CAPTN initiative successfully ends research project Fjord 5G

The Fjord 5G project of the CAPTN initiative is on the home stretch. For the past three years, scientists and industry partners have been researching possible applications for 5G mobile communications in the field of maritime transport. The focus has been on the remote control of a ship in preparation for the operation of a (partially) autonomous passenger ferry. Today, the researchers presented their results in Kiel, Germany.

Since October 2021, the CAPTN Förde 5G project has been investigating the opportunities that the 5G mobile communications standard offers the maritime industry. The focus of the research is the Kiel Fjord. Here, four sub-projects have been working on possible applications in the areas of shipping, port logistics and sailing. The project, which was funded by the German Federal Ministry of Digital Affairs and Transport (BMDV) to the tune of 3.6 million euros, focused on investigating the requirements for operating a (partially) autonomous passenger ferry in terms of data transmission, data security, monitoring and control.

The main objective of the project was to establish a control center from which a ship – the CAPTN research catamaran MS Wavelab – could be remotely controlled and monitored via mobile communications. All data, from camera images and radar to propulsion, had to be sent from the bridge to the Remote Operation Center (ROC) on land without delay. “Basically, we wanted to remotely or semi-autonomously navigate an autonomous ferry across the fjord using 5G. We have achieved this goal: the remote control of the research catamaran MS Wavelab via mobile communication works. The research is not trivial, because we have to reliably detect all objects on the water in the control center – from swimmers to kayakers to cruise ships. In addition, there are maneuvers that can be controlled from the control center without any loss of time,” explains Professor Dr. Olaf Landsiedel, Distributed Systems working group at Kiel University of Kiel.

The city of Kiel is coordinating the project. For the Lord Mayor of Kiel, Dr. Ulf Kämpfer, CAPTN Förde 5G is also a step towards innovative and modern public transport: “The digitalization of our transport means and infrastructure is a central building block for attractive public transport in Kiel. The Fjord 5G project of the CAPTN initiative has brought an enormous increase in knowledge about the use of publicly available 5G for our region. It is a great example of how close cooperation between regional companies, the city and universities can have a positive impact on urban development.

For the past three years, scientists at Kiel University have been working with industrial partners Addix GmbH, a digital service provider based in Kiel, and Anschütz GmbH, a manufacturer of navigation, monitoring and control systems, to reliably transmit large amounts of data from sensors and cameras to the control center in the shortest possible time. “As a wireless communication technology, 5G has proven that the required high data rates can be transmitted with low latency,” says Björn Schwarze, Managing Director of Addix, summarizing the outcome of the project objective. “We have successfully demonstrated that ships can be controlled from a control center via the public 5G network and that a secure ship-to-shore connection is possible,” he adds.

In the area of port logistics, the project partners Port of Kiel and Kiel University digitally monitored and localized the material flow during storage, transfer and retrieval. It will be possible to digitally query the location of individual goods at any time and assign them to their respective transports. This speeds up and reduces the cost of storage, transfer and retrieval processes and prevents incorrect loading. Förde 5G has also provided important insights for shipping. Thanks to 5G, real-time data transmission for coaching and regattas is possible and has been tested as part of Förde 5G.

All project partners presented their results at today’s closing event. Participants from politics, business and science had the opportunity to experience and discuss the results using posters and demonstrators. The concluding fishbowl discussion on the question “What potential does the use of 5G technology have for the maritime industry?” also encouraged many interested parties to actively participate. This marks the end of CAPTN Fjord 5G. There are no plans for a follow-up project.