By Ifeoma Asika
ZTE Corporation, a major international provider of telecommunications, enterprise and consumer technology solutions for the Mobile Internet, has announced that the Guangdong branch of China Mobile and Migu, China Mobile’s entertainment and data service subsidiary, and ZTE have completed the industry’s first pre-commercial trial of 8K VR FoV (Field of View) service based on 5G MEC on the live network of China Mobile.
By deploying vCDN on the 5G MEC platform, the pre-commercial trial has adopted advanced FoV encoding technology, video trans-coding, intelligent CDN and other edge capabilities to save more than 70 per cent of bandwidth, thereby significantly improving the VR service experience and promoting the development of 5G video services.
Migu, as a leading multimedia and on-demand content service provider in China, has been committed to exploring innovative video applications, aiming to provide users with high-quality products and service. In 2019, MIGU and Guangdong Mobile jointly presented the world’s first 24-hour live streaming of a music festival in China using the 4K VR technology based on the 5G NSA network, setting a precedent for enjoying the panoramic HD live streaming online through VR. As a world-leading provider of video solutions, ZTE has developed a complete set of 5G+8K VR solution and the ecosystem for end-to-end industry cooperation. By virtue of Migu’s experience of 5G+VR live streaming for big events and ZTE’s solution, integrated with technologies from Intel, Kandao Technology, Tiledmedia, the two parties have cooperated to provide users with an immersive viewing experience through low-latency and ultra HD VR live streaming. The cooperation between ZTE and Migu has achieved the full upgrade of VR service in terms of video capture, editing, transmission and broadcasting, thereby enabling the commercial use of 5G+8K VR services.
In terms of video capture, the 5G+8K VR solution has integrated the industry-leading stitching algorithms and SoC system to achieve the real-time output of 8K VR live streams. As for encoding and transmission, this solution has adopted the FoV codec technology to reduce the video transmission bitrate by more than 70 per cent. By means of the intelligent CDN technology, the 5G+8K VR solution can implement the backhaul and the distribution of VR videos with efficient and visually lossless performance.
In addition, ZTE has deployed the MEC CDN with the highest throughput of 200 Gbps at the edge of the 5G network. Each server can bear more than 5000 users of the 8K VR FoV services, thus laying a CDN network foundation for the large-scale commercialization of 8K VR services.
The 5G+8K VR solution, jointly developed by China Mobile, Migu, and ZTE, has achieved full upgrade of the VR services, providing users with a brand-new visual experience. As the industry’s first 8K VR application based on 5G MEC, this pre-commercial trial will strongly prompt the VR industry to the next level and promote the development of digital economy in the 5G era.
ZTE is a provider of advanced telecommunications systems, mobile devices and enterprise technology solutions to consumers, operators, companies and public sector customers. The company has been committed to providing customers with integrated end-to-end innovations to deliver excellence and value as the telecommunications and information technology sectors converge. Listed in the stock exchanges of Hong Kong and Shenzhen, ZTE sells its products and services in more than 160 countries.
ZTE commits 10 per cent of its annual revenues to research and development and takes leadership roles in international standard development organizations.
