The announcement of the funding guideline for the first funding programme of the Federal Agency for the Public Safety Digital Radio (BDBOS) was published today. The aim is to utilise the advantages of the 5G mobile radio standard and, in the future, 6G as well as edge and cloud computing for next-generation digital radio. “Our funding programme is intended to pave the way for researching, developing and implementing suitable applications for innovative network technologies in mission-critical and mission-supporting areas,” explains BDBOS President Andreas Gegenfurtner.

The funding guideline comprises a funding volume of around 20 million euros. The announcement lists a total of 62 exemplary research questions to drive forward the research and development of next-generation digital radio in the most targeted way possible with specialised partners from industry and science. Individual projects (exclusively companies) and joint projects consisting of scientific and industry players will be funded. In this way, the requirements for innovative products and services are to be incorporated into the future development of Public Safety Digital Radio at an early stage.

The aim is to supplement the tried-and-tested Public Safety Digital Radio with innovative data applications. The data collected and transmitted with current and future hardware, such as sensor, movement and connection data, audio, videos, photos or text, should be analysed in real time by the personnel of the public safety organisations, then processed and used to support decision-making. This will certainly involve new device categories such as smart devices and wearables and complex applications. At the same time, however, it must be ensured that vulnerabilities and security risks are minimised in order to adequately meet availability requirements. A comprehensive information and communication strategy is therefore part of the funding guideline. “It is important to us that we allow all our user groups to participate in the developments of the funding guideline in order to be able to align the next generation of digital radio with their needs,” says BDBOS President Gegenfurtner.

>> Download the funding guideline

If you are interested in participating or have further questions about the funding guideline and funding programme, you are cordially invited to take part in our virtual information event.

For the organisation and implementation of the funding programme, the BDBOS is supported by its project organiser VDI / VDE Innovation und Technik GmbH. Contact persons for all questions regarding the funding programme are:

Kai Börner
e-mail: Kai.Boerner@vdivde-it.de

Miruna Raceala-Motoc
e-mail: Miruna.Raceala-Motoc@vdivde-it.de