Deployment and Performance Evaluation of 5G Private Networks, Enabling Use Cases in Rural Remote Areas

Rural remote areas have unique challenges for providing reliable and high-speed cellular connectivity, which makes them unattractive for mobile network operators. The Horizon Europe COMMECT project has addressed connectivity in rural remote areas by 5G private network deployments, which so far have mainly been studied and deployed in industrial environment. The evaluation of the 5G private network deployments is conducted through field trials in four different environment, each of them characterized by different challenges and aiming to support different agro-forestry use cases. In particular, the evaluations relate to (i) indoor environments (e.g. hospitals and educational centers), (ii) forestry, (iii) livestock transportation, and (iv) mines. The obtained results showcase that 5G private networks can support the proposed use cases. For example, in indoor environments, a downlink and uplink throughput of 700 Mbps and 50 Mbps, respectively, were measured, which are sufficient to enable e.g. remote monitoring of hospital patients. Moreover, it was measured that at least 10 Mbps in the uplink can be achieved for up to 300 m deep in the forest. The 10 Mbps target is also met in the farm location, including a satellite backhaul, which can enable e.g. the use case of (un)loading livestock from/to the truck. Additionally, throughput of more than 100 Mbps was measured at the mine location, which is sufficient to enhance safety by e.g. operating unmanned vehicles.