The 6G vision is to connect the human, digital and physical worlds and revolves around their interaction: a human world of our senses, bodies, intelligence, and values; a digital world of information, communication and computing; and a physical world of objects and organisms.   In this three-pilar vision, real-time virtual representations that serve as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical entity will be among the most innovative type of 6G applications, becoming a paradigm-changer for the supply chain management, transforming how products and services are made and delivered, while enabling the creation and sharing of supply chain information, allowing for the full digitalization of industrial elements (e.g., data, sensors, robotics, vehicles, etc). The solution takes advantage of the data gathered by sensors, machines, robots and cameras to offer a native experience that will allow design and engineering teams to interact with a virtual model in real time through a single self-contained device, and without the constraints of a physical connection.   6G real-time applications demand a tremendous amount of data collection as well as virtualization, analytics and a high computational capacity at both edge and cloud domains, which 5G may not be able to fulfil appropriately, but 5G-advanced and 6G features will. To this end, future 6G applications will need to rely on the adoption of 5G-advanced technologies which will enable the maximum exploitation of its functionalities, such as: (i) 5G-Advanced-IoT (5G-A-IoT) to connect machines and sensors on a large scale; (ii) an AI-self-managed distributed IoT-to-Edge-to-Cloud continuum platform composed of resources from different providers in a transparent manner for the end users and verticals; and (iii) the integration of AI/ML analytic tools to furnish both the applications and the IoT-to-Edge-to-Cloud continuum platform with intelligence to enable real-time performance.  The complex task of collecting, managing and storing different types of data requires of a common language that allows to virtualize and analyze it as well as enable interoperability and transparency for end users. In order to accomplish this complex task, it will be necessary to make use of a wide range of distributed and centralized computation capabilities that supports the gathering, integration and processing of the data. All the required computing components will compose a computing platform that enables the low latency and physical proximity requirements of the data sources. The most-efficient approach to tackle this challenge is to integrate several commercial cloud-edge computing solutions to coexist within a logistics ecosystem, creating an IoT-edge-cloud platform self-managed with artificial intelligence.   Additionally, this infrastructure will leverage and help the evolution of the currently available infrastructures in relevant industrial, logistics and ports scenarios of the supply chain, creating an impact on the future of logistics environments in Spain.  

•  Subproject 1: Advancing-5G-Twins 5G-IoT-edge-cloud computing platform
• Subproject 2: Advancing-5G-Twins for Industry 4.0
• Subproject 3: Advancing-5G-Twins for ports

The predictions for the coming decade depict a new era in which billions of things, humans, and connected vehicles, robots and drones will generate Zettabytes of digital information. Access to data and data ownership are increasingly the major factors in value creation, and limiting such access is a means of control. Creating a system that transforms how data is collected, shared and analyzed in real time creates strong drivers for future value and introduce novel stakeholder roles. In this context, digital twins are a perfect fit for logistics complex environments, since they permit the interconnection and full digitalization of robotics, sensors, vehicles, and processes in general.   The concept of Digital Twins is presented as a mix of the best of each world. Digital twins are 3D virtual representations that serve as the real-time digital counterpart of a physical entity, becoming a paradigm-changer for the supply chain management, transforming how products and services are made and delivered, while enabling the creation and sharing of supply chain information, allowing for the full digitalization of elements such as data, sensors, robotics, vehicles, etc. The solution takes advantage of the data gathered by sensors, machines, robots and cameras to offer a native experience that will allow design and engineering teams to interact with a 3D life-size model in real time through a single self-contained device, and without the constraints of a physical connection.   Digital-Twins real-time applications demand a tremendous amount of data collection as well as virtualization, analytics and rendering mechanisms. Also, DT representation requires a high computational capacity at both edge and cloud domains, which 5G may not be able to fulfil appropriately, but 5G-advanced and 6G features will. To this end, future Digital Twins applications will need to rely on the adoption of 5G-advanced technologies which will enable the maximum exploitation of Digital Twins functionalities, such as 5G-Advanced-IoT (5G-A-IoT) to connect machines and sensors on a large scale, edge and cloud computing, and the integration of AI/ML analytic tools to furnish Digital Twins with intelligence to enable real-time performance.  This project will pioneer the design and development of real-time digital twins for ports in Spain by leveraging advanced 6G applications, hence increasing the Spanish competitiveness and sovereignty in future 6G logistic “killer apps”. The combination of digital twins and interactive applications from different sources will be supported across Advancing-5G-Twins for ports, helping the industry reach greater resilience levels. For this purpose, the project will create a flagship 6G application laboratory for real-time digital twins for port environments. The data gathered by sensors and cameras will be used to define requirements and Key Performance Indicators (KPIs) for 5G-Advanced and 6G in such complex scenarios.   In particular, the project will devise a digital twin application for ports, taking as reference scenarios the port of Valencia, where the operational events are presented in real-time conditions. This will allow ports to be at the forefront of digitalization, positioning themselves as a worldwide point of reference for automatization. The result will be a technical blueprint for the development of standards-compliant and interoperable real-time digital twins leveraging future 6G technology and seamlessly integrated with real-time edge computing, historical AI/ML analytics as well as advanced IoT solutions. 

<<Plan de Recuperación, Transformación y Resilencia- financiado por la Unión Europea -NextGenerationEU>>

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