Nokia Reveal 360 Video Broadcast… On 5G

The exhibition aimed to showcase the potential of carrier aggregation technology in revolutionizing the entertainment experience of viewing TV shows, movies, and sports events. This demonstration unfolded at Nokia’s 5G Futures Lab located in Sydney, Australia.

The amalgamation of multiple sub-6 GHz frequency bands offers a pathway to achieving enhanced 5G uplink speeds, with a specific focus on enabling real-time transmission of high-quality 360-degree video content.

In terms of the technological specifics (brace yourself), the exhibition hinged on Nokia’s AirScale portfolio, incorporating baseband, massive MIMO, and Remote Radio Head products, all driven by the ReefShark chipset.

Integration of a MediaTek M80 5G modem into the Dimensity SoC series played a pivotal role. The demo’s mechanics involved utilizing a 15 MHz carrier on the 700 MHz band (n28) and a 90 MHz carrier on the 3.6 GHz band (n78), leveraging carrier aggregation to achieve a peak uplink throughput of 159 Mbps. Phew…

This entire setup was orchestrated to facilitate a live broadcast featuring Leslie Shannon, Nokia’s Head of Trend and Innovation Scouting, delivering a talk about the metaverse. The discussion revolved around how 360-degree video, livestreamed over 5G, could be applied to industrial metaverse scenarios. For instance, workers could employ VR headsets to remotely view a distant location and control a robot engaged in hazardous tasks like handling explosives.

Andrew Cope, Head of Oceania at Nokia, commented on the collaborative effort: “Collaborating with TPG Telecom and MediaTek on this exciting project showcases a key building block of the Metaverse: 360-degree video streaming. Powered by Nokia’s two-component carrier 5G Uplink Carrier Aggregation technology, this breakthrough technology is vital for the immersive future needed to take industrial digitalization to the next level.”

Dr HC Hwang, General Manager of Wireless Communication System and Partnerships at MediaTek, chimed in: “The 360-degree video broadcasting demonstrates the diverse capabilities of MediaTek’s industry-leading M80 5G modem. Our collaboration with Nokia has shown the clear benefits of another real-world application utilizing essential 5G technologies like Uplink Carrier Aggregation.”

The press release references a study indicating that 96% of respondents recognize the potential of the industrial metaverse to blend physical and virtual applications. They also believe that the metaverse can accelerate the deployment, adoption, and monetization of Industry 4.0 in business contexts.

Although the language used might seem nebulous, it’s a familiar approach in metaverse communications. Beyond the buzzwords, the primary achievement here appears to be the successful implementation of carrier aggregation for more specific metaverse use cases than what’s often presented.

This development could serve as a practical tool for metaverse advocates, aligning with the views of a survey group enthusiastic about the metaverse concept.