On Enhancing Transport & Logistics Sectors with 5G Testbeds and Edge Network Applications (EdgeApps)

The Transport & Logistics (T&L) industry directly employs around 10 million people and accounts for 5% of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) of the European Union (EU). Effective T&L systems are fundamental for the ability of European companies to compete in the world economy. With the advent of 5G with the data rates of up to 20Gbps, its end-to-end latencies down to 5ms, and its very high reliability (99,999%), there is a significant opportunity to bring innovations to the T&L vertical, and why the T&L sector is expected to be one of the key adopters of 5G technology. In this paper, we define a 5G testbed tailored to T&L vertical services, which are designed and developed using the concept of 5G-based Edge Network Applications defined within the European project VITAL-5G. In addition to the testbed, we also describe the interaction with the testbed and its accessibility via the VITAL-5G platform, which supports T&L actors to experiment and validate their services within the real-life 5G-based T&L environment (e.g., sea ports, river ports, and warehouses).