China Mobile and Huawei in world first UHD 5G mobile live broadcast
Last weekend’s Migu Music Awards in Shanghai saw the first application of 5G network slicing in global large-scale live broadcasting.
Real 4K UHD video has a resolution of 3840 x 2160 and a frame rate of 50 fps. Such video transmission requires a high bandwidth and low latency. The transmission rate of 5G networks can reach 10-100 times that of 4G networks, to achieve smooth 4K mobile live broadcasting.
Migu’s live broadcasting team director said, “we have implemented E2E 5G+4K live broadcasting for this ceremony, including 4K filming, 4K transcoding, and 4K video streaming over 5G.”
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 centre 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 broadcast used 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.
Shanghai Mobile and Huawei set up the 5G network infrastructure and provide slice services to build dedicated channels that feature ultra-high bandwidths and ultra-low latency: a guaranteed experience for 4K UHD video playback.
5G network slicing has changed the ‘one network, best effort’ business model of the conventional 3G/4G network. It provides separate logical networks for different industries to meet their requirements in various service scenarios, helping carriers apply 5G networks to these industries. 5G network slicing has successfully verified its use for smart grids, smart ports, and mobile games. It will provide on-demand connection capabilities for various vertical industries.
Qiu Xuefeng, president of Huawei 5G Core, said: “5G will create new industries on an unprecedented scale. 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.”