Within the broadcast industry, there is a growing interest in using 5G in live production to connect cameras, because of the ubiquity, the versatility, and the bidirectional nature of the network technology. While 5G potentially offers fast connectivity, the best-effort nature of the technology usually employed can make it unusable in situations where there is a high-level of contention for the available bandwidth. This is clearly the case for public 5G networks, on which many mobile handset users might be active or even broadcasters competing for resources. However, it can also be the case for dedicated private 5G networks with many pieces of equipment (including camaras) connected.
The objective of the PoC was, therefore, to demonstrate that media signals could be prioritized on a standalone non-public network (SNPN) using quality of service (QoS) control.
The solution for this PoC was built on elements of Sony and Nevion’s Networked Live offering. For media transport, each camera was fitted with a Sony prototype transmitter box, which provided ultra-low-latency HEVC video encoding, and was connected to the Neutral Wireless 5G SNPN via an Xperia 5G smartphone.
For network and resource orchestration, Nevion VideoIPath was used to interface with the 5G network’s NEF (Network Exposure Function) to configure the QoS for individual flows based on dynamic information about the bandwidth and signal priorities. For example, the camera currently transmitting was given have a higher priority for its video signal compared to the non-transmitting one.
https://nevion.com/videoipath/