Connected Coast

Overview

Connectivity along the coast can often be poor which hampers emergency response.

This research area focussed on improving public coastal safety by increasing access to digital communication services for first responder organisations such as the RNLI and investigated possible use cases with emergency services.

Excelerate Technology have deployed infrastructure along the world-famous Jurassic Coast to deliver 5G coverage for the coastal safety trials. This includes Surf Condition Monitoring (SCM) buoys supplied by Jet Engineering. The connection has been provided by the Satellite Applications Catapult’s 5G Centre in Westcott, Buckinghamshire, and includes the UK’s first integration of satellite backhaul within a 5G network as well as the world’s first 700 MHz standalone 5G network.

Use Cases

The research covered a number of use cases designed to demonstrate how enhanced 5G connectivity can improve public safety and help prevent incidents. These use cases included:

Connected signage
High footfall trigger
Surf Condition Monitoring Buoys