TTI in DEDICAT6G

TTI is part of Celestia Technologies Group integrated by hi-tech SME’s all-around Europe, and having a common strategy based on innovation, and development of high technology products for different applications in the telecommunications business. TTI is a market leader in Radiofrequency and Antenna solutions with a wide range of products for Broadcast, Aerospace, Defense & Security and many other niche markets.

In the DEDICAT 6G project, TTI has developed a sensor node network for providing context-awareness information through device discovery. The solution exploits ubiquitous communication technologies to extract contextual information for supporting tasks related to mobile access points (MAPs), dynamic coverage, and urban safety. The solution estimates area occupancy through detecting devices commonly used by vulnerable road users (VRUs) using widely adopted technologies like Wi-Fi and Bluetooth. The occupancy information supports a more efficient use of MAPs and provides context awareness for coverage management and coverage extension.

In the future, communications networks will be linked to a multitude of services that will require the collection of large amounts of information from the environment. These dynamic networks will be able to rely on the information gathered by thousands of IoT devices, so that decisions about extending coverage or modifying MAP-capable smart vehicle behaviour to support dynamic data traffic and safety in cities will be closely linked.

Within DEDICAT 6G project, the device discovery solution maps to UC2 (Enhanced experience), UC3 (Public safety) and UC4 (Smart highway). Regarding UC2, the solution can support improved coverage and connection quality via MAPs according to crowd movement. UC3 is similar to UC2 prioritizing service for PPDR and public safety users over consumer users during connectivity failure. Finally, in UC4 the solution can prevent risk situations for VRUs and vehicles providing occupancy heatmaps to improve road safety.

For the proof of concept of the device discovery solution, five sensing nodes have been deployed in five streetlights along a street in the Technology Park of Cantabria (PCTCAN) to perform detections for several days to verify their availability, the integrity of the sensing nodes and their detection capabilities.

Next figure shows an example of the performed detections through the device discovery solution.

The final approach will be extending the proposed solution to all IoT devices that have a Bluetooth or Wi-Fi interface to generate occupancy maps in cities, allowing enhanced coverage extension decisions and improved road safety in cities. Future IoT devices based on NB-IoT, LTE-m or 5G RedCap technologies could provide context awareness information and support future dynamic coverage capabilities of 6G networks.