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GENIUS: perception in the 5G/6G network at the Port of Barcelona
An R&D project on 6G for logistics and multimodal transport. We lead the Barcelona port use case, where the vehicle's perception moves to a 5G/6G network server located next to the antennas (edge).
Technologies
6G and 5G
Edge computing
Autonomous driving perception
V2X communication
Teleoperation
CAMARA APIs
GENIUS is a project under Horizon Europe and the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking that brings logistics, multimodal transport and automation together with 6G networks. It gathers 15 organisations from six countries, coordinated by Instituto de Telecomunicações (Portugal), with close to €6M of funding from July 2026 to June 2029. It validates six use cases at three real sites:
Aveiro (Portugal). Autonomous transport of medical samples by air and by road.
Aveiro (Portugal). Drones that support perception and traffic management.
Athens Airport. Robotic arms and guided vehicles for baggage.
Athens Airport. Safe coordination of ground-handling vehicles.
Port of Barcelona. New cars from the yard to the ship, with teleoperation as backup. We take part in the teleoperation.
Port of Barcelona. Led by Seevia: the vehicle's perception runs on an edge server in the network, with on-board backup.
Seevia takes part in cases 5 and 6, at the Port of Barcelona. The rest of this page focuses on those two cases.
Autonomous perception needs a lot of on-board computing, which makes each vehicle dearer. A 5G or 6G network can supply it from a server located next to its antennas, if the connection is guaranteed and safety does not depend on it.
01
The vehicle asks the network for the quality of service it needs before sending sensor data.
02
The edge server runs perception and returns the objects; as the vehicle moves, it passes to the server at the next antenna.
03
If the connection is not enough, the vehicle perceives on its own again: safety never depends on the network.
04
The vehicle, the network communication interface and perception on the edge server, with i2CAT, Orange and BCN Port Innovation.
The Smart Mobility Lab at the Port of Barcelona has three zones: Port Vell, the cruise terminal and the commercial port. 5G radio sits on the lamp posts, edge computing is spread across the port and the cruise terminal has a traffic-free area for controlled tests.
Smart Mobility Lab at the Port of Barcelona: the three test zones and the instrumented lamp posts.
The GENIUS consortium at the kick-off meeting, Aveiro, July 2026.
We take part in teleoperation. Each new car goes from the reception row to its bay in the yard under remote supervision, with a network that warns before quality drops.
Led by Seevia. At the vehicle terminal of the Port of Barcelona, the shuttle that picks up the handling drivers relies on a network server, next to the antennas, to perceive its surroundings, with reserved connection quality and on-board perception if the network degrades.
15 organisations from six countries, coordinated by the Instituto de Telecomunicações.
GENIUS has received funding from the Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking (SNS JU) under the European Union's Horizon Europe research and innovation programme, Grant Agreement No 101293076.
Co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the granting authority. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.
News from the trials in Aveiro, Athens and Barcelona, results and videos on the GENIUS website and social channels.
1 July 2026
Project start.
2 and 3 July 2026
Kick-off in Aveiro.
30 June 2029
Planned project end.
Whether a safety-critical autonomous driving task can run outside the vehicle, in the network infrastructure, and how to keep safety when the connection degrades.
With indicators defined by the consortium and measured in a real operational environment, the Port of Barcelona.
In the project's public deliverables and on its official website, sns-genius.eu.
Tell us your case and we will look at it with your data.
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