APM Terminals Barcelona

APM Terminals Barcelona Applies 5G Technology to Improve Traffic Safety

The system is based on the application of connected car technology and industrial traffic safety. The information will be shared continuously and offer the position and trajectory of machinery, vehicles, and people in real time, enabling traffic coordination and warning drivers in the event of an accident risk.

March 11, 2021 - 5G Barcelona, together with Telefónica, APM Terminals, and Mobile World Capital Barcelona are working on a pilot project to improve security in ports thanks to the use of 5G networks to connect cranes, vehicles, and people by merging different advanced communication and localisation technologies. The main objective of the project is to minimise the potential risk of collisions between mobile machinery and fixed elements, vehicles, and people in the container terminal.

5G Barcelona is a public-private initiative that works to position Barcelona and Catalonia as an innovative and open environment for the validation and adoption of 5G technologies and applications in a real-life environment.

The pilot test, which is based on technology of the C-V2X connected car and the low latency of 5G communications and Edge Computing, aims to turn APM Terminals Barcelona into a safer space for workers, thanks to a system that allows the coordination of port traffic and the implementation of advanced algorithms for accident traffic prevention. Through an alarm system, both crane drivers and trucks or pedestrian personnel will be warned about a potential collision against fixed and mobile elements and the system will in addition send an instant notification to a control centre in case of collision.

The development of the project involves the deployment of Telefónica's 5G coverage at the APM Terminals in the Port of Barcelona, the provision of 5G connectivity to Straddle Carrier cranes, trucks and terminal personnel, as well as an acoustic warning system for possible collisions.

“Transition towards a fleet of natively connected vehicles”

The Straddle Carrier cranes will be equipped with an on-board unit capable of communicating via 5G and through C-V2X technology between them and with the rest of the actors. Trucks, truckers and terminal personnel will have a 5G smartphone, on which a C-V2X application will be installed. This way, the smartphone, becomes another piece of the V2X environment, as well as the lever for an easy transition towards a fleet of natively connected vehicles and direct inclusion of people in the ecosystem.

Fixed elements, such as streetlights, will also be signalled with C-V2X communications, thus communicating with the rest of the mobile actors in real time.

All the information communicated by the cranes, trucks and pedestrian personnel is sent securely to an application located geographically very close (Edge) to their place of consumption in order to offer immediate responses. This application, hosted on the Edge, has the intelligence to be able to coordinate this cooperative driving between the different actors — called intelligent cooperative transport system (C-ITS) — and also offers a dashboard to APM Terminals to visualise on a map the positions of each of the actors participating in the project. Obtaining a precise location is vital and for this reason a system has been developed to allow obtaining precise locations as close as centimetres.

APM Terminals operates one of the world’s most comprehensive port networks with 75 terminals. To learn more, visit: www.apmterminals.com.