5G and Edge Cloud for Streaming Video

Project Status:

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Completed

The project has been completed.

Start:

January 1, 2020

Estimated Completion:

May 31, 2020
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Problem Statement

5G and edge cloud technologies have the potential to provide a massive shift in how entertainment content is delivered and consumed. Rights holders are unaware of the advantages 5G brings, while 5G service providers have very limited understanding of the video cloud opportunity. In order to maximize the opportunities that 5G could provide streaming video and other entertainment content, it’s crucial to have a clear understanding of the use cases and how the technology can be applied to improve the delivery and viewer experience.

Project Description

Both 5G and edge cloud have the opportunity to significantly alter the streaming video experience. 5G can provide the massive bandwidth capacity and throughput that has not been available to date on mobile networks, while edge cloud can ensure ultra low latencies which will drive new forms of highly personalized, immersive interactive entertainment. As mobile video consumption continues to grow, 5G will bring entertainment out of the home and truly democratize access to content. On the network side, massive improvements in Quality-of-Service and Quality-of-Experience through dedicated network slicing will drive a true broadcast experience. This document is intended to provide a market and technology overview of 5G and Edge Compute, specifically as it pertains to streaming video, as well as recommendations for how both rights holders and service providers can take advantage of these new technologies.

Project Type

Document

Project Leads

Advisors

There are no SMEs associated with this project.

Published Documents

Version:

Date Plublished: 02/22/2022

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SVTA1024: 5G and the Edge Cloud for Streaming Video

As mobile networks evolved, became faster and offered more and more bandwidth, consumer habits also changed. Users began to adopt data-hungry activities like streaming video, streaming music, and cloud gaming. As the networks have continued to improve, so too has our expectations of the amount and quality of content delivered to our devices negating many of the benefits offered by the latest network and radio infrastructure.

The popularity of OTT services such as Netflix and YouTube are burgeoning and the demand for video content on mobile devices is rising exponentially placing massive demands on current 4G networks. Increased demand is just one aspect though. New formats like 360 degree video and XR in conjunction with higher definition including 4k and 8k are becoming common for videos viewed on connected devices, particularly those streaming content to big screen TV’s or head mounted VR units and as video quality rises, so does the need for faster connections to enjoy seamless streaming.

The ability to stream high quality video HD content requires download of less than 5 Mbps while an ultra-HD 4k video requires around 15 Mbps depending on the codec and compression. Both are easily supportable with the constraints of the current 4G specification however when combined with massive catalogs and insatiable demand, shared bandwidth on a radio network quickly becomes exhausted.

Even if the ability to stream at a high bandwidth is available, its not much use if the 4G radio network is not accessible. While operators continue to build out their 4G infrastructure we still experience far from ubiquitous coverage. When users lose their 4G connection the service is normally bumped down to 3G network which is typically 5 times slower making it impossible to initiate or continue to stream content. Clearly 4G cannot support the quality of service that most major content brands expect need to present to their consumers or the low latencies that XR and Cloud Gaming applications require.

5G has the potential to deliver a broad, disruptive user experience throughout the Media and Entertainment vertical, and will extend the metaphor of very simple content delivery to mobile devices that is prevalent in the market today, to an immersive, interactive and tactile shared experience for video entertainment, cloud gaming and extended reality (XR). With exceptional QoE combined with new business models that will include hyper-targeted advertising and enhanced QoE, 5G has the potential not only to bring content closer to the consumer, but also bring consumers closer together within the content ecosystem.

Goals and Objectives

The goals and objectives of this project include:
  • To document a summary of 5G and Edge technologies as they relate to video streaming and home entertainment.
  • To provide some speculation on future developments of these technologies.
  • To help content owners and network operators understand the use cases of 5G and Edge technologies as they relate to streaming video.
  • To document possible solutions to technical challenges in deploying and scaling 5G and Edge solutions.
  • To provide some guidelines and best practices for enhancing video streaming and home entertainment leveraging 5G and Edge technologies.
  • To document some of the economic, social implications, problems, advantages, disadvantages, benefits, or applications that will be relevant in the near future.

Project Scope

The document produced by this project WILL PROVIDE:
  • A basic overview of the 5G market and trends including the state of maturity of 5G and expansion plans planned by global operators.
  • Detailed explanation of 5G technology and enhanced 5G features that are applicable to streaming.
  • Comparison of 5G for video streaming with current 4G/LTE and broadband technologies.
  • Identification of the benefits 5G and Edge Compute can provide for streaming content delivery and associated issues.
  • Examination of the Edge in context and how it is defined in the framework of the video cloud.
  • Examination of the state and maturity of Edge technologies as well as Edge architecture, technology, and potential benefits for streaming media deployment.
  • Exploration into possible streaming applications that make sense to run at the edge as well as the benefits gained and the potential drawbacks.
  • Exploration into streaming specific use cases that may be relevant to, or benefit from, 5G or the Edge. Some of these use cases might include content caching, content distribution, video analytics, video security, XR, spatial computing, and cloud gaming.
  • The advantages of 5G and Edge technologies to the viewing experience.
  • Identification and examination of issues related to scaling and cost/benefits.
The document produced by this project WILL NOTE PROVIDE:
  • A recommendation of specific technologies to enable 5G or Edge Compute
  • A recommendation of network architectures or other technological frameworks

Contributors

The following members have contributed to this project. Click on their name to visit their profile. If they have not published their profile, the link will redirect to their LinkedIn profile.

Additional References

The following references can help you gain a preliminary understanding of 5G, Edge Compute, and some of the market forces:

Presentations

The following presentations delivered during Networking and Transport working group sessions may provide additional information about this project.