A new era: Domo Broadcast on the impact of 5G in sports broadcasting?

Eric Ernst, technology director at Formula E, said earlier this year: “Prior to the bespoke efforts of Timeline and Domo Broadcast, it wasn’t possible to cut between onboard cameras, go direct to air, or preview the coverage coming from multiple on-board cameras.”

By Stuart Brown, Domo Broadcast Systems broadcast systems integration director.

Sports broadcasting is an industry as dynamic as the events it covers, and 2023 has witnessed an organisational shift towards innovative technologies that streamline workflows and enhance remote broadcasting capabilities while immersing audiences with views and locations they’ve never seen before.

Wireless cameras – be they on-board systems in motorsport, touchline cameras in field sports, ‘point of view’ or body-worn ‘ref cams’ or aerial drone-mounted cameras – have contributed significantly to this shift.

These systems have been constantly evolving since their introduction in 2002, with major improvements in encoding efficiency and RF performance enabling the progression from SD to HD and now 4K. But the core technology principles are largely unchanged — a camera transmitter uses COFDM RF to transmit to receive points at locations around the event using dedicated RF channels. If control data is required (to allow racking or paint of the camera, for example), it is sent via a separate, low-bitrate RF channel.

However, with the increasing roll-out of 5G cellular infrastructure, the industry is abuzz about how 5G technology can be harnessed to provide next-generation wireless coverage of sporting events. The key advantage over traditional wireless camera systems is that 5G is bidirectional, with IP connectivity to all devices on a given network.

As IP workflows are now embedded in event coverage — particularly since increasing adoption of remote production (REMI) — this is a game-changer. Previously nomadic wireless camera systems can now be monitored and controlled via IP using their built-in GUIs, and engineering teams can manage their mobile assets wherever these assets are deployed in the world, reducing the number of technicians required on-site.

All wireless cameras operate on a single IP network, simplifying the intricate web of production workflows inherent to sports broadcasting. This holistic integration will do more than enhance the overall efficiency of the broadcasting process today — it will form the foundation of the interconnected broadcast infrastructure that will pave the way towards the increasingly automated future of sports broadcasting technology.

Complexity remains

The dream of simply turning up to an event with 5G kit, switching on and streaming high-quality, low-latency video direct to the studio is proving elusive. 5G coverage is patchy and is likely to be limited to highly populated urban areas for the foreseeable future. Using public networks to cover large events can also run into problems with network congestion, as most attract large numbers of spectators who also compete for access to the cellular network.

A key feature of 5G is a technique called network slicing, where a portion of the network is ‘cordoned off’ for exclusive use by broadcasters, and this could be used to alleviate this problem. However, 5G network providers seem reluctant to roll this out beyond a few trial events. If they do, it will be interesting to see what pricing models are proposed and if they will be seen cost-effective by the events-coverage industry.

The alternative — and what the industry seems to have settled on for now — is to bypass public networks and set up a private 5G network specifically for event coverage use. While real-world trials have shown promise, it appears 5G is someway off in terms of displacing ‘traditional’ wireless camera systems. In terms of picture quality, 5G can struggle to deliver the required bitrates, as it is optimised for tower-to-mobile transmission — that is, maximising the download speeds to consumer phones and tablets. Wireless cameras operate in the other direction, and the modems used in mobile devices are not designed for high-bitrate traffic from mobile to tower, which can limit range to a few hundred metres. This can be overcome by deploying additional 5G base-stations, but these are extremely expensive (£60-100K) and current systems do not offer a glitch-free transition between one cell and the next.

Delay is also an issue, as converting video to IP adds latency, and all video-over-IP systems require a degree of buffering to cope with network jitter. This can add up to multiple frames of delay, which is unacceptable when cutting between wireless and cabled cameras.

Hybrid systems

So, is there a way to combine the range, video quality and low latency of traditional systems with a fully IP-based infrastructure? Users are now experimenting with hybrid systems, which use traditional COFDM RF for the main video and audio but use IP-mesh technology to provide the IP backbone for everything else.

IP-mesh systems operate on a single, dedicated RF channel and all units in the network share the IP data with each other. If there is not a direct path between two particular mesh units, the other units act as stepping stones to link the two units together. If the coverage area needs to be extended, additional ‘repeater’ units can be easily deployed. These can either be static or mobile and automatically join the network as required.

As well as control and monitoring of the wireless cameras, the network can carry talkback, camera control, teleprompter feeds and return video. As the mesh units are equipped with WiFi and Bluetooth, the production team can use their smartphones and tablets to stream video, remotely access production workflows, and surf the internet on a dedicated, private network.

Given the advantages of this approach, is there still a use for 5G in event coverage? It will certainly gain traction with the use of smartphones as PoV cameras in certain events. For example, there are plans to use this approach to cover on-water events at the upcoming 2024 Olympics. Setting up private networks at large events to enable broadcasters to use their existing cellular bonding systems without fear of network saturation from spectators is also attractive for simple live two-ways and newsgathering.

We can be certain our industry will find creative ways to use this exciting new technology.