5G FOR
A BETTER
TOMORROW

5G4LIVES is a European project implemented in Latvia and Italy, combining 5G connectivity with UAV (drone) technologies to strengthen public safety and environmental protection. The project focuses on real-time aerial situational awareness and data-driven vulnerability assessment in high-risk areas—helping emergency and public safety teams respond faster and plan smarter.

Project period: Jan 2024 – Dec 2026

Locations: Riga (LV) & Turin (IT)

Funding programme: CEF Digital (Connecting Europe Facility Digital)

Total project budget: €3,826,000

Project partners

The Challenge: Why 5G4LIVES?

Cities face growing pressure to respond to incidents quickly—across busy public areas, complex terrain, and fast-changing weather conditions. 5G4LIVES explores how reliable 5G connectivity + drone operations can improve situational awareness, reduce response time, and support better decision-making during emergencies and high-risk events.

5G-enabled drone support for public safety monitoring and rescue scenarios

In Riga, 5G4LIVES deploys an on-demand, 5G-connected drone service at Vecāķi Beach and Ķīšezers Lake to reduce the burden on lifeguards and municipal police while improving coverage in hard-to-monitor zones. Using docked drones (drone-boxes) and live video/thermal feeds, teams can spot risk situations earlier—supporting summer beach/water safety and winter ice monitoring—so rescue missions can be launched minutes faster, with fewer people pulled away from hands-on response.

Real-time risk awareness for hillside/natural hazard scenarios

In Turin, 5G4LIVES pilots a 5G-enabled situational awareness and vulnerability assessment service focused on hillside risks—supporting emergency management scenarios (e.g., landslides) and automatic aerial monitoring missions for data collection and analysis. BVLOS drone operations stream real-time information to strengthen decision-making during incidents, while automated monitoring helps reduce time, cost, and exposure for field officers working in hard-to-reach or hazardous areas, backed by improved mission planning and secure command & control.

VEFRESH in 5G4LIVES

• Leads WP6 delivering project’s communication & dissemination approach.

• Supports exploitation, innovation management and standardisation activities to help move pilot outcomes toward real-world adoption and broader collaboration.

• Develops the 5G4LIVES Training Package—a structured, multimedia learning resource that translates technical project work into practical guidance for first end-users and wider stakeholders.

• Brings VEFRESH’s public-sector innovation and innovation procurement expertise to support uptake, matchmaking, and long-term implementation in smart city ecosystems.

Outputs & resources

Explore the main public outputs from 5G4LIVES — including project deliverables, scientific publications and practical training materials. All resources are shared to support learning, replication and wider adoption of 5G-enabled drone services for public safety and emergency response.

Public deliverables

Scientific articles

Training package

The 5G4LIVES Training Package is a practical, video-based learning series that turns project experience into clear, reusable guidance for cities, civil protection teams and other stakeholders. Across four modules, it explains what the pilots solve, how the 5G-enabled drone service works in practice, how results are measured, and what public authorities should consider when planning real-world adoption and replication beyond Riga and Turin.

This module gives a clear, non-technical introduction to what 5G4LIVES is and why it matters for public safety. It explains how 5G connectivity and drones can support emergency teams with faster incident detection and better situational awareness. You’ll also get a practical overview of the Riga and Turin pilots to understand the real-world problems the project tackles and what “good” looks like in operations.

Module 2 breaks down the system behind the service—how drones, 5G networks, platforms and command structures work together in practice. It introduces key operational building blocks such as BVLOS principles, mission planning, safety redundancies, cybersecurity and data/privacy considerations. The goal is to make the technical backbone understandable for both technical staff and public authorities who need to plan or supervise deployment.

Drone demonstrations

On 25 September, 5G4LIVES held a live demonstration at Ķīšezers Lake, showing how 5G-connected drones can support real rescue operations. The team tested emergency-response scenarios with a drone equipped with a thermal camera, operating within a defined drone corridor and connected through a dedicated 5G network. By streaming live video and mission data to the command centre in real time, the demo proved how aerial situational awareness can help responders detect incidents faster, coordinate teams more effectively, and improve safety during time-critical operations.

The City of Turin hosted demonstration days on October 28–29, showing how 5G-connected drones can support emergency response in real conditions. Using the DROMThub mission planning platform, the team carried out an autonomous BVLOS flight over Superga Hill, supported by a 5G network provided by WINDTRE. The drone streamed live video plus positioning/system/GPS data directly to the local police control room, where operators monitored the mission in real time and assessed a simulated rescue target (a person in a yellow jacket) along a pre-defined route. Thanks to the stable 5G link, the video feed stayed consistent while telemetry enabled precise positioning and full command control throughout the flight. Demo days also featured Politecnico di Torino presenting an early version of a web-based BVLOS route planning tool to speed up future large-scale missions.

Stay updated on the project

Get the latest news and updates on the official 5G4LIVES LinkedIn page