Research

Remote control of intelligent machines tested on the Hervanta campus

Published on 29.6.2020

Tampere University

Remote control operations were performed in CIVIT’s laboratory on the Hervanta campus.

Remote control technologies were tested using Patria’s armoured AMV 8x8 vehicle on the Hervanta campus of Tampere University on the week leading up to Midsummer. The demonstration was part of the RemoteFeel and 5G-VIIMA projects funded by Business Finland.

The 5G test network deployed on the Hervanta campus early this year was tested last week as part of the remote control demo of the armoured AMV 8x8 vehicle manufactured by Patria.

“To create a natural feel for the remote control operations, it is necessary to collect a wide range of sensory data from the operating environment of the vehicle. The quick and reliable transmission of this data takes a great deal more data transmission capacity than an average video call,” says Olli Suominen, doctoral researcher in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.

“The 5G test network offered us access to the capacity required for the transmission of multiple images from a computer to the network. 4G networks have a much more limited capacity,” continues Joonas Säe, postdoctoral research fellow in the Faculty of Information Technology and Communication Sciences.

The demonstration connected to the RemoteFeel project funded by Business Finland enabled the participants to test in practice the remote control of mobile machines using purpose-built systems.

Etäohjattu vaunu — Patria’s armoured vehicle in the test site located on the Hervanta campus.

The system developed by researchers at Tampere University manages not only the transmission of image data from in-vehicle sensors to the remote control station across the network but also the visualisation displayed to the users. The control system of the actual vehicle is developed by Patria. All the data sent between the vehicle and the remote control station was transmitted across the University’s 5G and 4G test networks to CIVIT’s laboratory on campus.

“We also used the 4G network in the demo, because the existing 5G networks still rely on 4G to work properly. To carry out the demonstration, we used Nokia’s FastMile 5G router to set up the connections in the test field,” specifies Joonas Säe.

Company collaboration is important for research

RemoteFeel was launched by the company network FIMA Forum for Intelligent Machines ry, which is also one of the project sponsors.

“FIMA’s member companies consider the development of remote control technologies for mobile machines to be a major step towards increasingly intelligent and autonomous machines. With the RemoteFeel project, we set out to explore the opportunities opened up by the latest technologies to improve, for example, real-time image processing and depth of field,” says FIMA’s Secretary General Antti Sirén.

Besides RemoteFeel, the AMV demo was part of Business Finland’s 5G-VIIMA project, where research on wireless networks and especially 5G test networks is carried out in close collaboration with companies. The arrangement allows companies to quickly test their concepts in a real-world environment and the University to build closer collaborative relationships by contributing to a variety of projects.

Inquiries about the 5G test network and 5G-VIIMA:
Postdoctoral Research Fellow Joonas Säe, Tampere University
Professor Mikko Valkama, Tampere University

Inquiries about the RemoteFeel project:
Doctoral Researcher Olli Suominen, Tampere University

Inquiries, FIMA:
Secretary General Antti Siren, FIMA, tel. +358 40 820 4605, antti.siren [at] fima.fi (antti[dot]siren[at]fima[dot]fi)
Inquiries, Patria:
Director of Technology Matti Saarikko, matti.saarikko [at] patriagroup.fi (matti[dot]saarikko[at]patriagroup[dot]fi)