In public speak, ‘5G video allows you to get more from live events, enjoying a personalised experience straight to your device, all while being right there among the action’. It is a part of the government’s 5G Create Project, and it brings broadcast and mobile network mindsets together in committed support of multicast.

 

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Take the use of mobile phones at stadiums or large events: many consumers believe that mobile phone usage should be as functional here as it is in most other urban spaces, with information at our fingertips and the ability to post content or catch a key moment up close unimpeded. This is reflected in their ongoing use of mobile devices at stadiums – our research shows that consumers going to live events regularly use their smartphones (76% use them at music events and 77% at sports events), with photography, messaging, filming, and voice calls being the most used functions. But the technology often struggles. Simple functions like making a call or updating social media – things which consumers often are keen to do at large events spaces – can be incredibly challenging as networks struggle to find a cost effective way to meet demand. Overcoming issues of capacity constraints, network solutions, and equipment costs have, historically, been challenging for mobile providers, stadium operators, and events producers to work out – keep in mind that a stadium is typically packed with fans one day and sitting idle for the rest of the week.

But where technology is limited and consumer demand is high, opportunity lies.

5G Vista is a pioneering project that will deliver next generation viewing experiences for event spectators. The particular technology that Vista will centre around is further-evolved multimedia broadcast multicast service (FeMBMS). While most mobile and internet communications are one to one, FeMBMS is one to many; it will take a single stream and send it to multiple users. By providing live multi-angle HD video streams and interactive content from the event direct to devices in stadiums (and ultimately to locations across the UK as well), the project aims to create an innovative and exciting dimension to live events that will not only enhance the spectator’s experiences at events but increase channels of engagement whilst showcasing new in-stadia digital experiences.

The commercial potential of this technology is vast: for operators, events managers, content providers, and those looking to build new and innovative experiences for consumers.

Take a large sports stadium for instance. By using Vista’s technology, you could design an app for the most passionate sports fan that augments the matchday experience. This could contain additional broadcast content and coverage of key moments. Any football fan has experienced the anguish associated with VAR: Vista’s broadcast capabilities could solve this problem by bringing live footage to mobile devices and improving the transparency of in-game decisions. Or look at music venues. In increasingly large arenas and music venues, fans can often be far away from the action. A Vista-enabled app could bring them close-up views of the stage or allow for greater interaction with artists when production levels are a focus of the entertainment experience. At festivals, fans could also follow what is happening at stages from afar, ensuring they don’t miss any of the action.

More broadly, this technology could also allow for the broadcast of up-to-date venue information such as queue length for facilities or the ability to take advantage of food and beverage specials. It could provide greater advertising and sales opportunities as attendees will no longer be cut off by the bandwidth barrier which prevents reliable mobile use, as well as inclusive features to improve matchday experience for those with disabilities.  All of this is made possible because Vista, and FeMBMS, solves the bandwidth issue that prevents consumers from accessing the information they are accustomed to finding at their fingertips in other urban spaces.

For the adoption of FeMBMS, and Vista’s technology, to be successful it’s critical to show the benefits of this technological solution over other options. This is an innovation that will move the stadium experience forwards because it provides consumers the power to use technology they expect elsewhere. The commercial case made for using this technology should convince operators, stadiums, producers and broadcasters that their interests with this technology are ultimately aligned. Providing consumers with reliable mobile technology wherever they are is a proven business case because it is, after all, the least that they expect.

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Fans at Stadium MK for the EFL League One match between MK Dons and Ipswich Town earlier this month were able to try out a prototype of the 5G VISTA app developed by the group which includes Virgin Media O2 (VMO2), DTG, GWS and Digital Catapult.

Using the app allowed fans to view six, HD live streams of different perspectives of the game including behind the scenes footage. 5G VISTA claims that the technology has the potential to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums. These include overcoming challenges associated with cabling and network complexity, and unstable 4G networks during highly attended events.

Commenting on the successful trial, Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said: “5G has the power to further fans’ enjoyment of live sports in stadiums while helping broadcasters to improve their live output. I’m delighted that this trial is the latest in a long list of cutting-edge tests we’ve funded through our £200m programme to use 5G to drive economic growth and improve people’s lives.”

Alongside the match, MK5G and 5G VISTA used the trial to showcase future applications including autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium and AI-enabled traffic control onsite.

These demonstrations included a drone race around the Stadium MK arena filmed from multiple perspectives using the 5G VISTA app which also acted as the world’s first drone race broadcast in high definition organised by the British Drone Racing Association.

David Owens, head of technical trials at VMO2, added: “This event marks the culmination of a lot of hard but very rewarding work with some fantastic partners. We’re thrilled to bring 5G VISTA to life at a MK Dons game, showcasing the technologies to real fans and watching their reactions was fantastic. We’re excited about the future possibilities of this 5G-powered technology for fan experiences in-stadium and at home.”

Both 5G VISTA and MK5G had received funding from the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G. 5G VISTA was backed by £1.3m, with a further £1m contributed by partners including Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre.

To continue the conversation join us at Critical Communications Network – the new online community for the sector

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Video in Stadia Technical Architecture (VISTA) takes  advantage of 5G New Radio, enhanced Mobile Broadband, and 5G broadcast services, trialled with LTE feMBMS, to showcase new and exciting in-stadia digital experiences.

The project is designed to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums. The consortium says in-stadia mobile connectivity for fans is notoriously weak, with challenges for large sporting venues in providing enough capacity to deliver enhanced spectator experiences at a reasonable cost. It adds that 5G broadcast allows these experiences at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions.

Not only does 5G broadcast allow spectators to get even closer to the action at live events, it has the potential to overcome challenges associated with cabling and network complexity, and unstable 4G networks during events with a large number of attendees.

5G VISTA partners including Virgin Media O2, Rohde and Schwarz, DTG, GWS, Digital Catapult, Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre joined sporting, tech and broadcast firms such as Microsoft, MK Dons, MK5G and the Open University to discuss business cases for live events solutions powered by 5G Broadcast.

The UK-first 5G broadcast trials at the MK Dons football stadium at the 30,400-seat MK Dons football stadium set to “revolutionise” fan experience. A group of lucky fans at the goalless draw between MK Dons and Ipswich Town on 12 February – which attracted a total crowd of 15,311 – were able to try out a prototype of the 5G VISTA app. This allowed them to view six, high-quality live streams of different perspectives of the game – including behind the scenes footage – with the tap of a screen.

The completion of the technical trial was followed by a final showcase of the project on 14 February as part of the MK5G Create event in the Marshall Arena, also at Stadium MK.

MK5G showcased a number of applications illustrating how major venues can harness 5G to operate in the future, including autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium, and AI-enabled traffic control onsite. These demonstrations included an drone race around the MK Dons football pitch – filmed from multiple perspectives using the 5G VISTA app, as the final milestone of the 5G VISTA project. This constituted the world’s first drone race broadcast in high definition, sponsored by Virgin Media O2 and organised by the British Drone Racing Association.

Both 5G VISTA and MK5G had received funding from the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G. 5G VISTA was backed by £1.3 million, with a further £1 million contributed by partners.

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As the UK’s mobile industry hits the accelerator pedal in deploying 5G and the UK government sees evolution in the 5G Create projects it is funding to trial new uses of 5G to improve people’s lives, another UK next-gen network project, the 5G Vista consortium, has announced a successful trial of video-rich content at an outdoor location.

The Video in Stadia Technical Architecture (Vista) project takes full advantage of 5G New Radio, enhanced mobile broadband and 5G broadcast services, trialled with LTE feMBMS, to showcase in-stadia digital experiences.

The 5G Vista consortium includes companies such as Virgin Media O2, Rohde & Schwarz, DTG, GWS, Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and advanced digital technology innovation centre Digital Catapult. It aims to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums.

In-stadia mobile connectivity for fans is notoriously weak, according to the consortium. The challenge for large sporting venues is in providing enough capacity to deliver enhanced spectator experiences at a reasonable cost.

The partners claim 5G broadcast will allow spectators to get closer to the action at live events and has the potential to overcome challenges associated with cabling, network complexity and unstable 4G networks during events with a large number of attendees – all at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions.

The technology trial was held on 12 February at the MK Dons football stadium in Milton Keynes, where a group of fans at a game against Ipswich Town were able to try out a prototype of the 5G Vista app. This allowed them to view six high-quality live streams of different perspectives of the game, including behind the scenes footage.

Two days later, the same venue hosted the MK5G Create event, which showcased a number of applications illustrating how major venues could harness 5G to operate in the future, including autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium and AI-enabled traffic control onsite.

Kostas Katsaros, lead 5G technologist at Digital Catapult said: “Working on 5G Vista has been a fantastic journey – from early tests in our 5G labs, to a preliminary showcase at the O2 Blueroom in September, and now streaming a football match and drone racing at a real sports stadium.

“The project shows that taking spectator experiences to the next level using 5G broadcast is a very real possibility, and I can’t wait to see what exciting developments are ahead for audiences, events venues, marketers, artists and sports teams.”

Both 5G Vista and MK5G have received funding from the UK government’s Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G as part of the 5G Create Competition, which is part of the government’s £200m investment in testbeds and trials across the UK to explore new ways that 5G can boost productivity, grow existing businesses or spark new ones.

5G Vista was backed by £1.3m, with a further £1m contributed by partners.

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The first trial of 5G broadcast to change the way fans interact with live sport has been piloted at a football match between MK Dons and Ipswich Town.

One 12th February, a group of fans at the match were able to try out a prototype of the 5G VISTA app, allowing them to view six, high-quality live streams of different perspectives of the game – including behind the scenes footage – with the tap of a screen.

The trial was supported by Virgin Media O2, Rohde and Schwarz, DTG, GWS, Digital Catapult and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre.

As well as enabling fans to get closer to the action at live events, 5G broadcast technology has the potential to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums.

This includes overcoming challenges associated with cabling and network complexity, and unstable 4G networks during events with a large number of attendees.

Alex Buchan, strategic technologist, DTG and project lead said: “DTG, through the VISTA project, is proud to be leading the TV industry into a new phase of interactive, personalised and live content driven by 5G for access anywhere, anytime. The trial at MK Dons shows the technology developed during the project has the potential to transform the way we consume content, and experience live events, over the coming decade.”

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The MK Dons v Ipswich Town match at MK Dons football stadium on Saturday became a test bed for a UK-first 5G broadcast trial aimed a revolutionising in-stadia fan engagement.

The government-backed 5G Vista project made it possible for fans at the stadium to view multiple high-quality streams of the game on their mobile phone, while watching the action on the pitch.

Using a prototype of the 5G Vista app, fans could view six high-quality live streams showing different perspectives of the game, including behind-the-scenes footage.

5G provides stability and consistency of service that isn’t possible with 4G networks, that typically are unable to cope with demand during events with a large number of attendees.

In-stadia mobile connectivity for fans is notoriously weak, with challenges for large sporting venues in providing enough capacity to deliver enhanced spectator experiences at a reasonable cost.

5G broadcast, on the other hand, enables these experiences, and at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions.

The 5G Vista partners include Virgin Media O2, Rohde and Schwarz, Digital Television Group, Global Wireless Solutions, Digital Catapult, Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre, Microsoft, MK Dons, MK5G and the Open University.

As well as the 5G trial during the MK Dons v Ipswich Town game, the 5G Vista project ran a number of additional events under the MK5G banner, which showcased several applications illustrating how major venues can harness 5G to operate in the future. These included autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium, and AI-enabled traffic control onsite.

The 5G demonstrations also included a drone race organised by the British Drone Racing Association around the MK Dons football pitch, which was filmed from multiple perspectives using the 5G Vista app.

Both 5G Vista and MK5G received funding from the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G. 5G Vista was backed by £1.3 million, with a further £1 million contributed by partners.

Alex Buchan, strategic technologist, Digital Television Group and project lead, said: “DTG, through the Vista project, is proud to be leading the TV industry into a new phase of interactive, personalised and live content driven by 5G for access anywhere, anytime. The trial at MK Dons shows the technology developed during the project has the potential to transform the way we consume content, and experience live events, over the coming decade.”

Digital infrastructure minister Julia Lopez, added: “5G has the power to further fans’ enjoyment of live sports in stadiums while helping broadcasters to improve their live output. I’m delighted that this trial is the latest in a long list of cutting-edge tests we’ve funded through our £200 million programme to use 5G to drive economic growth and improve people’s lives.”

David Owens, head of technical trials at Virgin Media O2, said: “This event marks the culmination of a lot of hard but very rewarding work with some fantastic partners. We’re thrilled to bring 5G Vista to life at a MK Dons game, showcasing the technologies to real fans and watching their reactions was fantastic. We’re excited about the future possibilities of this 5G-powered technology for fan experiences in-stadium and at home.”

Kostas Katsaros, lead 5G technologist, Digital Catapult added: “Working on 5G Vista has been a fantastic journey – from early tests in our 5G labs, to a preliminary showcase at the O2 Blueroom in September, and now streaming a football match and drone racing at a real sports stadium. The project shows that taking spectator experiences to the next level using 5G broadcast is a very real possibility, and I can’t wait to see what exciting developments are ahead for audiences, events venues, marketers, artists and sports teams.”

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The group behind 5G VISTA – a government-backed consortium using 5G technologies to deepen audience engagement, broaden content for fans and create valuable new commercial opportunities – completed a successful trial at a live football match at the MK Dons stadium in Milton Keynes.

A group of fans at the match between MK Dons and Ipswich Town on February 12th were able to try out a prototype of the 5G VISTA app. This allowed them to view six, high-quality live streams of different perspectives of the game – including behind the scenes footage – with the tap of a screen.

Not only does 5G broadcast technology allow spectators to get even closer to the action at live events; it has the potential to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums.

This includes overcoming challenges associated with cabling and network complexity, and unstable 4G networks during events with a large number of attendees.

In-stadia mobile connectivity for fans is notoriously weak, with challenges for large sporting venues in providing enough capacity to deliver enhanced spectator experiences at a reasonable cost. 5G broadcast allows these experiences at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions.

“DTG, through the VISTA project, is proud to be leading the TV industry into a new phase of interactive, personalised and live content driven by 5G for access anywhere, anytime,” declared Alex Buchan, Strategic Technologist, DTG and Project Lead. “The trial at MK Dons shows the technology developed during the project has the potential to transform the way we consume content, and experience live events, over the coming decade.”

“5G has the power to further fans’ enjoyment of live sports in stadiums while helping broadcasters to improve their live output” commented Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez. “I’m delighted that this trial is the latest in a long list of cutting-edge tests we’ve funded through our £200 million programme to use 5G to drive economic growth and improve people’s lives.”

The completion of the technical trial was followed by a final showcase of the project on February 14th as part of the MK5G Create event in the Marshall Arena, also at Stadium MK.

5G VISTA partners including Virgin Media O2, Rohde and Schwarz, DTG, GWS, Digital Catapult, Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre joined sporting, tech and broadcast giants such as Microsoft, MK Dons, MK5G and the Open University to discuss business cases for live events solutions powered by 5G Broadcast.

MK5G showcased several applications illustrating how major venues can harness 5G to operate in the future, including autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium, and AI-enabled traffic control onsite.

These demonstrations included a drone race around the MK Dons football pitch – filmed from multiple perspectives using the 5G VISTA app, as the final milestone of the 5G VISTA project. This constituted the world’s first drone race broadcast in high definition, sponsored by Virgin Media O2 and organised by the British Drone Racing Association.

Both 5G VISTA and MK5G had received funding from the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G. 5G VISTA was backed by £1.3 million (€1.55m), with a further £1 million contributed by partners.

The post 5G VISTA trial success appeared first on GWS.

The group behind 5G VISTA – a government-backed consortium using 5G technologies to deepen audience engagement, broaden content for fans and create valuable new commercial opportunities – completed a successful trial at a live football match at the 30,400-seat MK Dons football stadium.

A group of lucky fans at the match between MK Dons and Ipswich Town on 12^th February were able to try out a prototype of the 5G VISTA app. This allowed them to view six, high-quality live streams of different perspectives of the game – including behind the scenes footage – with the tap of a screen.

Not only does 5G broadcast technology allow spectators to get even closer to the action at live events; it has the potential to offer solutions to a number of pain points experienced by broadcasters and TV crews at events venues and stadiums.

This includes overcoming challenges associated with cabling and network complexity, and unstable 4G networks during events with a large number of attendees.

In-stadia mobile connectivity for fans is notoriously weak, with challenges for large sporting venues in providing enough capacity to deliver enhanced spectator experiences at a reasonable cost. 5G broadcast allows these experiences at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions.

Alex Buchan, Strategic Technologist, DTG and Project Lead said:

“DTG, through the VISTA project, is proud to be leading the TV industry into a new phase of interactive, personalised and live content driven by 5G for access anywhere, anytime. The trial at MK Dons shows the technology developed during the project has the potential to transform the way we consume content, and experience live events, over the coming decade.”

Digital Infrastructure Minister Julia Lopez said:

“5G has the power to further fans’ enjoyment of live sports in stadiums while helping broadcasters to improve their live output.

“I’m delighted that this trial is the latest in a long list of cutting-edge tests we’ve funded through our £200 million programme to use 5G to drive economic growth and improve people’s lives.”

The completion of the technical trial was followed by a final showcase of the project on 14^th February as part of the MK5G Create event in the Marshall Arena, also at Stadium MK.

5G VISTA partners including Virgin Media O2, Rohde and Schwarz, DTG, GWS, Digital Catapult, Ori Industries, Imaginary Pictures, Ateme and the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre joined sporting, tech and broadcast giants such as Microsoft, MK Dons, MK5G and the Open University to discuss business cases for live events solutions powered by 5G Broadcast.

MK5G showcased several groundbreaking applications illustrating how major venues can harness 5G to operate in the future, including autonomous vehicles for transporting fans to and from the stadium, and AI-enabled traffic control onsite.

These demonstrations included an exhilarating drone race around the MK Dons football pitch – filmed from multiple perspectives using the 5G VISTA app, as the final milestone of the 5G VISTA project. This constituted the world’s first drone race broadcast in high definition, sponsored by Virgin Media O2 and organised by the British Drone Racing Association.

Both 5G VISTA and MK5G had received funding from the Department for Digital Culture, Media and Sport to boost live events using 5G.  5G VISTA was backed by £1.3 million, with a further £1 million contributed by partners.

David Owens, Head of Technical Trials at Virgin Media O2:

“This event marks the culmination of a lot of hard but very rewarding work with some fantastic partners. We’re thrilled to bring 5G VISTA to life at a MK Dons game, showcasing the technologies to real fans and watching their reactions was fantastic. We’re excited about the future possibilities of this 5G-powered technology for fan experiences in-stadium and at home.”

Kostas Katsaros, Lead 5G Technologist, Digital Catapult said:

“Working on 5G VISTA has been a fantastic journey – from early tests in our 5G labs, to a preliminary showcase at the O2 Blueroom in September, and now streaming a football match and drone racing at a real sports stadium.

“The project shows that taking spectator experiences to the next level using 5G Broadcast is a very real possibility, and I can’t wait to see what exciting developments are ahead for audiences, events venues, marketers, artists and sports teams.”

Dr Haitham Cruickshank from the University of Surrey’s 5G/6G Innovation Centre said:

“This landmark pilot is just a glimpse of how 5G will transform how we all consume live events such as football matches. For the 5G/6G Innovation Centre, it was an opportunity to showcase our end-to-end security capabilities that are the foundations that could allow thousands of people to share live experiences in unique ways.

“We will soon add this multicast/broadcast security into our world-leading testbed in Guildford.”

Douglas Mancini, CCO, Ori Industries:

“The 5G VISTA project has highlighted the transformative opportunities for edge computing deployments and future network capabilities in real-time commercial settings. This new technology is changing the way people experience live events and we’re pleased to have been involved in this transformation.”

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Next generation networks are tipped to transform industry and gaming – but when it comes to sport, 5G, private networks and enhanced broadcasting tech are creating new business cases for network operators. Melanie Mingas explains why it’s a match made in heaven

What do the Olympics, the World Cup and the Super Bowl all have in common? The answer is major tech debuts.
The 2018 PyeongChang Winter Olympics saw the worldwide debut of 5G; the 2018 FIFA World Cup saw broadcasters use eSIMS for enhanced security; and for the 2021 Super Bowl, reduced fan admissions prompted organisers to create immersive viewing experiences from home using 4K and 8K streaming.

These incidents aren’t isolated and the trend draws on a long history of necessary collaboration; however, as speed and data volumes see exponential growth – and audiences too, continue to grow – a new business case is emerging for network operators to work with event organisers.

“We often see major events are great places to launch new ideas, because they are front of mind for people,” says Peter Gray, senior vice president of NTT’s advanced technology group, sport.

This year, as sports fans were able to return to venues around the world, digitalisation – not to mention a proliferation of advanced communications and home entertainment devices – had changed what that experience entails.

Keen cyclist and Aussie rules fan Gray explains: “Sport stimulates a new way to embrace a new generation of technology, but also it is a great laboratory. Every project we at NTT are working on, I can guarantee, there is a little lab project on the side, that you will never see, that is figuring out what is happening in two to three years’ time.”

Sitting within the new ventures innovation team, Gray leads NTT’s sport-related projects globally, which across the group includes work with the Tour de France, IndyCar and the British Open, among others.

Gray says: “It varies event to event, but broadly speaking we are doing a number of key things to create this world of smart and connected sports – creating great experiences for fans but also enabling all the operations and the technology that sit behind running these events and allow the organiser to deliver a world-class event.”

By way of example, this year’s UEFA European Championship saw NTT deliver and integrate a portfolio of services across 11 host countries as well as the tournament’s Amsterdam-based broadcast centre. NTT was tasked with standardising connectivity across all venues, ensuring consistent experiences at each location and integrating that into a hub-and-spoke architecture to transfer relevant data back to Amsterdam. It wasn’t just for fans and organisers; broadcasters, journalists and VIPs were also dependent on the network infrastructure.

The project saw 87,000km of fibre cable and 245,000km of copper cable deployed alongside 890 switches and 1,565 access points. Counting the core and local teams, more than 170 people were involved in project delivery for the one-month tournament.

“Sport is a microcosm of what happens in the world more broadly and it’s a great place for innovation,” Gray explains.
“The Euros happens every four years, so if you think of the change just in terms of a simple thing like the resolution of a photo on a smartphone and the file size of that photo, then you multiply that out by thousands of millions. Think of the impact that has.”

The examples continue but the true challenge, Gray says, is “the dependence on that core network and the volume that needs to be managed through it”.

It’s exacerbated by the shift to IP-based technologies in broadcast and voice – even simple things like commentators working over Zoom – meaning “the demands just layer on top of each other”, Gray continues. According to Ericsson, sports venues around the world are seeing a 67% growth in data usage year over year.

On the data surge due before the next Euros, in 2024, Gray says the volumes and speeds will probably be “multiplied by another magnitude of order again” – not only because of the aforementioned trends in IP-based networks, but because of what’s happening in mobile.

Since 5G debuted at the 2018 PyeongChang Winter Games in South Korea – courtesy of KT Corp – 181 operators around the world have launched services, according to Ookla’s Global 5G Map. 5G has long been tipped as a means by which to enhance everything from logistics to gaming – and now that could also transfer to stadia connectivity.

Gray says there are “two big stories” around the tech. The first is the fan experience, but “the other really interesting one”, he says, “is around the use of private 5G for event management and event operations”.

It’s a “major focus for NTT”, Gray says – and the firm launched the first globally available private 5G network-as-a-service platform in August.

It’s the same principle as a private 5G network at a port or factory – dedicated, secure infrastructure that can be scaled on demand to solve challenges for enterprises and provide interactive experiences.

Gray explains: “It enables new ways of streaming videos from onboard cameras – and we are looking at things like 3D onboard camera steaming – because these things start to become viable with this technology.

“You have the stadium ops element, but as we move to an IoT-enabled world that is more connected than ever before, it’s about being able to leverage a secure network to implement some of those capabilities as well. It is early days but in a couple of years’ time that will be the standard. It starts to open a whole new range of opportunities within the public carrier space and within the private 5G space,” Gray says.

Connecting the World Cup

As the official Middle East and Africa telecommunications operator of the FIFA World Cup Qatar 2022 – and FIFA Arab Cup Qatar 2021 – Ooredoo Qatar is the telco tasked with delivering the first 5G-connected World Cup in just under 12 months’ time.

With 99.99% coverage across populated areas, 4G will play a key role in Qatar’s connectivity landscape, but Ooredoo has been pioneering 5G since it launched services in 2018 with a 5G-connected aerial taxi, which toured the industry exhibition circuit pre-Covid.

As one of two MNOs in Qatar today, Ooredoo expects its mobile network alone will see data increases of 50-100% over the course of the World Cup tournament, according to chief technology and infrastructure officer, Günther Ottendorfer.
Before taking up his current role in 2019, Ottendorfer worked on the Super Bowl, European Championships and several 4G and 5G launches across multiple continents with Sprint, Deutsche Telecom, Optus and Telekom Austria. Now leading a team of several hundred people to deliver the World Cup, he says the tournament is likely to become a catalyst for the adoption of advanced tech across Qatari society.

“We already have a lot of IoT solutions out in the market, mainly in logistics and energy, and I think the World Cup could be a catalyst for that to grow. I think for consumers that could be around information services, maybe around improved navigation services, and hopefully around AR and VR.

“These are the areas where I think things could develop very fast over the course of the next year,” he says.

Preparations for 2022 began four years ago and infrastructure continues to be deployed around stadia and fan zones. To tackle the project, Ooredoo is drawing on a toolbox of solutions, as well as network extensions that take in metro lines and stations, parking spaces and even the footpaths leading to the venues.

“We have solutions for quick coverage for limited geographical areas. We have the small cells and repeater solutions. We try to have a broad toolbox,” Ottendorfer says.

Ooredoo sources its telecoms kit through long-term partner Ericsson, which offers a “connected stadium” portfolio. Research published by the kit maker earlier this year says the application of 5G to advance the sports fan experience is a business projected to generate $83.1 billion in revenues by 2023 in the US alone.

In December 2021, Ooredoo named Ericsson as its infrastructure partner for that year’s Arab Cup and the next year’s World Cup, with the Swedish equipment giant involved in project planning and kit supply for both tournaments.
Although plans for 2022 are still being finalised, mobile shelters will be used only in the more remote areas while “several hundred” small cells will be deployed throughout stadia, as is done for the Super Bowl.

“We have broken down quite granularly each stadium into small sectors and we provide coverage for each sector,” Ottendorfer explains.

Building on Ooredoo’s 2020 carrier aggregation trials with Ericsson – which achieved record throughput of 4.2Gbps using 200Mhz spectrum for 5G – Dynamic Spectrum Sharing (DSS) is also in the toolbox.

“We are using 4G and 5G on the same frequency, so it will be very good for visitors when they are out and about,” he adds.

That said, the nature of the project means a number of unknowns remain, including the size and shape of traffic peaks. To prepare for this, during the 2019 AFC Asian Cup, Ooredoo held data giveaways after the national team’s big wins – including the semis and finals – which allowed it to assess how subscriber traffic might flow during the World Cup.

“We could then base necessary traffic extensions on the knowledge of those days and that’s what we have done since. The traffic more than doubled on the data giveaway days, so I would assume, with the number of visitors coming in, that’s something that we will probably see again,” Ottendorfer says.

“It will depend a little bit on the success of popular teams. You can’t forecast everything, because it will depend on how the tournament goes and what teams are there,” he adds.

Put to the test

As a market, Qatar already has one of the world’s highest average traffic demands per customer and, Covid aside, Ooredoo subscribers averaged data use of more than 12Gb per month last year. The country of 2.9 million permanent residents and citizens offers award-winning 5G speeds and is no stranger to major events, from sporting tournaments to its own National Day. In fact, 63 such events have been hosted this year alone, including the Formula 1 Ooredoo Qatar Grand Prix.

“That gives us the confidence that we are constantly tested on this,” says Ottendorfer.

In addition to the AFC Asian Cup, those tests have also included the FIFA Arab Cup and Amir Cup Final, which in 2019 was enhanced with a “virtual stadium”.

For this, the south stand of Al Wakrah Stadium was equipped with elastic cloud radio technology and antenna with High Order Massive-MIMO, to give fans a preview of what’s possible. The demo was broadcasted to a virtual stadium at Mall of Qatar, where consumers engaged with the immersive VR experience during the 90-minute game.

“We had 16 cameras in the stadium connected via 5G and then it was transported to Mall of Qatar – and there you could see the game from different angles. There were iPads that customers could use and select their favourite angle to watch the game,” Ottendorfer says.

“These are the kinds of things 5G will enable and I fully expect that some AR and VR applications might come around at that time,” he adds.

Another test was the 2019 IAAF World Athletics Championships in Doha. During that, Ooredoo Qatar delivered more than 40Tb of mobile traffic, with the project requiring more than 350,000m of fibre cable to broadcast from Khalifa International Stadium, as well as “several hundred smart antennas in the stadium to cover each sector”, says Ottendorfer.

For this competition, Ooredoo launched a visitor SIM and the AI-powered Ooredoo Sports App to give customers information about the event. Similar offers will be in the works for 2022.

“One of the things that also helped us was that 5G was already being deployed. We saw excellent coverage with more than 1Gbps in the stadium during the event, and we did that all in close co-operation with many of our suppliers,” says Ottendorfer.

“We saw it also as a test drive for the World Cup.”

The other gaming experience

While virtual gaming is tipped to be a major driver for 5G, the possibility to enhance real-life sporting experiences with communications tech will also be central, and organisers are increasingly looking for bespoke and high-capacity infrastructure, as well as local telecoms partners.

So why are major sporting events a great place to debut communications and tech advancements?

A spokesperson for UEFA says: “Major tournaments are the conclusion to a season of cycle and are massive showcase events that draw equally huge viewing figures and fan engagement. UEFA continues to innovate at these events, and across the season, where practical, in order to meet the demands of our key stakeholders – broadcast partners, sponsors and the wider football family – as well as direct to our fans.”

UEFA partners with network operators and telcos on an event-by-event basis, depending on competition locations. For example, for the 2016 Euros UEFA partnered with Orange in France, BT in London and Colt in Germany, among others.
The body says discussions for partners for 2024 are ongoing and that 5G will “definitely be part of UEFA’s tech mix for future major tournaments, particularly for centralised content distribution using bonded mobile technology from off-venue activities”.

Meanwhile, at the International Olympics Committee (IOC), Swisscom’s former EVP of television and smart products, Ilario Corna, celebrated one year as chief information and technology officer in November.

While Corna wasn’t available for comment, the IOC did tell Capacity that the Tokyo games were a “watershed moment in the history of Olympic broadcasting, with more content made available to fans on more screens than ever before through TV, digital, apps and social media”.

Further, the Olympic Winter Games Beijing 2022 will see the Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) use super-fast 5G wireless transmission.

OBS works with Intel, using its TrueView technology to deliver immersive replays for basketball via 35 on-court 4K cameras, and has also turned to Alibaba Group to develop a cloud platform. The IOC says: “The Covid-19 pandemic has clearly accelerated the adoption of cloud solutions.”

More than streaming

In the UK, a government-backed project called 5G VISTA is looking to take things a step further. The project was launched in September, and collaborators include Virgin Media O2, Global Wireless Solutions (GWS), DTG and Digital Catapult. Their aim is to gauge consumer demand and deliver the business case to enable 5G-powered sporting events in the near future.

It will do this by offering “enhanced interactive viewing” direct to mobile during events in stadia and other select locations, by leaning on 5G broadcast technology – itself tipped to deliver multimedia content via mobile and TV in ways that MediaFLO, LTE Broadcast and DVB-H are unable to.

CEO of GWS, Paul Carter, says: “People want reliable connectivity to enhance their experiences wherever they go. However, networks can be challenged to meet this requirement, particularly at well-attended events where capacity becomes an issue.”

The idea is to provide consumers with “more control over what they view, as well as offering solutions to pain points they have”, Carter says – and, yes, that includes the kiosk queues.

“Project Vista’s innovation offers both a solution and an opportunity for operators. Today, at busy stadium events, barriers – such as the volume of individuals present – exist against providing consistent network coverage, particularly for data-driven applications such as an enhanced viewing experience,” Carter explains.

He says that enhanced Further Evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Services (FeMBMS) can rectify many of these issues “at a cost advantage compared with more traditional cellular solutions”, while allowing large-scale live multi-camera, multi-angle video to be part of a live performance.

“The telecoms sector will be key for deploying this technology and striving for low-cost solutions to make it widespread,” he adds.

Carter continues: “There is a myriad of opportunities that Project Vista’s innovative technology provides telcos, MNOs, and other stakeholders in the live entertainment industry. Their involvement and investment will demonstrate a bright future for 5G technology at stadiums.”

As private networks, mobile and broadcast advances facilitate ever more immersive viewing experiences, the trick for telcos will be to seize the first-mover advantage. Expensive lessons were learned when the OTTs arrived in the market – and, when it comes to monetising the next generation of networks, the trick is to avoid an own goal.

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The UK’s live events industry has gone through something of a resurgence since the lifting of Covid-19 restrictions. What many of us missed so much during our time in lockdown was the human-to-human contact, anticipation and emotion that can usually be found in sports stadiums and music arenas up and down the country.

Now, producers and stadium owners are looking to capitalise on this renewed thirst for live entertainment and offer more value to enthusiastic fans – who have shown an increasing willingness to spend on new digital technologies in the past couple of years and are now more receptive than ever to new technology-led experiences.

Unfortunately, in-stadium mobile technology has been inadequate for many years. Live events currently provide a real service challenge for mobile network operators, with demand for data vs. available capacity being particularly problematic at key moments, meaning that consumers cannot stream and post content in a reliable way. The investment required to overcome this issue by increasing bandwidth does not always stack up financially, for stadiums (by their very nature) are not in permanent use.

However, cutting edge mobile technologies – and in particular, the ongoing rollout of 5G in the UK – present a valuable opportunity for event producers to revolutionise the way we experience live sports and music in venues and address existing pain points.

This is why GWS, along with other innovators in the telecommunications space (Ateme, Digital Catapult, Digital TV Group, Imaginary Pictures, Ori Industries, Rohde & Schwarz, University of Surrey’s 5G Innovation Centre, and Virgin Media O2), joined Project Vista: a government-backed initiative designed to demonstrate 5G’s potential to deliver new and exciting digital experiences for consumers in live event spaces. Project VISTA aims to highlight the commercial opportunities of 5G broadcast technology (using FeMBMS) in sports and music venues. Our end goal is to demonstrate the extent of consumer demand and deliver the business case to enable 5G-powered events in the future.

This is one of the first significant applications in the UK where low-cost 5G FeMBMS broadcast technology is being employed to deliver real-time content to mobile handsets, demonstrating that the technology now exists to empower content providers to offer multi-angle views of live action as well as up-to-date information about events, direct to hundreds or even thousands of devices at a time with no quality issues.

This innovation allows us to re-imagine what is possible through experience-enhancing technology in venues, delivering a broader range of immersive content to sports and music fans. For example, the project is exploring viewers being able to access an unprecedented amount of content instantaneously – including a choice of multiple camera angles to in-depth background info on their team. For music events, the possibilities are equally expansive. Multi-angle viewing is one aspect, important in increasingly large arenas, but also the ability to turn the venue into part of the experience with up-to-date information about queuing or other backstage content.

Whilst the technological challenge has been met, which has been by no means an easy feat, the question of whether (and how) consumers will buy into this kind of technology remains.

The sceptic might suggest that people do not, nor should not, want to use their mobile phones at live events. This ignores the reality that for many consumers, mobile phones have become life’s remote control meaning that people are already using their phones to enhance the live experience.

According to our research, 76% of live music goers and 77% of sports fans typically use their smartphones when attending events, with taking photos and videos, messaging, and voice calls the most popular functions. Whilst some respondents predictably express reservations about phone usage during events, over a third of sports and music fans who regularly attend live shows say they would be interested in using a mobile app that helped to enhance their enjoyment of live events.

Consumers have already signalled their desire to have the best possible experiences at live events. We know that fans already spend thousands each year on food and drink, merchandise and other in stadium perks: technology of this kind could become an important addition to that roster, and a potentially very affordable one. As the live events industry comes back to life after a very difficult couple of years, 5G broadcast technology promises exciting new opportunities for industry and consumers alike.

Author

Dr Paul Carter is CEO, Global Wireless Solutions

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What’s Project Vista’s objective? Test, trial and ultimately showcase new and exciting digital experiences at sports and music venues by taking full advantage of advanced 5G broadcast capabilities using FeMBMS (Further evolved Multimedia Broadcast Multicast Service).

More details about the tech: FeMBMS is capable of supporting a large number of fans in one location (such as a stadium) or across a wider area. Project VISTA is using it to deliver next generation viewing experiences for event spectators by providing live multi-angle HD video streams and interactive content from the event direct to their devices.

What’s GWS’s role? Our primary task is to assist in determining and demonstrating consumer interest and potential business opportunities to enable 5G-powered live-streaming at sporting and music events across the UK. In general, we will recruit from a range of demographics and ask consumers about their habits and interests (i.e., gather feedback on what they like, what they don’t like, how often they attend events and which one, how much they would pay for such a service, and more).

Want to know what the rest of the consortium is doing? A lot actually. This 5G project involves a significant effort to create new commercial opportunities for businesses and a new, more enriching broadcast experience for consumers. In other words, we’re busy — consortium members are working on a wide range of project activities from network architecture design, app development, and edge computing to software encoding, production and live camera management, end-to-end security, and more! Visit the consortium’s official site at: https://5gvista.co.uk/ for additional details.

Stay tuned: We’ll be reporting back with highlights from our consumer focus group and market research findings.

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The Video in Stadia Technical Architecture (VISTA) project, which began in January 2021, will ultimately deliver next generation viewing experiences for event spectators by providing live multi-angle HD video streams and interactive content from the event direct to devices in stadia and across the UK. The end goal is to demonstrate consumer demand and deliver the business case to enable 5G-powered sporting events in the near future.

VISTA aims to take full advantage of 5G New Radio, enhanced Mobile Broadband, and 5G broadcast services, trialled with LTE FeMBMS, to showcase new in-stadia digital experiences. The project is collaboration of companies and organisations, including O2, DTG, Digital Catapult, Rohde & Schwarz and Global Wireless Solutions (GWS).

Here, CSI caught up with Dr Paul Carter, CEO of GWS, to gain further insight into the work and progress of VISTA, as well as his thoughts on further FeMBMS evolution and the emerging 6G standard.

Can you tell us about your involvement in the Vista project and how it came about?
As one of a number of government-backed initiatives designed to demonstrate 5G’s potential to deliver new and exciting digital experiences for consumers, Project VISTA aims to highlight commercial opportunities of 5G broadcast technology in sports and music venues.

GWS was invited to join the VISTA consortium to drive consumer research, supporting the project’s ultimate goals of demonstrating consumer demand and building the business case to enable 5G-powered sporting events in the future. This includes understanding what types of events consumers attend, how often, and at what types of venues; as well as exploring their behaviour and interests while at or watching the events and framing these results against their likelihood of using their phones to enhance their at-venue experience.

Initial feedback from consumers is encouraging, with over a third of sports and music fans who regularly attend live events saying they would be interested in using an app based on VISTA technology. As the project matures and we are better able to demonstrate the technology’s benefits, we expect consumer interest to increase further.

How would you assess Vista’s progress so far and how do you see project evolving from here? What key applications and use cases do you see 5G broadcast in general opening up that may not otherwise be feasible?
Project VISTA’s mission is to create a viable, working use case that interested parties could turn into a finished product or service and bring to market. This includes Project VISTA exploring the commercial possibilities of the technology and consumer appetite for them. Demonstrating the technological and commercial potential of 5G-powered products is a critical step in showing businesses and consumers just how transformative this technology stands to be.

Our research found that consumers are already using their phones to enhance the live experience, with the majority of live event attendees (76% music/77% sports) using their smartphones at the event, with photography, messaging, filming and voice calls being the most used functions. We aim to show consumers and corporate partners how 5G technology can unlock new ways of experiencing live events.

As for the future of 5G broadcast and the new opportunities that are emerging, Project VISTA is demonstrating how this technology can be more cost effective as well as lower the carbon footprint of broadcasting by reducing the number of base stations and the amount of spectrum needed to deliver content to mass audiences. This is a significant step as combining environmental objectives with commercial vision will be increasingly necessary moving forwards. Providing lower cost but higher performing broadcast technology in stadiums will be important in adding value through innovation to the stadium experience.

Your company has a lot of insight into network performance, service quality and other analytics. What are a couple of the key trends and challenges related to mobile in general today, and especially mobile video as you see them?
The past year has firmly cemented the adoption of a digital lifestyle, where connectivity and online access to commerce, entertainment, and social activities play an essential part in a consumer’s day-to-day activities. Our panel of more than 50,000 mobile consumers in the U.S. has shown that during the pandemic the average consumer spends at least four hours every day on their smart phone – 10 minutes more than pre-pandemic. In fact, consumers spent more time on apps during the pandemic in the following categories: finance/trading (up 63%), social media (25%), lifestyle (19%), video (12%) and gaming (6%). And, in our observation, this usage is unlikely to see much change in the future other than to increase. It is widely observed that the pandemic has increased the importance of high-quality connectivity in our work lives, but we cannot ignore the shift in our personal lives.

Another trend to recognise in the connectivity space is the unlocking of transformative technology through the rollout of next generation networks such as 5G. For example, looking back at the rise of video calling apps, secure online transactions, video streaming and more, it’s important to remember that these tasks were not only unachievable with the older network generations, but they most likely were not even considered. While 5G Vista seeks to demonstrate this kind of transformation, it cannot be underestimated just how many sectors stand to benefit from the capacity and potential of advanced network technology. From airports, to manufacturing, healthcare to agriculture – 5G promises to integrate itself into our world in a profound way. Content of all types will be delivered quicker and at higher quality levels including live and streaming video as well as content involving virtual and augmented reality. This represents a key step change in productivity and efficiency at home and in the workplace for consumers and businesses alike, and they are starting to notice. Our latest surveys showed that nearly 40% of consumers believe that faster 5G deployment could help improve economic recovery after the pandemic. This is a trend that will only increase as 5G access becomes truly widespread and its impact on our daily lives becomes more apparent.

Do you think upcoming 5G releases – specifically NR release 17 – will be significant to 5G broadcast opportunities?
Release 17’s further expansion of 5GNR helps 5G broadcast use cases take shape, strengthening viability in the long run. However, the commercial availability of products and services based on Release 17 is not there yet and will likely not come for another year or so.

That said, there are aspects in each of the 5G releases which relate to the development of broadcast technology. FeMBMS allows internet communications that are one to many, unlike the one-to-one communication typical in broadband technology – this means FeMBMS takes a single stream and sends it to multiple users. They all receive the same content at the same time, much as though they were watching live television or listening to radio. It’s a technology that significantly reduces the processing and bandwidth that are needed, so it’s ideal for big events. What makes this really cutting edge is that it will use the network efficiencies to stream live multi-angle high-definition video and content from the event direct to devices in stadia and to other UK locations. This is just one case of how new 5G releases can shift our approach to what is possible in broadcast.

What are your thoughts on 6G and early developments on this front?
6G might be in its early development, but its promise is significant. As with advanced network technologies that came before it, 6G’s promise to do more for less in an exciting one. This will be significant across a variety of different sectors so research into its development should continue to take place. However, I would echo the recent comments made by other sector leaders, that these changes should happen as an evolution, incrementally brought in, rather than a step change in network technology. The 5G deployment process has seen billions of pounds in investment, and we will reap significant rewards for that for many years to come. 6G can take this a step further, but it should occur incrementally and be implemented within the demand structures that have already been built.

Dr. Paul Carter is President and CEO of Global Wireless Solutions, Inc. (GWS), an independent benchmarking solution vendor for the wireless industry. Dr. Carter has more than 30 years’ experience in the cellular network industry. He founded Global Wireless Solutions to provide operators with access to in-depth, accurate network benchmarking, analysis and testing. Prior to GWS, Dr. Carter directed business development and CDMA engineering efforts for LLC, the world’s largest independent wireless engineering company.

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Delivering richer fan experiences while more effectively using network resources are just two of the benefits of 5G Vista, but its potential goes way beyond this, as the team behind the project discussed at a recent demo day.

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