ENVELOPE: 5G and Edge Computing for connected emergency care
In the European research programme ENVELOPE, Next G Cloud led the CASCAD-e experiment: a connected ambulance that uses 5G and Edge Computing to make emergency response faster and safer.
ENVELOPE is a European research programme (Horizon Europe – Smart Networks and Services Joint Undertaking) that opens up and transforms the 5G-advanced architecture into a service-oriented platform. The core idea: expose network capabilities to applications in a simple, transparent way, through APIs that turn the complexity of 5G into easy-to-consume services. Within ENVELOPE, Next G Cloud led the experiment CASCAD-e — Connected Ambulance Safety with Computation and Advanced Deployment at the Edge — to bring these benefits to emergency healthcare.
At the heart of the innovation: Next G Cloud’s infrastructure
Next G Cloud designed and built the “invisible engine” of the experiment: an Edge Cloud (MEC) node and an API Gateway that let the 5G network, medical devices and emergency applications communicate in real time. By processing data locally, at the edge of the network, our infrastructure made it simple to consume three standard ENVELOPE APIs (CAMARA) — Edge Application Management, Devices in Area and Quality on Demand — to dynamically manage connection quality and priority where and when it is needed.
The trial: the connected ambulance
Together with our partners WINGS ICT Solutions (wi.care+ healthcare application) and Smart Flow (data governance), we tested the solution on a real 5G network in Turin, both public and private. During the trials with first-response staff, the system enabled: remote pre-hospital triage with real-time streaming of vital signs of the patient, accurate caller location, ambulance route optimisation and the sending of alerts to other road users (for example “emergency vehicle approaching”), with dynamic network-slice switching to guarantee priority when it matters most.
Why it matters
CASCAD-e shows how 5G-advanced and Edge Computing can have a concrete impact on people’s lives: less precious time lost during emergency response, earlier clinical decisions thanks to real-time data, and safer roads. It is also a reusable model well beyond healthcare: the ENVELOPE architecture is designed as an “envelope” able to host and support any vertical service.