Advanced Television

5G network slicing 4K UHD live broadcast

December 11, 2018

The 12th Migu Music Awards held recently in Shanghai saw the implementation of what is being claimed by participants Migu, China Mobile, and Huawei as the first application of 5G network slicing in global large-scale live broadcasting.

“We have implemented E2E 5G+4K live broadcasting for this ceremony, including 4K filming, 4K transcoding, and 4K video streaming over 5G,” reported Migu’s live broadcasting team director. When the ceremony started, 4K video cameras at the red carpet, main stage, and other locations, uploaded and sent UHD live signals to the Migu videoconferencing cloud data center for production and distribution through a 5G network slice established by Shanghai Mobile and Huawei. At the same time, the first application of 4K live broadcasting was achieved through this E2E network slice. Footage was streamed to an onsite 4K screen to showcase the award ceremony.

This live broadcasting uses Huawei’s E2E 5G network slicing solution, which enables carriers to slice a network into multiple virtual E2E networks on the same hardware infrastructure. Each slice logically isolates the terminals, radio access network (RAN), transport network (TN), and core network (CN) from end to end, to meet the differing requirements of industries in various service scenarios. Taking this ceremony as an example. Shanghai Mobile and Huawei set up 5G network infrastructure and are providing slice services to build dedicated channels that feature ultra-high bandwidths and ultra-low latency: a guaranteed experience for 4K UHD video playback.

“5G will create new industries on an unprecedented scale,” declared Qiu Xuefeng, president of Huawei 5G Core. “Network slicing is an important technology for enabling 5G services in more vertical industries. Huawei’s 5G network slicing solution can implement on-demand network definition, quick deployment, automated operations, E2E SLA assurance, and capability exposure. Through this collaboration, the E2E technology and service verification of 5G network slicing is carried out in real multimedia business scenario for the first time. This will accelerate the maturity of related technologies and solutions.”

In 2017, Migu teamed up with China Mobile Research Institute, Huawei, mainstream media, and various universities to set up the 5G Multimedia Innovation Alliance (5MII). This alliance is aiming to innovate multimedia technologies based on 5G mobile networks and formulate relevant standards.

Taking advantage of the opportunity provided by the music ceremony, Migu will establish a long-term cooperation with China Mobile and Huawei to continuously explore application innovation in 5G+multimedia, and convert resulting achievements into industry consensus through platforms such as 5MII and 5G Slicing Association (5GSA). This should promote the development of the 5G+multimedia industry.

“The usage of 5G network in various vertical industries will create great changes,” commented a representative of Shanghai Mobile. “China Mobile hopes to implement the concept of ‘slicing as a service’ to meet the requirements of different vertical industries, and achieve convergence and innovation in industry applications and 5G networks.”

Categories: 5G, Articles, Equipment, Mobile, Production, UHD, Ultra-HD/4K