Special Session

5G technology and cloud native solutions for smart grids and smart cities applications

Smart cities and smart grids are twin concepts  since both integrate advanced information and communication technology (ICT) towards enhanced automation and digitalization. This allows the participation of green communities in modern governance of the city or towards the sustainability of the grid. The evolution in wireless technology and especially the 5th Generation wireless communication (5G) is an essential enabler for faster digitalization and for empowering communities in smart cities as well as for enhancing the deployment of advanced automation, monitoring and control systems in smart grids. Features such as portability, guaranteed quality of service (QoS) and Quality of Experience (QoE), economy of scale for the proposed solutions even in crowded or remote or less accessible areas makes 5G a technology of choice for plethora of grid and smart cities’ related applications. 

Novelty and motivation:  This special session aims to offer a focused environment for 5G-enabled solutions dedicated to applications for both smart cities and smart grids. While the conference offers broad topics such as smart energy systems and smart grids, the 5G enabler is not specifically mentioned. The session is intended to attract contributions from relevant past and on-going Research and Innovation Projects from the 5G PPP Phase 3 Projects under Horizon Program of the European Commission, which specifically target several field demonstrations for smart cities and smart grids applications. This could be a good opportunity for the conference audience to learn about the most recent advances on 5G enabled smart cities and smart grids from top industry and research focused stakeholders in Europe, who are currently involved in these projects. The special session will target sub-topics such as, but not limited to:

• 5G-enabled network applications (NetApps) for advanced monitoring and control of smart grids
• 5G-enabled IoT for advanced monitoring and control applications for smart cities and smart grids (e.g., renewable distributed energy resources, active participation of green energy communities in real-time balancing markets, etc)
• advanced measurement systems for smart grids and smart cities applications
• cloud native solutions and chaining of virtual network functions (VNF) for NetApps serving smart cities and smart grids
• innovative architectures for development, testing and validation of NetApps
• digital twin frameworks for 5G-enabled testing and validation of solutions for smart grids and smart cities
• 5G URLLC and edge computing for offload devices computational burden at central data centers while preserving user experience

Chairs Information