The use cases "Communication in Swarms" and "Virtual Realities" made it to the finals of the futurezone Awards in Vienna this year. Martina Eckerstorfer is very proud, because two of the three finalists in the category "5G Innovation of the Year" are researching in the 5G Playground. "We are delighted that the work of the last three years has been recognised by this award," said Martina Eckerstorfer, project manager of the 5G Playgrounds.

The 5G Playground is used as a test lab to support innovative projects with the corresponding infrastructure, know-how and the necessary premises. Research and development on 5G applications, products and applications is carried out there.

The project leaders of the use cases - DI Dr. Christian Raffelsberger (Lakeside Labs) and Univ.-Prof. DI Dr. Hermann Hellwagner (University of Klagenfurt) - were personally present at the award ceremony together with their teams. They are the people who make the projects so successful with their knowledge and passion for this topic.

The use case "Communication in Swarms" from Lakeside Labs investigates how self-organising robot swarms (drones and rovers) can coordinate via a 5G network to perform tasks together. The advantage of self-organisation is the high adaptability of the swarm to its environment, even in the event of a network failure. A conceivable scenario for the use of such technology is, for example, in disaster relief operations, where the swarm of drones can explore the affected danger zone. 

In the "Virtual Realities" project, the use case of the​​​​​​​ Alpen-Adria Universität Klagenfurt is researching how 360° videos can be transmitted most efficiently with VR glasses using a 5G connection. Due to the fast data processing by the 5G network, there is less delay time, which makes the use case so successful.

The Winner is… 

The use case "Communication in Swarms" finally won the award for "5G Innovation of the Year". Both use cases are a win for the 5G Playground Carinthia, because the nomination already shows: In the 5G Playground, research is being carried out in the mobile communications sector that has achieved Austria-wide visibility.