Liverpool City Region High Demand Density (LCR HDD)
Salt & Tar is a brand new outdoor events venue offering street food, bars, live entertainment and cultural events. It’s a social hub located on the canal side in the heart of Bootle with free-to-attend monthly Street Food Socials and a full calendar of ticketed live events.
The LCR HDD project trialled its new Open RAN HDD private network at Salt & Tar’s Music Festival in August 2024.
The event welcomed 3,000 attendees and the pilot was deemed a success as a boosted signal meant:
The Arena and Convention Centre (ACC) is a conference and event venue on Liverpool’s iconic waterfront. Since opening in 2008 it has successfully staged a wide array of national and international events, from shows to conventions, business gatherings to showcase exhibitions. After the success of the first trial at Salt & Tar in Bootle, the LCR HDD project conducted a second trial of a new Open RAN HDD private network at Comic Con, which took place at the ACC in November 2024.
This trial set out to test the technology in an indoor space. A Telepresence Robot, dressed as ‘Sheldon’ from the Big Bang Theory, was used to test the reliability of the network. Guests who were unable to attend the event due to disabilities could remotely control ‘Sheldon’ from their home, explore the arena and experience the event through interaction with cosplayers.
Liverpool Waterfront
LCR HDD carried out it’s third pilot December 2024 at the Liverpool M&S Bank Arena. This trial tested new Open RAN technology to find out if it can contribute to lowering carbon emissions at large scale events.
September last year, UN headquarters announced that Liverpool is the world’s first ‘UN Accelerator City’ for climate action – an accolade to recognise the project and the city’s commitment to technical innovation and smart regulation to rapidly decarbonise the live music and TV/Film production sectors. The technology was trialled at the ‘Act 1.5 Presents’ event, which aimed to demonstrate how live music events can be Paris 1.5 compatible. It involved live music sets from Massive Attack, IDLES and Nile Rodgers.
The data collected over the series of events will be used to develop an xApp, a software tool that runs on a Radio Access Network (RAN) Intelligence Controller (RIC) to manage network function in near-real time, with the aim of optimising the energy efficiency of the network. For the first time, eSims (virtual versions of Sim cards) were introduced at the arena. These are considered greener than physical Sim cards as they reduce the use of plastic, energy and transport emission.
Liverpool
Funded by the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology
Led by the University of Liverpool, Department of Electrical & Engineering
Managed by Liverpool 5G
In partnership with telet
In partnership with Qualcomm
In partnership with Radisys
In partnership with AttoCore
In partnership with ITS
In partnership with Liverpool John Moores University
In partnership with CGA Simulation
In partnership with the Hartree Centre
In partnership with Weaver Labs
In partnership with Aimes Grid Services
