Huawei is helping the Shanghai International Port Group (SIPG) launch a centralised remote-control project for smart ports.

SIPG has launched its smart command and control centre project, with the support from its Shangdong Branch, NeZha Technology and Huawei. This is said to be the first project in the world to apply optical networking technology for centralised remote control in ports.

At the launch event, Shangdong Branch, NeZha Technology and Huawei also signed a port intelligent twins innovation cooperation agreement to emphasise the intention of the three parties to continue their cooperation in building smart ports while promoting the digital transformation of SIPG.

Compared with previous generations of fixed networks, Huawei’s optical networking technology offers improved bandwidth, lower latency, higher reliability and more connections, to fulfil industrial IoT requirements from smart ports. Thanks to its redundancy and reliability features, the optical architecture designed for this project ensures secure and reliable connectivity for various remote-control applications that drive port machinery, while enabling smarter port operations, smooth evolution and future-oriented investment protection.

“This project marks the first practical application of the centralised remote control in urban areas over port equipment using advanced optical networks,” said Gu Jinshan, chairman of SIPG. “It highlights our commitment to innovation and the use of cutting-edge technologies in an effort to position ourselves as leaders in the market. Currently, we are building a smart, green, high-tech and efficient port. We are capitalising on the opportunities presented by digital transformation, optimising our port operations and management models.”

The smart command and control centre was deployed at phase IV of the Yangshan Port automated container terminal. The terminal covers 2350 metres of shoreline, and holds seven deep-water container berths, 21 ship-to-shore cranes, 108 rail-mounted gantry cranes and 125 automated guided vehicles.

Operating since 2017, phase IV is quickly growing its container throughput, having handled 11 million TEUs to date. In fact, the terminal continues to hit various records. Its maximum round-the-clock handling capacity exceeds 21,000 TEUs, and its cranes have repeatedly performed over 1000 operations within a day. This production level highlights the effectiveness of the automated system while also testing its stability.

And with the optical networking technology featuring low latency and high reliability, command and control over quay cranes and yard cranes is no longer taking place at the port. Instead, remote control is implemented from the Tongsheng Logistics Park and downtown Shanghai. Located over 100km away from the port, remote operators control heavy port equipment in multiple locations from one point. This brings advantages such as reduced commute times for staff, better predictability of staff availability and attractiveness of the workplace.

Visualised remote control is an important component as it improves operational efficiency of the port. This project has allowed SIPG to improve the terminal’s emergency response and uninterrupted service capabilities in exceptional circumstances, such as extreme weather conditions.

In smart ports, optical networking is mainly used in the Huawei OTN to implement WAN interconnection between ports, as well as in the Huawei Optix to control large port equipment accurately and efficiently. This project is seen as a lighthouse project for optical networking applications.

First, optical networking technology is applied in the industrial control field to realise fibre-to-the-machine deployment that will help reinvent the network architecture of large ports. Enhanced dynamic bandwidth allocation technology assigns fixed bandwidth and QoS parameters to channels that carry industrial control services and flexible bandwidth to carry UHD videos, implementing smoother remote control over conventional technologies.

Moreover, optical networking technology simplifies network layers and centrally carries machine and campus networks, with the visualised network management system reducing the O&M workload by 60%.

Secondly, this is the first application of optical networking technology to a backbone WAN of a large port. An all-optical data highway is being built between geographically separated ports, achieving better transmission capabilities with Tbit/s capacity, microsecond-level latency, and zero jitter over distances exceeding 100km. Such transmission creates possibilities for the application of new technologies and port intelligent twins.

“Huawei develops the port intelligent twins across all processes, service architectures and lifecycles of smart ports based on application innovation and ecosystem aggregation,” said Wang Guoyu, president of Huawei’s global transportation business unit. “We use digital technologies such as cloud, and intelligent vision to deeply integrate with service scenarios of traditional industries, and leverage new ICT to improve intelligence and computing power. In doing so, we enable industry digitalisation and upgrades, create new productivity for conventional labour-intensive enterprises, and drive digital economic development.”

The three companies signed the port intelligent twins agreement with the goal of building a world-class comprehensive port service supplier. They will invest in and construct projects, guided by the use of technologies, and develop industry demonstration applications.

To accumulate and deliver digital transformation practices and methodologies for ports globally, the three parties have established a joint port intelligent twins innovation centre to achieves all-scenario sensing, interconnection and intelligence. They plan to strengthen cooperation in smart port construction, basic service upgrades, technological innovation and talent cultivation.