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Get ready for 5G

Yvonne Monterroso, director product management, Dejero, reveals how 5G helped the company transmit a life-sized 3D hologram

There has been a great deal of talk about 5G becoming the next wireless standard over the last year, and it now appears to be happening for real. In Chicago and Minneapolis, for example, Verizon has already launched a limited 5G mobile service. As an industry, we’re certain that live sports, concerts and breaking news coverage will all see productivity boosts when the technology becomes more widely available.

5G is set to offer significant improvements to performance, especially where cellular networks become congested, and at Dejero, we are always pleased with any network improvement, whether it’s 5G, network capacity or throughput. Our Smart Blending Technology blends any wired or wireless IP connection, including 5G, so we’re always ready for the next step.

New consumer experiences with 5G

Not only will 5G offer more reliability to send more data, more quickly, it also will enable experiences and broadcasts that were only previously possible using fixed lines.

Dejero was recently involved in an exciting and incredibly successful 5G ‘experience’, helping to successfully transmit a life-sized, interactive, 3D holographic video for a live performance across Vodafone 5G.

Vodafone Romania invited Musion 3D, an ultra-realistic, life-sized, interactive 3D holographic video show production company, to provide an interactive telepresence experience for their much-anticipated rock concert in Bucharest, on 19th February 2019.

The performance featured locally famous rock band Vita De Vie who were joined by a selection of guests including Luca, a 10-year-old, audience-shy guitar-player, who was ‘beamed’ onto stage from a room located two kilometres from the concert hall as a live hologram performing in front of the audience.

In what is widely hailed as a world-first, Vodafone’s 5G network provided the link between the filming location and the on-stage concert. Dejero’s EnGo mobile transmitters and broadcast servers were used to provide video links in both directions, with the hologram stream being routed over a Huawei 5G link.

The event was a huge success and the combination of Musion and Dejero technology was the perfect platform to demonstrate the capabilities of 5G. The event was watched by thousands live on Facebook and was used to produce Vodafone’s 2019 flagship television commercial in Romania which has reached in excess of two million views on YouTube so far.

The life-sized human hologram that interacted with the lead singer for conversation and high fives, as well as playing along with the band, needed to do so in real-time in order to be successful. The 5G technology ensured the high-quality audio and image transmission, as well as the synchronisation between artists all during their live performance.

Dejero supported Musion in the transmission of a life-sized, interactive 3D holographic video for a live performance across the Vodafone 5G network

The need to co-exist

The early locations for 5G cellular sites are likely to be stadiums and other venues, because the networks are looking at where they can get the most ‘bang for the buck.’ The new sites may be something very small, on the side of a building, and not as large as the cell sites we have today. Even if widespread 5G deployment seems like a distant future, these microsites are being deployed with the current cellular technology now.

We believe however, that 3G, 4G and LTE will be co-existing with 5G for considerable time because of the time and costs associated with rolling it out and the capital investment mobile networks have already made. In due course, reliable blending will be key and Dejero’s Smart Blending Technology will allow broadcasters to blend any combination of wired or wireless IP connection they can dream of, including 5G, and deliver low latency, reliability and high throughput.

In addition, when there is widespread 5G availability, network providers are unlikely to offer guaranteed coverage for demanding applications like live video streaming. So, even in an all-5G environment there will still be a need for network blending to gain reliability through carrier diversity. 5G is likely to result in demands for more data and more content. Since 5G will take some time to be deployed and coverage will be limited, we believe that blending multiple connections will offer a compelling advantage regarding reliability and throughput, especially in mobile and nomadic applications where users may be moving in and out of different networks.

Dejero’s EnGo and GateWay are 5G-ready now and Dejero products that incorporate 5G modems and 5G-optimised antenna designs are on the roadmap, along with other contribution and distribution equipment supporting connectivity to fixed wireless access equipment via Ethernet.

A faster, richer future

For us, 5G is the next evolution in terms of blending, following our 4G cellular and satellite combination. For our customers, the benefits of network blending enhanced with 5G to improve reliability and reduce latency will continue to improve workflows. The Vodafone 3D hologram event in Bucharest also showcases the possibilities it can offer to live audiences to enrich their experience – whether in the venue or watching on their TV or phone screen, ultimately helping broadcasters entice and engage with their audience in new ways.