Italy

Location: Turin, Italy.

The focus of the Italian test site is the development on an advanced 5GS architecture to facilitate the dynamic reconfiguration essential for Cooperative-Adaptive Mobility (CAM) applications. The 5G network will be aware of the CAM applications thanks to the full control of the 5G core (provided by HPE) and to a specialised multi-edge service orchestrator tailored for CAM services (developed by Nextworks). 

This will be achieved with ENVELOPE APIs, enabling requests for network slices, computing resources at edge servers, and the dynamic representation of services at the network’s edge. These APIs, built upon those exposed by the 5G/B5G Core Network, empower CAM applications to seamlessly access networking and computing resources in real-time, triggered by specific events or situations. Additionally, CAM applications will provide pertinent information to the network for monitoring and automation purposes, optimizing the utilization of 5G network resources while ensuring the necessary Quality of Service (QoS) for CAM applications.  

The Italian site will analyse and test two scenarios involving different edge servers and/or providers. Firstly, a scenario entails deploying a Multi-Access Edge Computing (MEC) federation employing edge servers from various Mobile Network Operators (MNOs), investigating their interaction for real-time data exchange. Secondly, the focus shifts to utilising multiple edge application servers from the same MNO, examining the seamless transition of applications and information between these servers.  

Facilities at the Italian site will be tailored for the ENVELOPE project, aimed at creating a dedicated testing area for exploring 5G-Advanced/6G technologies in relation to the CAM vertical and other application domains. This area will be chosen to facilitate safe testing of automated driving vehicles, to establish an extended experimental facility for testing innovative mobility services, even in the urban smart mobility domain.  LINKS will develop the necessary services to deliver CAM-specific information to the 5GS and implement the defined use cases for the Italian trial site, collaborating with TIM for the definition of CAM network services and applications. Finally, Teoresi will be the automated vehicle provider and the Municipality of Turin will help with the regulatory framework and the public administration requirements.