Demonstrates world’s first end-to-end low latency live video streaming over 5G testbed
Singapore, 2 August, 2016 - Singtel and Ericsson (NASDAQ:ERIC) have joined forces in Singapore to bring 5G innovation to Southeast Asia for the first time with a live demonstration of the potential of 5G.
The “Making 5G Innovation A Reality” demonstration features Ericsson’s 5G Radio Prototypes to showcase some of the ground-breaking capabilities offered by the new technology, achieving a peak throughput of 27.5Gbps and latency as low as 2ms. Singtel and Ericsson also demonstrated the world’s first end-to-end (from the time the video is captured at the server end to the time it is displayed at the device) low latency live video streaming over 5G.
This milestone is a result of the 5G memorandum of understanding signed by Ericsson and Singtel last year, which involved evaluating and testing technologies that are strong candidates for future 5G standardisation.
Singtel and Ericsson are leading the way for 4G and 5G in Singapore, in support of Singapore’s Smart Nation vision and the anticipated four-fold growth[1] in connected devices. As 5G offers greater throughput and lower latency, it will bring more use cases to Internet of Things (IoT), enabling massive connectivity and allowing new applications for consumers and enterprises such as smart vehicles and transport architecture, remote healthcare and new levels of human-IoT interaction.
Mr Tay Soo Meng, Group Chief Technology Officer, Singtel, says, “We strive to upgrade our networks with cutting-edge enhancements, constantly offering our customers all the possibilities that technology brings. Singapore is at the forefront of the most connected cities in the world and now we want to take it to the next level. 5G is very important to the Singtel Group as it will support advanced communication needs. To ensure the Group continues our technology leadership in the mobile communications domain, we are exploring, studying and trialling pre-5G technologies with Ericsson.”
Dr Magnus Ewerbring, Chief Technology Officer, Ericsson APAC says, “5G will enable the full potential of Ericsson’s vision of the Networked Society and 5G performance will benefit consumers, business users and entire industries in Singapore. Together with Singtel we have launched many world-first and nation-first achievements with the 4G network since 2011 and we will be together at the forefront of 5G as well.”
The aim is for 5G networks to be highly efficient, faster, support more users, more devices, more services, and new use cases without a corresponding impact on cost or carbon footprint. 5G will revolutionise five key industries including TV and media, manufacturing, healthcare, telecommunications, transportation and infrastructure.
Singtel is progressing well on its 5G journey, deploying key pre-5G technologies such as LTE-Advanced (Carrier aggregation, 256QAM) on its live network and taking the next step to LTE Advanced Pro (LAA, NB-IoT). These radio technology upgrades deliver superior connectivity, characterised by faster and more consistent speeds, to its customers.
With 5G expected to be standardised and commercially available by 2020, Ericsson’s 5G Radio Prototypes enable operators, ecosystem partners, academics and analysts to test 5G capabilities live.
Some key capabilities include multipoint connectivity with distributed multiple input, multiple output (MIMO) and 5G-LTE dual connectivity, to ensure a smooth evolution to 5G and rapid adoption of new 5G-based services.
The Ericsson 5G Radio Prototype has demonstrated not only record-breaking throughput, but also the tight interworking between network layers, frequency bands, and technology standards that will be critical to ensuring seamless connectivity for billions of connected devices, machines and things, supporting consumer, business and industrial applications.
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[1] According to Ericsson Mobility Report June 2016, it is estimated that there will be four-fold growth in connected devices between 2015 and 2021.
Appendix:
Press Backgrounder
Singtel & Ericsson “Making 5G Innovation A Reality” Showcase
Singtel and Ericsson have joined forces in Singapore to bring 5G innovation to Southeast Asia for the first time with a live demonstration of the potential of 5G.
To illustrate the potential of 5G, the showcase demonstrated 5G Vision, Massive IoT & Cloud Robotics, 5G Test Bed and Intelligent Transport Systems.
5G vision
Painting the 5G vision and the Radio, Core network evolution on the road to 5G as a starting point.
Massive IoT & Cloud robotics
Motion Sensing Robot Arm:
5G will be reliable and responsive enough not only to interact with machines in front of you but further away, via wireless communication. This demonstration is showcasing leap motion sensing.
Users can interact with a machine via hand and finger motions.
Balancing robot:
5G will bring the capability of connecting large amount of devices with low latency making it possible to move significant part of industrial control to the cloud. This demo shows tight integration between robot and cloud, highlighting the capability to form one system from the independent components (sensors, actuators) to demonstrate a complex use-case.
Nano drones:
Future mobile network technology starting with 5G will enable drones, airborne or other kinds, to become a global platform for remote operations. Drones with 5G would make it possible to replace a LED in a streetlight in China, pick cloudberries on a marsh in Sweden, replace a sensor on a fish farm in Norway or clean solar panels in Portugal - the same day, from home. This demo is showcasing Crazyflie 2.0 which is a versatile flying development platform that weighs only 27grams and fits palm of your hand.
5G Test Bed
The “Making 5G Innovation A Reality” demonstration features Ericsson’s 5G Radio Prototypes to showcase some of the ground-breaking capabilities offered by the new technology, achieving a peak throughput of 27.5Gbps and latency as low as 2ms. Singtel and Ericsson also demonstrated the world’s first end to end (from the time the video is captured at the server end to the time it is displayed at the device) low latency live video streaming of 60ms over 5G. This is equivalent to having a fibre connection to individual devices such as mobile phones and it follows users wherever they go (beam forming).
Intelligent Transport systems
The transportation industry is striving to improve their efficiency and reduce carbon footprint. One way to achieve this is to have trucks driving at close distances, creating so called truck platoons, tightly coordinated through vehicle to vehicle communication. This demo is about how the automotive industry benefits from 5G and Ericsson collaboration with Scania to understand 5G requirements of platooning and autonomous driving.
