Lessons learned from the demonstrator 5G RuralDorset project: a pilot landslide monitoring system using Internet of Things, Machine Learning and 5G/NB-IoT mobile networks

The 5G RuralDorset project (https://5gruraldorset.org/) was a large (£9M; 2020-2022), multi-disciplinary project funded by the UK Department for Culture, Media and Sport that aimed to understand how 5G mobile network technologies could address some specific challenges in rural communities in Dorset, UK: public safety, economic growth, food production and environmental.  Work Package X aimed to develop and trial a novel landslide monitoring system for coastal cliffs using 5G/NB-IoT (Narrow Band - Internet of Things) technologies.  The system comprised a set of small, fully autonomous, highly integrated and power efficient sensing devices that were able to collect sensory data to identify landslide activity and landslide movement. These data were transmitted wirelessly using 5G/NB-IoT to a cloud-based Data Management Platform, where they were presented to the end user over a web interface for processing by Machine Learning algorithms. It is important to note that the term ‘Internet of Things’ has been used widely in recent years in application to landslide monitoring to in fact describe real-time telemetry of data. However, the true added value of IoT-enabled systems lies in their ability to extract knowledge from collected data, make decisions and take actions based on ambient conditions and evolution of physical processes.  This talk will describe the lessons learned from this work and highlight some of the obstacles to overcome when attempting to develop and commission such a system.