"LANDNETZ" (rural network) test field
Full coverage communication and cloud networks for agriculture 4.0 and rural areas
Digital test field
The aim of the project, which runs from 09/2019 to 08/2022, is to create a digital test field. The focus lies on the necessary communication and cloud infrastructures to study and test technologies for full-coverage wireless data transfer using 5G in rural areas as well as on the networking of rural enterprises and the use of data hubs in a selected model region in Saxony. LANDNETZ has been planned as an open test and collaboration platform as well as a showcase offering non-discriminatory access to test and demonstrate new and future digitisation applications for agricultural purposes and innovations in rural areas.
The test field comprises a range of spatially distributed areas of agricultural land totalling several hundred square meters and will initially be operated for three years. An operator model is under development so that the test field can continue to be used after this period. Tests will be carried out in both the protected environment of the educational and experimental station (LVG) Köllitsch and the agricultural and environmental centre (LUZ) Nossen as well as under real economic conditions in selected agricultural, fruit and wine-growing enterprises. It is also planned to make the network available for testing digital applications in rural areas and, in particular, to create a regional subnetwork in the municipality of Lommatzsch.
The 5G Lab Germany at TU Dresden (Institute of Communication Technology, Vodafone Foundation Chair of Mobile Communication Systems) is coordinating this collaborative project for the joint partners TU Dresden (Chair of Agricultural Systems Engineering), the Saxon State Office for Environment, Agriculture and Geology as well as the Fraunhofer Institute for Transportation and Infrastructure Systems (IVI).
A total of EUR 7.5 million are available for the 3-year project in the period from 2019 to 2022.
The project is financed with funds from the "Digital policy in agriculture" future programme of the German Federal Ministry of Nutrition and Agriculture (BMEL).
