5G ExPerimentation Infrastructure hosting Cloud-nativE Network applications for public proTection and disaster RElief

5G is considered to be the next decade mainstream broadband wireless technology and can leverage the efficiency and effectiveness of everyday high demanding operations such as public protection and disaster relief (PPDR).

ITU considers LTE-Advanced systems and 5G as a mission critical PPDR technology able to address the needs of mission critical intelligence by supporting mission critical voice, data and video services as an IMT radio interface. 5G-EPICENTRE will deliver an open end-to-end experimentation 5G platform focusing on software solutions that serve the needs of PPDR.

The envisioned platform will enable SMEs and developers to acquire knowledge with regard to the latest 5G applications and approaches for first responders and crisis management, as well as to build up and experiment with their solutions.

The 5G-EPICENTRE platform will be based on an open Service oriented Architecture, following the current best DevOps practices (containerization of micro-services) and will be able to accommodate and provide open access to 5G networks resources, acting this way as a 5G open source repository for PPDR Network Applications.

For the assessment of the abovementioned platform, the realization of several use cases is being foreseen which will be realized as a PPDR vertical.

The purpose of the use cases is to expand along the entire range of the 3 ITU-defined service types (i.e. eMBB, mMTC and URLLC) as well as to provide the floor for overseeing the platforms secure interoperability capabilities beyond vendor-specific implementation.

The engaged SMEs and organizations that will participate into the realization of the use cases constitute active players in the public security and disaster management, thus acting as key enablers for the assessment of 5G-EPICENTRE with regard to the real needs that should be addressed.

Finally, through the use cases realization, KPIs relevant to 5G will be measured, especially those that are pertain to services creation time.