At the end of the year, a thick fog covers the port of Le Havre. The snow does not improve visibility: not a boat on the horizon, nor even this landmark culminating at 215 meters high, the Normandy Bridge. But at the foot of the premises of the Générale de manutention portuaire (GMP), everyone is busy. The leading operator in the sector handled 1.7 million TEU containers (twenty-foot equivalent, unit of measurement of a standard container) last year, which represents 35% market share in France.
A 2D digital twin already developed in-house
The company, which employs 1,200 employees including 1,000 dock workers, loads and unloads ships in two port terminals on nearly 150 hectares. One of them, the France terminal, accommodates the largest container ships in the world (399 meters long). A veritable anthill, which requires several devices to be put in place to guarantee the smooth circulation of vehicles and containers. “We believe a lot in data management to facilitate the smooth flow of goods”supports Louis Jonquière, president of the GMP.
The GMP then set up a 2D digital twin internally, capable of visualizing all movements on the port, particularly between vehicles. “We will now move towards a 3D digital twincontinues Louis Jonquière. This is a program that is in progress, with the aim of modeling the ideal port of call and reducing vessel turnaround time. But to ensure the integrity of goods, we need 5G coverage.”
Hub One deploys a scalable 4G 5G network at three airports
To design the architecture of this 5G network and operate it, the GMP chose the technology operator Hub One. A subsidiary of the ADP group since 2001, the company has acquired some experience in the field by deploying a scalable private 4G 5G network on the Paris-Charles de Gaulle and Paris-Orly airport platforms.
With these two platforms and Le Bourget airport, the operator covers an area of 55 km². “An airport, like a port, is an ecosystem that never stopsunderlines Guillaume de Lavallade, general manager of Hub One. Unlike consumer networks, private 5G networks are essential to have coverage absolutely everywhere, for security reasons.”
Avoid accidents, which are often serious
The port handling operator has already set up an experimental 5G network in the container circulation areas of the France terminal, via the installation of two compatible antennas. The main use case for this technology is to improve the anti-collision system between maintenance utility vehicles and straddlers, these giant machines capable of moving containers from point A to point B. The latter have very high visibility. limited, circulating between aisles of containers up to 8 meters high.
Although they are becoming increasingly rare, accidents of this type remain no less severe. “In August 2023, a rider drove onto the front of the vehicle, and a few years ago, onto the truck, causing the death of the driverexplains Patrick Labbé, director of information systems at GMP. And despite the guidelines and instructions put in place on how to ride, these accidents happen.” Note that a rider weighs around 70 tonnes empty and up to 100 tonnes when transporting a container.
An on-board system via a screen on the dashboard
With the arrival of Hub One's 5G network, dockworkers working on straddles and in maintenance vehicles now have access to an on-board system allowing them to visualize all surrounding land movements. This technology takes the form of a 2D digital twin, modeled on the model developed internally by GMP, integrated into a screen in the middle of the dashboard. “One of the advantages of 5G is to benefit from very short latencynotes François Munerot, head of the Mobile Pro activity at Hub One. It is therefore perfectly suited to anti-collision systems, to transmit little data but have immediate access to the network.
Before installing this device, the handling company implemented several safety techniques to prevent these accidents, reducing them considerably. Rotating lights have been installed at the end of a pole on the roof of light vehicles, allowing them to go beyond the 8 meter stack of containers. Light beams are also projected below the riders, and the vehicles have been restrained.
Towards network coverage for dockworkers in the hold
In addition to classic 4G and 5G, the company relies on Sigfox networks (trailer geolocation) and LoRa antennas. But also on WiMesh technology, supposed to facilitate communication from riders. GMP and Hub One now plan to install two new 5G antennas to fully cover the 87 hectares of the France terminal before extending the network to the “northern” terminals, representing 70 hectares.
The two companies are considering other use cases, particularly for dockworkers present in the hold, where network connections are very degraded. “We worked on digital simulation models on specific software and released some engineering formatscontinues François Munerot. According to some manufacturers, this would be a first in the world.”
A 3D digital twin in the testing phase
The next stage of the partnership between Hub One and GMP aims to deploy a 3D digital twin. “This will help us in many areas: we will immediately know if a rider is transporting a container or not, obtain data on the rider (GPS position, height, engine temperature)…lists Patrick Labbé. We will be able to note the information on alerts.” This technology is currently in the testing phase.
Hub One finally specifies that the experimental network could improve communications and data sharing between dockers, particularly for those working on gantry cranes, these immense cranes for loading and unloading ships. As such, the GMP is conducting tests on private 5G headsets, mainly for maintenance operations.
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