The leading Latvian mobile communications and technology company LMT in cooperation with the capital company of the Freeport of Riga Authority, provider of the port technical services SIA “LVR Flote” conducted a maritime 5G demonstration in the port of Riga, providing a 5G connectivity solution after numerous tests and measurements. It is the first demonstration of a full-scale maritime 5G solution with various applications using both air and water drones. In the framework of the demonstration, 5G provided real-time high volume data transfer, uninterrupted 5G connectivity at sea, and the relevant communication capacity. Representatives from the LMT, the Freeport of Riga Authority, the LVR Flote as well as delegations from German ports of Lübeck and Hamburg observed the trial on board the icebreaker VARMA.

The demonstration on board VARMA provided a unique opportunity to see the 5G multi-hop principle in action in real time, which ensured communication between the LVR Flote floating craft – the icebreaker VARMA, the hydrographic measurement drone OTTER, the pilot ship DORE – and the LMT 5G air drone. As the pilot ship sailed away, guests could see on the monitors the communications indicators as well as the 5G equipment on board the icebreaker VARMA. At the same time, the OTTER hydrographic survey drone transmitted bottom measurements and video of what was happening on the water, while the LMT 5G aerial drone provided video coverage even when the ship was moving out of the visibility area. During the demonstration, LMT technologies were able to provide seamless 5G mobile data transmission, which ensured simultaneous data exchange between ships and drones on the water and in the air. This is a continuation of the first successful tests in November 2023, when the 5G connection to the ship was established via a terrestrial 5G network, and 5G network connectivity was successfully provided from ship to end-user.

“The sea is a challenge for high-quality fast communications that can be addressed with maritime 5G technologies. All the work that LMT has done so far in testing maritime 5G technologies has developed into a solution that is unrivalled in our region and in the wider global context. The deployment of maritime 5G networking and the solutions based on it is becoming increasingly important and will be an invaluable support in circumstances where huge amounts of data need to be transmitted from ship to ship or from ship to port in a short time, but this is not possible with traditional data transmission methods. The export potential of the new solution is also confirmed by the very strong interest from maritime logistics companies and major European ports in the further joint development of such a solution,” said Juris Binde, President of LMT, Doctor of Economics.

5G technologies at sea use the circuit principle to transmit data – the 5G network signal is passed from one ship to the next, thus maintaining communications between ships and ports as well as between ships at sea. The demonstration by LMT and LVR Flote, following the first trials in autumn, is further proof that 5G maritime technologies can successfully deliver 5G coverage in the Baltic Sea.

Kaspars Ozoliņš, Member of the Board of the Freeport of Riga Authority capital company LVR Flote: “This trial in the port demonstrates the opportunities that 5G technology creates for data exchange at sea, which is crucial not only for our services but for the maritime industry as a whole. At the same time, by presenting the result of this cooperation project, we are also familiarizing our international partners with the creation of an innovation test environment in the Freeport of Riga for the development of new projects in the field of port and marine digitization and the integration of information systems. The successful cooperation between LVR Flote and LMT in creating such a test environment is based on an accessible environment for innovation development within the port infrastructure, as well as accessible legal and administrative support for innovation implementation and an open ecosystem of cooperation partners.”