Drone4Parcel5G: Telekom sets up 5G campus network for delivery drones

Deutsche Telekom is providing a 5G campus network for the "Drone4Parcel5G" research project in the South Westphalia region. This was reported in a press release dated February 28. The aim of the project consortium, led by the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences, is to test the operation of autonomous delivery flights with parcel drones based on 5G. The technology is intended to reduce road traffic and minimize delivery times in the future.

According to Deutsche Telekom, it has equipped a test area in Rüthen in the Soest district with a special mobile 5G container that supplies the area with the latest mobile communications standard during the project period. This will enable researchers to test delivery drone flights in conjunction with 5G technology under real conditions. According to Telekom, the 5G campus network allows the drones to reliably transmit sensor, image, and flight data. The temporarily established local 5G network is being used for a customer for the first time with the new business customer product "Campus-Netz Temporär", says Deutsche Telekom.

"The 'Drone4Parcel5G' project demonstrates the enormous innovation potential of 5G for the logistics of the future. To ensure that drones can autonomously deliver packages by air and under the highest safety standards, we are already providing full 5G performance with our network today," says Hagen Rickmann, Managing Director for Business Customers at Telekom Deutschland GmbH.

With the new temporary 5G campus network offering for business customers, they provide a time-flexible solution that is ideally suited for the test operation of drone flights, Rickmann continues.

Foundation for Autonomous Drone Delivery Service

So far, drones still have to be visually controlled by a pilot. In the future, according to the project partners, several drones could be simultaneously coordinated and monitored in real-time via a central control station outside the line of sight through an autonomous drone delivery service over 5G. The 5G drones would autonomously transport goods from point A to point B, take over optimal route planning, and react to obstacles to avoid collisions. A drone fleet operated in this way could massively increase the range and efficiency of drone flights, says Deutsche Telekom. At the same time, the autonomous drone operation places particularly high demands on the security and stability of data transmission. Therefore, the project in South Westphalia investigates both communication over 5G between the drone and the base station and from drone to drone.

"With high data transfer rates, low latency times, and higher network capacity, 5G as a key technology provides the foundation for the safe use of autonomous transport drones," says Prof. Dr.-Ing. Andreas Schwung from the South Westphalia University of Applied Sciences and head of the "Drone4Parcel5G" consortium.