[June 5, 2020, Shandong, Jinan] On June 4, a Shandong Luneng vs Taizhou FC warm-up match was held at the Luneng Taishan football training base in Jinan. At this event, Shandong Mobile, MIGU, Shandong Luneng Taishan Football Club, China Sports Media, and Huawei jointly debuted the industry’s first MEC-based 5G video broadcast app, giving fans a brand-new way to watch sports matches, and marking a new era of smart stadiums.
Big events, such as sports matches and concerts, bring in large audiences, and an exciting atmosphere. However, live broadcasts are static, and content production is complicated, requiring coordination of multiple OB vans. These audiences want interaction that conventional networks are unable to provide.
To tackle these issues, Huawei, together with Shandong Mobile, MIGU, Shandong Luneng Taishan Football Club, China Sports Media, developed an innovative 5G smart stadium solution. Huawei provided and deployed 4.9 GHz 5G base stations, the 5G core network, and MEC nodes. The smart stadium solution leverages the differentiated network capabilities and deterministic service experience delivered by 5G to facilitate lightweight production, including content collection, editing, and transmission, and to improve video production and distribution efficiency. It works with the video broadcast app to deliver optimal experience to spectators, and digitally transform stadiums.
Agile match services: Multiple ultra HD cameras at different locations shoot and transmit real-time ultra HD videos to the MEC nodes of Jinan Mobile and the content production studio in Beijing through the 5G wireless network. This eliminates the limitation of cables in OB vans, enabling users to collect, produce, and transmit ultra HD videos anytime and anywhere. Moreover, services like ultra-wide-angle VR, 180° VR, and 360° panoramic VR live broadcast can be provisioned on MEC nodes near spectators, to utilize professional content production tools and capabilities, such as video stitching, transcoding, and distribution. This improves the efficiency of content production, enhances spectator experience, and reduces production costs.
Superior user experience: Onsite audiences can enjoy a wealth of content and interactive services through the video broadcast app on their 5G phone or a VR terminal. With this app, spectators can watch the match in real-time, access replays, zoom in or out, and view real-time scores, rankings, and results. In addition, it provides high-quality short video clips and match highlights, meaning spectators will never miss exciting moments. This app allows spectators to create a short personalized video to post on social media. Furthermore, the video broadcast app is equipped with VR to provide spectators with more immersive angles, such as a VIP view, top-down view, and behind-goal view. The app even allows fans to celebrate a goal virtually with the players through AI and AR technology.
Intelligent stadium operation: A smart stadium is not only an event venue, but a fully-connected information platform. 5G powers smart stadiums with improved digital capabilities, creating more opportunities for stadium operators to provide revenue-generating services. The stadium can push real-time information about players and sports events to fans, make purchases more convenient, provide an online interaction platform for fans, and provide more intelligent services, such as navigation, large-screen display, smart security, AR advertising, and remote first aid. With all of these, spectators get a fresh new digital experience and stadium operators can reduce customer churn, expand business opportunities, improve brand influence, and maximize return on investment.
The 5G smart stadium shows the advancement of digitalization and intelligentization in cities and its popularity as an application scenario of 5G. The 5G smart stadium solution has promising applications and an enormous market space. It is applicable to all sorts of events and locations from football leagues, Olympic Games, World Cups, and concerts to tourist attractions and commercial streets. Keeping pace with 5G, smart stadium is becoming a driving force behind city development.
PR Archives: Latest, By Company, By Date