Networked Music Performances (NMPs) involve geographically-displaced musicians performing together in real-time. To date, scarce research has been conducted on how to integrate NMP systems with immersive audio rendering techniques able to enrich the musicians’ perception of sharing the same acoustic environment. In addition, the use of wireless technologies for NMPs has been largely overlooked. In this paper, we propose two architectures for Immersive Networked Music Performances (INMPs), which differ for the physical positions of the computing blocks constituting the 3D audio toolchain. These architectures leverage a backend specifically conceived to support remote musical practices via Software Defined Networking methods, and takes advantage of the orchestration, slicing, and Multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) capabilities of 5G. Moreover, we illustrate how to integrate in the architectures machine learning algorithms for network traffic prediction and audio packet loss concealment. Traffic predictions at multiple time scales are utilized to achieve an optimized placement of Virtual Network Functions hosting audio mixing and processing functionalities within the available MEC sites, depending on the users’ geographical locations and current network load conditions. An analysis of the technical requirements for INMPs using the two architectures is provided, along with their performance assessment conducted via simulators.

The 5th generation of mobile networks has come to the market bringing the promise of disruptive performances as low latency, availability and reliability, imposing the development of the so-called “killer applications”. This contribution presents a 5G use case in the context of Structural Health Monitoring which guarantees an unprecedented level of reliability when exploited for public safety purposes as Earthquake Early Warning. The interest on this topic is at first justified through a deep market analysis, and subsequently declined in terms of public safety benefits. A specific sensor board, guaranteeing real-time processing and 5G connectivity, is presented as the foundation on which the architecture of the network is designed and developed. Advantages of 5G-enabled urban safety are then discussed and proven in the experimentation results, showing that the proposed architecture guarantees lower latency delays and overcome the impairments of cloud solutions especially in terms of delays variability.

This work presents a service for the improvement of cultural heritage experiences, which exploits the advantages coming from the 5G paradigm. Indeed, in a scenario where many users need to be served by a real-time solution which is in turn required to work on different devices, the potentialities of 5G technology show their suitability. In particular, moving the computation to the edge of the network ensures the availability of resources needed for binaural spatial audio rendering in an independent fashion with reference to the client device and at the same time it guarantees real-time availability of this data since the core network, with its impairments, is not involved. This work demonstrates how 5G could be a critical enabler for delivering low latency services at guaranteed levels, data-centric services, differentiated customer experiences, improved security and reduced costs to the users.

Digital Twins (DT) models are gaining special attention in the management and maintenance of facilities. The quality of data contained in these models may be enhanced by the use of processed information coming from long-term Structural Health Monitoring (SHM). In this case real time processing and updating in systems using sensor networks for SHM need low latency and reliable communication. This paper presents a solution for exploiting DT models for SHM and early warning solutions improvement. The case study scenario resides within the 5G experimentation in the city of L’Aquila and it exploits a highly adaptable sensor board and a 5G Multi-Access Edge Computing architecture.

Disaster management systems could greatly benefit from the evolution toward fifth generation mobile networks. In fact, 5G targets unprecedented reliability levels as well as low latency. This can be achieved through a native integration of the elements involved in the service provisioning including the IoT hardware, the network infrastructure and the software platform. This work presents a vertically integrated 5G-based disaster management system that focuses on structural health monitoring and earthquake early warning aspects.

This work deals with the development of a permanent structural monitoring system for buildings, based on innovative minimally invasive technologies in order to provide information about the structural behavior under normal conditions and especially in the presence of seismic events. The gathered information will be processed through model based and data based approaches, in order to compare and possibly integrate these techniques. Referring to the 5G vision the SHM system can be considered depending on the operational scenario: in the case of data collection and processing from sensors in monitored buildings, considering the high number of sensors installed, it can refer to the mMTC context. Viceversa, during a seismic event or just after it, the use case requires high reliability connectivity and, sometimes, low latency. Those features refer to the URLL context. It seems interesting to evaluate and experiment the ability of 5G network to dynamically adapt to the changing scenario that this use case can provide. Moreover this paper presents an innovative 5G architecture for Earthquake Early Warning that uses SHM system to detect a seismic event and to propagate a message reporting the event detection to all the buildings that may be damaged by the event.