Vodafone launches first 5G base station in Germany

It is 11 o'clock in the morning. The electric minibus e.GO Mover drives networked in the 5G Mobility Lab in Aldenhoven over the 400,000 square meter test area. Vodafone Germany boss Hannes Ametsreiter has invited to talk about the upcoming mobile generation 5G. To the 5G Mobility Lab. In the moving electric minibus e.GO mover. It is a special kind of conversation. Hannes Ametsreiter himself is not there. He leads the conversation from the Vodafone headquarters in Düsseldorf, some 70 kilometers away. Nevertheless, the local interlocutor sees every movement, every gesture, every facial expression of the Vodafone Germany boss. Ametsreiter speaks as a hologram. Free from cables and in the moving car. Constantly in motion. Along the first real 5G station from Vodafone in Germany. It is now broadcasting in the live network of the Düsseldorf-based telecommunications company. The first 5G conversation with a hologram in the moving car. A premiere.

"We are the 5G partner of the German economy. We help trains to see dangers. We turn the driver's seat into a TV couch in the car. We are turning Germany's industrial halls into smart factories with 5G. And we create new forms of communication with 5G - with holograms we turn boring videoconferences into personal experiences. Even in a moving car, "says Vodafone Germany CEO Hannes Ametsreiter.

As a hologram he further explains: "We want to create added value with 5G. That's why we are now bringing the network to places where value can already be created today. To our 5G partners. Into the industrial halls and to the places, where the German economy prepares digital innovations for the everyday life. "

Strong 5G partnerships for a successful business location in Germany

Vodafone's first 5G partners include Deutsche Bahn, Continental, Audi and e.GO Mobile AG. Technology partners in the hologram interview are Ericsson and Intel. Together with e.GO Mobile AG, the Düsseldorf-based telecommunications group plans to launch the first 5G production facility in Germany shortly. "With a 5G network in our new plant in Aachen Rothe Erde, we can achieve full transparency in real time about process and logistics data on the shop floor. Thanks to the digital shadow that is now possible, perfect control loops can be reproduced in production control ", says Prof. Dr. med. Günther Schuh, CEO of e.GO Mobile, who is also a hologram during the interview.

5G partner Deutsche Bahn: Trains learn to recognize dangers

Together with Deutsche Bahn, the Düsseldorf-based telecommunications company is launching the expansion of 5G along a test track on the Erzgebirgsbahn between Annaberg-Buchholz and Schwarzenberg. Among other things, it will be tested here how trains independently recognize obstacles and dangers on the tracks and react to them. Audi is also among the 5G partners of Vodafone. The partners are working together to communicate with each other on the 5G of vehicles, as well as connect infrastructure to support applications that require high data rates and low latency. The goal is to integrate the vehicle into the Internet of Things as an elementary participant in order to provide innovative service offerings in this digital ecosystem.

First 5G mobile mast: technology for the automotive industry

The first mobile mast from Vodafone will start broadcasting at '5G Mobility Lab' in Aldenhoven. "This is where the future for traffic develops. Together with the automobiles, we optimize 5G here for the requirements of the industry. We bring the network in line with other future technologies for the car, "says Ametsreiter. In the 5G Mobility Lab, Vodafone has been researching future concepts for the mobility of tomorrow for more than a year. By mobile cars talk to each other here. Together with the automotive industry, Vodafone is optimizing the interplay of mobile communications, sensors, camera systems and other technologies to create duplicate floors and the highest possible road safety for the future. By 5G, cars can share data in real time - as fast as the human nervous system. Tiny real-time data centers (Edge Cloud) directly at the mobile masts are the basis for this. In the 5G Mobility Lab, Vodafone has now made genuine 5G, in collaboration with Ericsson, available to the automotive industry in Europe for the first time. With Continental, the people of Düsseldorf are researching a digital '5G protective shield' for pedestrians and cyclists in traffic and the '5G traffic jam warner' to prevent rear-end collisions on the highway.

'5G Ready': The '5G-Machine Network' and '5G-Beam' are already on the network of Vodafone

With the 5G-machine network  and the 5G-Beam technology Vodafone already brings the first 5G technologies into its own mobile network, making it already '5G Ready'. The 5G machine network is already working on around 90 percent of Vodafone's LTE poles, creating the infrastructure for the Internet of Things. A single mobile phone antenna can thus connect up to 50,000 things simultaneously. At first places in Germany the technology '5G-Beam' is activated. Behind this is an active and intelligent antenna technology (beamforming), which at the same time provides numerous customers with high and reliable bandwidth. The 5G Beam technology combines up to 128 specially arranged tiny antennas in the smallest space. The individual antennas are not only very small, but also intelligent. They always know the best air interface to reach customers directly.

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