The Magna procession of Malaga tests 5G for security and crowd control

The University of Malaga (UMA), in collaboration with Telephone and the Local Police have put to the test, for the first time in Europe and during the Magna procession, the operation of 5G to detect risk situations in mass events.

Celebrated the past 30 October, The Magna procession filled the streets of Malaga with people from all over Spain, who came to the city to enjoy the processions.

This was the scenario chosen to carry out a pilot test of the performance of the new 5G technology, deployed by Telephone in the city center and in the University of Malaga, within the framework of the European R&D&I project '5Genesis', that has allowed the real-time monitoring of large agglomerations of people, with the aim of detecting possible risk situations.

In fact, this pilot marks a milestone as it is the first time in Europe that the operation of 5G is tested in matters of security and citizen control in mass events.

To carry it out they were placed stand-alone video cameras and six local police officers carried 5G mobiles, for the capture and consultation of video in real time of different points of the route. In turn, those images were sent to image control center, also connected by 5G, installed by the Police in the Larios Hotel, located in the city center, for the follow-up of the Magna.

From this mobile emergency center a live demonstration was performed. Pedro Merino, promoter of the project and director of the MORSE group of the Institute of Technology and Software Engineering of the University of Malaga (ITIS), pointed out that "the use of the 5G network in this type of mass events gives the Police a great operational advantage, as it provides added information, immediacy and versatility".

In addition to highlighting the quality of the images it offers, the UMA researcher said that this technology allows to reach areas where there are no fixed cameras, adding reaction capacity.

For its part, David Artuñedo, responsible for 5G pilots in telefónica's Strategic Innovation area, indicated that "with this event, we are demonstrating the value that the company brings to its customers, offering them the best 5G connectivity with minimal latency and a capacity for real-time video use, in mobility and with the maximum protection that in this type of cases the security forces and bodies require".

The demonstration was also attended by the Vice-Rector for Studies of the UMA, Ernesto Pimentel; the Councilor for Security of the City of Malaga, Avelino de Barrionuevo; the sub-inspector and head of the Informatics and Telecommunication Group of the Local Police, Jose Manuel Moreno, and David Artuñedo, of Telefónica, as well as other members of the UMA group and institutional representatives.

in parallel, technical work has also been carried out to compare the use of 5G against other forms of connection of the cameras. This analysis on the network has been coordinated by the ITIS Institute with the support of Telefónica.

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