British transport technology scale-up VivaCity and Web3 start-up Weaver Labs have announced the result of a smart junctions 5G project (SJ5G), undertaken with Transport for Greater Manchester (TfGM) and UK Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS).
The project, which ran from September 2020 to July 2022 in Salford, Greater Manchester, used OpenRAN 5G technology and was funded by the DCMS 5G Testbed and Trials Programme.
SJ5G evaluated the effectiveness of a “low latency, reliable and scalable” network to operate real-time traffic control, improving congestion and air quality, and reducing journey times.
The deployed system used VivaCity AI sensors and smart junctions to gather detailed insights on transport modes, traffic flow and travel patterns.
According to VivaCity, this was reportedly achieved by at least a 5% lost time improvement over a congested 4G network, thanks to Weaver Labs’ Cell-Stack low-latency communications solution, which was incorporated into the system.
Mark Nicholson, CEO and co-founder at VivaCity, added: “We’re pleased to see that the Salford trial has already resulted in reduced wait times.
“The knock-on impact not only improves the everyday lives of residents and visitors, but it will reduce congestion and emissions in the local area too.
“The anonymous data insights that we’ve gathered throughout the duration of the project will also help local authorities to improve their awareness of how the scheme has worked, empowering them to make decisions on future schemes in the surrounding area.”
Weaver Labs also worked with TfGM and VivaCity to address the core technical and commercial aspects of 5G, including openness and diversity in the telecoms supply chain, with the goal of creating a public sector-owned 5G private network.
Thus, Weaver Labs developed a new cybersecurity framework tool, called Record.
Moving forward, the project partners said they will continue to work together to improve the stability of the OpenRAN network, increase the number of use cases using the network and prove the economic benefits of the investment into 5G infrastructure.
Weaver Labs will also continue to develop and test Cell-Stack as an open decentralised marketplace of connectivity assets, bringing more stakeholders into the testbed, such as mobile network operators.
DCMS also announced more than £35m in R&D funding and innovation projects to accelerate development of OpenRAN technology.
