Private 5G and Automation Transform Viticulture in the Moselle Valley

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The Moselle Valley in the Cochem-Zell district is home to an almost 2000-year-old winegrowing tradition. Known for its extremely steep slopes, the region’s vineyards have long relied on manual labour. However, a shortage of skilled workers and the risk of accidents on challenging terrain are putting increasing pressure on local winegrowers.

To address this, the project Smart Vineyard ("Smarter Weinberg" in German) has been launched with support from the Federal Ministry for Digital and Transport. Its aim is to safeguard the unique cultural landscape through 5G-based digitisation and automation, while strengthening regional wine production. As part of this effort, Deutsche Telekom has deployed a private 5G campus network in the vineyard. Combined with an edge cloud infrastructure, this forms the digital foundation for advanced applications including robotics, artificial intelligence and image recognition.

A key feature of the project is a 5G-connected viticulture robot. Fitted with a 5G router, the robot autonomously navigates vineyard rows and performs time-intensive tasks such as soil cultivation and defoliation. Cameras on the robot capture detailed imagery of the vines and surrounding areas. This data is used in real time to control tools for precision operations like weed removal. It also provides insights into foliage volume, pest presence and ripening conditions.

All data is processed on a central platform that enables intelligent reuse. With this information, winegrowers can make accurate decisions to optimise irrigation, fertilisation and pest control, reducing resource use while maintaining crop health.

The 5G campus network operates on industrial spectrum between 3.7 and 3.8 GHz, allocated specifically for the vineyard by the Federal Network Agency. This dedicated spectrum ensures a fully private setup, independent of Deutsche Telekom’s public network. It provides more than 100 MHz of upload capacity to transfer high-resolution sensor data. Future plans include making the setup nomadic so it can be relocated between vineyard sites as needed. The entire solution is also designed to be emission-free, with power supplied by an electric vehicle through its charging port.

Beyond enabling robotics, the network is also being used to study signal behaviour in agricultural settings. The complex vineyard topography presents challenges for consistent 5G coverage. Researchers are examining how elements such as support wires, plant structures and foliage affect signal strength and reliability.

The Smart Vineyard project is coordinated by the University of Koblenz and involves several partners including the Service Center for Rural Areas (Mosel), Clemens Technologies, Vision and Robotics, AeroDCS and two local wineries in Bremm and Zell. Together they aim to modernise viticulture in steep-slope regions, tackle climate-related challenges and ensure the continuation of high-quality wine production despite a tightening labour market.

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