Aigües de Barcelona, Telefónica and Mobile World Capital Barcelona have come together to carry out a pilot project that consists of migrating the security video cameras from the Sant Joan Despí drinking water treatment plant (ETAP). This is a cloud integration model provided by Telefónica's edge computing node, available for the Barcelona Metropolitan Area.
Until now, the cameras installed at the DWTP of Aigües de Barcelona were connected to each other by conventional fixed networks, so that the captured images were sent to a local server located inside the facility. With this project, the images collected by security cameras are sent with 5G to edge computing and processed in the cloud using Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms.
The main benefit of this project is the improvement in security of the premises, since the new video cameras allow the detection of intrusions or the access of people to restricted areas in real time. Likewise, with this pilot test, an improvement in operations is achieved and processes and infrastructures are transformed to more scalable, flexible and easy-to-evolve models that lead to economic efficiencies.
In order to migrate to the edge computing node, two characteristics inherent to the 5G mobile network are needed. On the one hand, a high upload bandwidth is required, since the images must be of very high quality for the AI to obtain the expected results. On the other hand, connectivity must be optimal, since events must be detected in real time.
According to the innovation director of Aigües de Barcelona, Catalina Balseiro, "having nearby cloud environments such as Telefónica's edge computing together with the use of 5G technology makes it possible to optimize security tasks in critical facilities and contribute to circularity, reducing as well as the physical hardware and the displacements”. Leonor Ostos, Innovation Manager at Telefónica, assures: "These pilots, in which we work hand in hand with our clients, highlight the opportunities and advantages of having high-performance wireless networks such as the 5G mobile network. This, in conjunction with the edge computing centers, enables processes and low-latency applications of a very diverse nature, and constitute tangible benefits for our clients. This pilot is a sample of the real applications that 5G and edge computing have, technologies that will be part of several of the demonstrations that Telefónica will take to its stand at the Mobile World Congress 2023”.
Eduard Martín, CIO and director of Intelligent Connectivity at Mobile World Capital Barcelona, points out: "This pilot exemplifies the type of project that Mobile World Capital Barcelona seeks to promote: beyond the technical and concept proofs that use cases allow, it is necessary to start implementing the combination of 5G with edge computing to take advantage of its real storage potential. With this pilot test we also promote that the data can be managed by an AI locally, minimizing the response time”. Martín adds that the project "tests the network characteristics necessary to manage this type of critical infrastructure, and that can be extrapolated to multiple industries".
