Periodic Reporting for period 2 - 5G-RECORDS (5G key technology enableRs for Emerging media COntent pRoDuction Services)
Reporting period: 2021-09-01 to 2022-10-31
5G-RECORDS aims at exploring the opportunities new 5G technology components, integrated in Non-public networks (NPNs), bring to professional audio-visual content production. 5G with its inherent compatibility to the IP interfacing layer has the potential to act as a powerful catalyst for the trend towards IP-based workflows in media content production. This trend is motivated by IP being an established, flexible, and robust interfacing layer to local or wide-area networks and software processing systems. This enables increased efficiency and effectiveness in production and process automation. NPNs offer the possibility of configuring the networks according to production requirements, deploying fixed or nomadic networks, covering small areas like studios, or extending to entire premises. Content production and contribution could prove 5G as a highly reliable wireless technology to enhance existing or enable new workflows in various scenarios. After the first stage of validation and commercial deployment, the 5G technology focused on verticals and emerging use cases such as professional media content production. In this regard, 5G-RECORDS explored the opportunities that new and enhanced 5G and media components bring to the field. Project partners worked for 26 months to delve into the full potential of 5G to greatly facilitate and possibly even revolutionize media content production. The project aimed to design, develop, integrate and test 5G and media components into 5G end-to-end (E2E) infrastructure for three professional media production use cases: live audio production, multiple camera wireless studio, and live immersive production. 5G-RECORDS use cases involve video, audio and auxiliary data processing with stringent requirements in terms of quality, data rate, latency, reliability and synchronization between devices. 5G-RECORDS components were developed and/or enhanced from existing ones to be tested in three main E2E 5G infrastructures located in Sophia Antipolis (France), Aachen (Germany) and Madrid (Spain).
The project made good progress towards the achievement of the project objectives in the different work categories. While the first half of the project focused on use-case requirements and KPIs definition, architecture design, initial components development, and trial roadmap planning, the second half of the project highly concentrated on the integration, testing, performing trials, and validation of the 5G and media components into the E2E infrastructures.
Project partners were able to design and develop new components such as the 5G modem, Media Orchestration Control Gateway (MOCG), Media Gateway (MG), Stream Selector and Storage, and Media Proxy, among others. These components were successfully integrated into the three main 5G infrastructures located in Sophia Antipolis (France), Aachen (Germany) and Madrid (Spain). A description of the components is presented in detail in D3.2 and D3.3 for the media orchestration layer. Phase-2 integration outcomes were collected in D4.2. The second round of tests and final field trials was successfully executed to validate the technology and assess whether the testbeds’ performance met the requirements of the use cases (see D2.1 D5.2 and D5.3). In several of these tests and trials performed, each use case was able to measure critical KPIs which are considered important for content producers
Regarding regulatory framework and business analysis for 5G content production, outcomes were collected in D2.2 and D2.3. This included the created values, benefits and importance of 5G NPNs in the content production vertical, among other aspects
Regarding the communication, dissemination and standardization activities, project partners contributed to standardization organizations like 3GPP and ITU-T and industry consortia like AMWA and VSF. Examples of this are 40 press releases; 14 public deliverables; 65 keynotes, presentations, panels and participation in conferences; and 14 journal papers, whitepapers and conference papers, among several demonstrations in content production events. Details are presented in D6.4.
Project partners were able to design and develop new components such as the 5G modem, Media Orchestration Control Gateway (MOCG), Media Gateway (MG), Stream Selector and Storage, and Media Proxy, among others. These components were successfully integrated into the three main 5G infrastructures located in Sophia Antipolis (France), Aachen (Germany) and Madrid (Spain). A description of the components is presented in detail in D3.2 and D3.3 for the media orchestration layer. Phase-2 integration outcomes were collected in D4.2. The second round of tests and final field trials was successfully executed to validate the technology and assess whether the testbeds’ performance met the requirements of the use cases (see D2.1 D5.2 and D5.3). In several of these tests and trials performed, each use case was able to measure critical KPIs which are considered important for content producers
Regarding regulatory framework and business analysis for 5G content production, outcomes were collected in D2.2 and D2.3. This included the created values, benefits and importance of 5G NPNs in the content production vertical, among other aspects
Regarding the communication, dissemination and standardization activities, project partners contributed to standardization organizations like 3GPP and ITU-T and industry consortia like AMWA and VSF. Examples of this are 40 press releases; 14 public deliverables; 65 keynotes, presentations, panels and participation in conferences; and 14 journal papers, whitepapers and conference papers, among several demonstrations in content production events. Details are presented in D6.4.
5G-RECORDS contributed to the development of the 5G ecosystem by implementing, testing and performing trials via three use cases that are relevant for the media industry sector. The project progressed beyond the state of the art in the following directions:
a) 5G network and media components:
The project designed and developed innovative components in both 5G and media production fields (refer to D3.2 and D3.3) such as UC1 media orchestration and control gateway and the SAS ; UC2 5G-enabled camera with the CIU, MG and MOCG; and UC3 with the enhanced FVV system, infrastructure (5G in mmWave band and MEC with GPU) and delivery network.
b) 5G end-to-end integration:
Extensive efforts were dedicated towards the integration of the network and media components into the main 5G infrastructures from EURECOM (UC1), Ericsson (UC2) and Nokia (UC3).
This goes beyond the SOTA, as the previous efforts made to carry out media production over 5G networks only utilized them as a transparent IP communication system. The project integrated the network and media components into 5G testbeds, creating highly specialized architectures. Examples of this aspects are: the integration and optimization of the UC1 5G components (RU, CU, DU, Core) to form a full Rel-15 compatible 5G disaggregated testbed, the integration of the audio application into the joint UC1+UC2 trial in Tivoli) in UC1, the media gateway integration in Ericsson´s network for UC2 and the integration of the components in two different 5G testbeds deployed in Segovia and Madrid for UC3.
c) Performance evaluation:
5G-RECORDS final trials aimed to boost and showcase the European Union efforts in the deployment of 5G for new verticals. The project demonstrated the use of 5G within various real-world environments. As an example, UC1 used high-precision latency and jitter measurements allowed to identify remaining gaps in the 5G ecosystem to support live audio productions, UC2 measured latency, bandwidth, jitter and several in-depth video transmission metrics and PTP precision and UC3 evaluated the components at different levels, including: individual tests and formal subjective assessment tests to evaluate the QoE of different conditions of the FVV production
d) Communication, dissemination and standardization:
The project published several scientific results and contributed to standardization organizations (e.g. 3GPP, ITU-T) and industry consortia (e.g. AMWA, VSF). For instance, the project contributed to 3GPP SA4 study item on media content production over NPNs (more details can be found in D6.4). Regarding dissemination, major outcomes are: 40 press releases; 14 public deliverables; 65 keynotes, presentations, panels and participation in conferences; 14 journal papers, whitepapers and conference paper; and several demonstrations and participation in dissemination events (e.g. EBU Network Technology Seminar, SMPTE TC meeting, IBC event, Ericsson Innovation Day event). The project also concentrated to promote the achievements in 5G-RECORDS social media through You Tube videos (+20) and LinkedIn/Twitter posts (+70). The efforts to disseminate and exploit the project results are presented in detail in D6.4.
a) 5G network and media components:
The project designed and developed innovative components in both 5G and media production fields (refer to D3.2 and D3.3) such as UC1 media orchestration and control gateway and the SAS ; UC2 5G-enabled camera with the CIU, MG and MOCG; and UC3 with the enhanced FVV system, infrastructure (5G in mmWave band and MEC with GPU) and delivery network.
b) 5G end-to-end integration:
Extensive efforts were dedicated towards the integration of the network and media components into the main 5G infrastructures from EURECOM (UC1), Ericsson (UC2) and Nokia (UC3).
This goes beyond the SOTA, as the previous efforts made to carry out media production over 5G networks only utilized them as a transparent IP communication system. The project integrated the network and media components into 5G testbeds, creating highly specialized architectures. Examples of this aspects are: the integration and optimization of the UC1 5G components (RU, CU, DU, Core) to form a full Rel-15 compatible 5G disaggregated testbed, the integration of the audio application into the joint UC1+UC2 trial in Tivoli) in UC1, the media gateway integration in Ericsson´s network for UC2 and the integration of the components in two different 5G testbeds deployed in Segovia and Madrid for UC3.
c) Performance evaluation:
5G-RECORDS final trials aimed to boost and showcase the European Union efforts in the deployment of 5G for new verticals. The project demonstrated the use of 5G within various real-world environments. As an example, UC1 used high-precision latency and jitter measurements allowed to identify remaining gaps in the 5G ecosystem to support live audio productions, UC2 measured latency, bandwidth, jitter and several in-depth video transmission metrics and PTP precision and UC3 evaluated the components at different levels, including: individual tests and formal subjective assessment tests to evaluate the QoE of different conditions of the FVV production
d) Communication, dissemination and standardization:
The project published several scientific results and contributed to standardization organizations (e.g. 3GPP, ITU-T) and industry consortia (e.g. AMWA, VSF). For instance, the project contributed to 3GPP SA4 study item on media content production over NPNs (more details can be found in D6.4). Regarding dissemination, major outcomes are: 40 press releases; 14 public deliverables; 65 keynotes, presentations, panels and participation in conferences; 14 journal papers, whitepapers and conference paper; and several demonstrations and participation in dissemination events (e.g. EBU Network Technology Seminar, SMPTE TC meeting, IBC event, Ericsson Innovation Day event). The project also concentrated to promote the achievements in 5G-RECORDS social media through You Tube videos (+20) and LinkedIn/Twitter posts (+70). The efforts to disseminate and exploit the project results are presented in detail in D6.4.