Telecom networks over the past century have gained a reputation for being painfully complex, deeply technical, and stubbornly static. All that is rapidly changing. It’s now possible to spin up a 5G core network – bought with a simple subscription – in a matter of hours rather than months. It’s also possible for application developers to add a few lines of code and directly program 5G networks so their applications can use new features like location precision or increasing bandwidth as needed.
In other words, communication service providers and enterprises today possess new software capabilities that are helping them tap new customer sets and better serve existing ones through new services and enhanced network reliability. Take the maritime industry, for example.
Steering traffic
The Port of Antwerp, Belgium is the second largest and one of the busiest in Europe. Dating back to the times of Napoleon, this port is located inland at the top of an estuary which facilitates connections by rail, road, river, and canal waterways. As vessels come into the port, they must safely navigate a somewhat narrow and busy passage, which means incoming ships need to temporarily dock near the port and wait for the licensed captain to shuttle to the vessel, board, and guide it into port.
Due to network and software innovation, this problem can now be solved by having a licensed pilot remotely steer a vessel to dock, while they stay in the off-shore control center. The 5G network operated by Telenet in Belgium has advanced capabilities of location precision and network quality on demand. This means that developers who create the remote piloting application can directly program the network.
The vessels are equipped with many sensors and cameras to facilitate remote piloting. When vessels enter geo-fenced zones, the 5G network is dynamically triggered to make adjustments to bandwidth and latency required to stream the video generated by the high-resolution cameras onboard.
The remote ship captain then has much greater visibility and awareness of the situation surrounding the vessel as they carefully guide it into the port. By opening its 5G network to be programmed by application developers, Telenet is enabling the Port of Antwerp to benefit from the combination of 5G’s location precision and quality of service on demand to ensure that ships are safely and efficiently piloted into port.
Thanks to this new software innovation coupled with 5G, shipping companies are no longer wasting time docking vessels to wait for licensed pilots to arrive and board, fuel consumption and emissions are reduced with less idling; and ports become more productive with faster turn times. Such software innovation in transport is being found elsewhere in Europe as well.
Strengthening transport
Telia Finland is bringing the ability to dynamically create 5G cores with SaaS, together with the ability to monetize these networks, by making them programmable by application developers. As part of a European Union-funded innovation program called Sirius, Telia is the first telecom service provider in Finland to open its network to create new software applications.
The operator’s initial focus is the transportation industry, with plans to create 5G standalone (SA) core networks on demand along highways and seaways to dynamically provide higher bandwidth and lower latency. This will enable trucking and shipping companies to more accurately track assets in real-time, even across national borders as circumstances require.
We are entering an era where telecom networks are increasingly easy for people other than telecom engineers to work with. The networks that underpin so much of how we work, play, shop, socialize, and stay safe are undergoing a huge transformation to become much more open, dynamic, flexible, and fast; like what is happening in virtual reality and the promise this technology holds for unlocking the metaverse.
Accelerating low, on-demand latency
Engaging in immersive gaming experiences, hosting business meetings with remote colleagues in 3D instead of 2D, and running digital twin simulations for your manufacturing plant are all possible today but heavily rely upon clunky, uncomfortable, and expensive VR headsets.
The mass-market adoption of these devices and the remarkable world they enable depends on finding a way to make them much lighter and more affordable. One of the impediments to that today is the massive amount of processing power required to render realistic images with very low latency. But what if you could offload that processing nearby, thereby reducing the load on the devices?
NTT DoCoMo in Japan is experimenting with just that. The company’s pre-6G network innovation program has created an In-network compute Service Accelerate Platform (ISAP), that relies on making 5G core networks available on-demand in a subscription-based software as a service (SaaS) model. Rather than the typical months-long deployments, these 5G cores can be fully functional in a matter of hours.
In their labs, NTT is now trialing spinning up 5G core SaaS for use cases like gaming, extended reality shopping with friends, and AI analysis of video streaming – all of which demand high processing power and very low latency.
Trial customers can experience these new use cases with lightweight wearable devices such as smart glasses, with the on-demand 5G core nearby to dynamically offload the processing and create a much better user experience. And that mirrors more of what should follow as operators roll out 5G SA core software at a greater scale than what was deployed in 2023.
5G SA core will enable operators to deliver greater services at a time when global demand for connectivity continues to grow and the industry drives improved productivity, efficiency, and customer experience remote vessel piloting at the Port of Antwerp, on-demand 5G cores in Finland's transportation sector, and NTT DoCoMo's In-network compute Service Accelerate Platform are interesting early examples of the openness and dynamism that is allowing software to bridge the gap between network infrastructure and application developments.
These early examples are demonstrating how innovative communication service providers are using software as a service and relationships with application developers to bring unique, 5G capabilities to new industries and customer groups. We’re seeing initial benefits of improved operational efficiency, better user experience, and reduced environmental impact. The future of networks relies on this combination of innovation and enabling software.
