Deliverable D2.1 - Preliminary design aspects for Platforms and Networks solutions

The TrialsNet project aims to implement large-scale trials of innovative Beyond 5G mobile network (B5G) applications to assess how this technology improves people's quality of life in inclusive, safe, resilient, and sustainable cities. As of nowadays, more than half of the world's population lives in cities. TrialsNet's use cases (UCs) are focused on three relevant domains of the urban European ecosystem, identified as i) Infrastructure, Transportation, Safety & Security, ii) eHealth and Emergency, and iii) Culture, Tourism, and Entertainment.

In WP2, the main objective is the development of the platforms and network solutions. This Work Package (WP) performs its work in strict collaboration with WP3, WP4, and WP5, which will develop the UCs in the context of the three domains. Based on the requirements coming from the UCs, WP2 will design and deploy the complete infrastructure to conduct the related trials. In this context, this public deliverable D2.1 describes the preliminary design aspects for the platforms and network solutions in the four clusters of the project, located in Italy, Spain, Romania, and Greece.

This deliverable also provides details of the TrialsNet methodology, which is based on an iterative approach. Starting with the assessment of current 5G capabilities, the methodology will iteratively progress through four main phases: deployment, trial executions, results evaluation, and network optimization. This approach, com- bined with the introduction of TrialsNet's innovations and the collection of Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) and user feedback from the trials, will lead to the definition of requirements for the next generation mobile network. It is important to highlight that different technologies and functionalities will be available depending on the cluster, thus providing a comprehensive and heterogeneous set of capabilities and features.

The deliverable also describes the main TrialsNet innovations, which will be part of the research-oriented ac- tivities of the project. These innovations will be experimented with to evaluate the enhancements that can be achieved in comparison to the current network solutions. The TrialsNet innovations can be categorized into horizontal innovations, which are related to transversal B5G/Sixth Generation of mobile communications (6G) functionalities such as zero-touch management, and vertical innovations, which are related to specific UCs, for example, automatic orchestration of network slice resources.