The tool, designed by CGA Simulation, uses ‘digital twinning’, artificial intelligence and gaming visualisation to allow 5G Create to plan the continuing expansion of what it claims is Europe’s largest 5G health and social care network, currently rolled out in the city’s Kensington area.
According to CGA, the tool “saves time and resources for any project planning a 5G network” by allowing users to create an online digital copy of the network build area. It uses local data from Ordnance Survey, the Office for National Statistics, as well as local authority mapping capability.
The £7.2m Liverpool network has been funded by the DCMS (Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport) as part of the UK-wide 5G testbed and trials programme.
“Using the planning tool we can analyse how a 5G connection penetrates through walls, and where 5G nodes should be placed to navigate around obstructions like trees,” said Jon Wetherall, managing director of CGA.
Potential applications being trialled within the network include remote health monitoring and GP triage, anxiety reduction solutions, remote wound care and more.
Liverpool 5G’s technology lead, Andrew Miles said: “The tool maps where on lamp posts, the side of buildings, or street furniture, the 5G nodes should be placed to communicate effectively - via ‘line of sight’. This reduces planning time as the hard work can be done online rather than by foot. It is a cost effective, efficient and easy to use alternative for teams on a tight budget.“
The project will run to March 2022, upgrading the existing mmWave nodes, integrating small cell technology and trialling new use cases in health and social care to create what DCMS has said it hopes will be “a blueprint for the use of private 5G networks in delivering public services”.
