving grounds to specific users and devices.

The network will be free for businesses, academics, and government organisations to use in their testing and research on marine 5G use cases.

An MPN can be deployed in any location and can range from a single office or factory to wide areas of farmland or coastline. In addition, it has the benefit of increased security and guaranteed performance.

“Smart Sound Connect is using cutting edge innovation to accelerate developments in marine technology through 5G,” says Nick Gliddon, business director, Vodafone UK. “The 5G mobile private network will allow companies to test and develop new ideas and use cases beyond the shore’s edge, in a way that was not previously possible. Plymouth is helping the UK to become a global leader in this field.”

Smart Sound Connect incorporates a private 4G/5G marine network to provide full coverage and offshore high-speed communications through Steatite’s Wave Relay high-speed data mesh network. These networks will be integrated to provide an advanced communication capability, delivering a world-leading, sophisticated communications infrastructure across the entire Smart Sound.

“The launch of the ocean-focussed 5G network represents another huge step forward for Smart Sound as the UK’s leading testbed for advanced marine technologies,” Dr James Fishwick, head of Smart Sound at Plymouth Marine Laboratory, explains.

“The high-speed network will allow our integrated fleet of autonomous platforms – which include state-of-the-art data buoys and robotic vessels loaded with environmental sensors – to communicate the unprecedented levels of ocean data they are able to capture in real-time. In turn, this will support further advances in high-tech marine innovation while also informing the world-leading scientific research being carried out here in Plymouth. This is a fantastic milestone for the city and for UK tech and innovation.”

“Smart Sound Connect is cutting edge technology and represents the culmination of more than a decade of development in Plymouth – it’s fantastic to see this come to fruition,” adds Councillor Mark Shayer, deputy leader of Plymouth City Council. “As a port city, Plymouth’s success has long been entwined with the ocean and we’re now looking ahead to the future, offering cutting edge research and development facilities that will accelerate change in the industry, helping us all to work towards carbon neutrality and a sustainable marine future.”

Some of the first companies to make use of the 5G environment are:

• Marine Assured Autonomy Testbed (MAAT)
  Led by Lloyds Register and the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), the MAAT programme will see the creation of a fully synthetic and virtualised environment to test, prove and assure marine autonomy scenarios by utilising live data from Smart Sound Connect on a digital platform. This “digital twin” environment will form the basis for a marine autonomy certification and classification programme for autonomous vehicles.
• Requirements for Operational Assurance of Data Standards (ROADS)
  ROADS is an international collaborative programme to develop specific digital standards and measurements. The creation of such standards will be supported by and coordinated through leading UK agencies and RTOs, including the National Physical Laboratory (NPL), who are partnering with Lloyd’s Register and Ocean Futures on the Maritime Assured Autonomous Testbed (MAAT) programme.
• Bounty Project
  The Bounty Project is an educational and public programme that utilises Bounty’s End, a replica sailing vessel made for the Channel4 series Mutiny. The project will see cameras and data sensors mounted on the vessel to provide live streaming from voyages around Plymouth Sound to be used publicly and in schools and colleges.

Smart Sound Connect has been made possible thanks to £1.8 million in funding from the Heart of the South West Local Enterprise Partnership (LEP), which covers Devon, Plymouth, Somerset and Torbay.

Chair of the Heart of the South West LEP, Karl Tucker, says: “This is an exciting time for Plymouth and the wider Heart of the South West region as it establishes itself as a pioneer in marine and maritime innovation. Smart Sound Connect forms a key part of the Ocean Futures programme that was launched last year, and which identifies the South West’s key strengths in the field of digital innovation together with marine autonomy and the development of clean maritime technologies. We are delighted to have invested Growth Deal funding to develop this world first ocean-based 5G testbed as part of our ongoing efforts to accelerate delivery of transformational opportunities and build back better.”