The objective of this use case is to utilize a localized 5GLAN connectivity among many mobile users to facilitate the 5G multicast for opportunistic multimedia delivery for popular content. The project will showcase a massive video and audio streaming media showroom with interactive content where the mobile operator can optimize the usage of radio resources, while performing media distribution on a highly dynamic basis. Through the capability of the FUDGE-5G Platform, each component can also change dynamically in terms of network location, effectively realizing a dynamic mobile function offloading capability. 

With an increase of mobile viewers in a venue or confined area, physical radio and networking resources are limited and unless multicast or broadcast delivery for HTTP-based services, network congestion will occur. Sending the user’s stream to all other users via unicast (given that the micro-service communication is likely based on HTTP) is not scalable once the number of users grows in terms of network throughput required but also due to the transfer costs on the user’s device for creating the needed replica. Hence, a multicast solution is required albeit one that can cope with the dynamically changing relationships created dynamically. Moreover, the network functions required for media broadcasting have not been deployed widely in the market which leads to interoperability issues when integrating components from different vendors. 

The goal is to have a truly elastic and dynamic service delivery for multimedia, on a per HTTP transaction basis. To showcase this capability, a hypothetical centralized editor located in a studio can select any user video stream. Based on that, the centralized editor instructs the chosen mobile user application to redirect the displaying of the video to another entity, namely the editor’s control screen (in other words, the control screen is being declared a suitable display micro-service in the chain of the three micro-services realizing the end user’s application). After judging that the input is suitable and worthwhile to be shown to other users, the central editor instructs the mobile device applications of other users to have their capturing micro-service to serve as a display micro-service for the selected user, resulting in the user’s video being shown now to all other selected users using multicast delivery.

Activity 1:

Definition of the Concurrent Media Delivery Use Case and Activity Plan. It has been decided to  divide it into two parts, Remote Production and Media Showroom; which will follow a parallel design, implementation, deployment, execution and validation.

Activity 2:

FUDGE-5G platform preliminary integration between: i) CMC components and IDE Network Functions for the Media Showroom part and ii) ATH AWS Control Plane solution and CMC UPF for Remote Production part. The preliminary interconnection of components will be carried in IDE tested located in London.

Activity 3:

On-boarding of the FUDGE-5G Platform for Remote Production into Fornebu servers and 5G-VINNI Radio Infrastructure connectivity test; including installation of NRK Video Processing Function in Fornebu datacenters. This activity also includes preliminary E2E testing between the Video Processing Applications and 5G Camera devices to verify the 5G connectivity.
Activity 4:

First trials of Remote News Gathering, with a single 5G Camera, performed. The metrics gathered during these trials will be processed and it will be evaluated if the FUDGE-5G Platform is capable of serving this Remote Production realization. If the results obtained are positive, it will be proceeded to include a multi camera environment connected to a Remote Studio Application provided by NRK, with the required data analysis to verify if the KPIs are being met. The results obtained in this phase will be shown in D3.1, scheduled to November 2021.  In the case that the KPIs are not met, the components and infrastructure will be evaluated and iterated to improve their performance, and evaluated in a second battery of trials. This activity also covers the interoperability testing between hybrid cloud and on-premises deployment.
Activity 5:

On-boarding of the FUDGE-5G Platform for Media Showroom into Fornebu servers and 5G-VINNI Radio Infrastructure connectivity test; including the installation of IDE special application into commercial 5G Android phones. End-to-end connectivity between IDE components and the smartphones is also included in this stage.
Activity 6:

First trials of Media Showroom. Several commercial devices will be acquired and put in a room with 5G and WiFi coverage. A very high quality video will be sent to these devices, letting the FUDGE-5G platform decide the best access network to deliver this data and the use of Opportunistic Multicast. Scalability, bandwidth, video display buffer size and other metrics will be gathered and processing to evaluate the performance of the solution. If it found that the KPIs are not properly fulfilled, the FUDGE-5G Platform and its components will be revised and iterated upon; and a second batch of trials to verify its adequate performance. The results obtained in this phase will be shown in D3.1, scheduled to November 2021.
Activity 7:

Preparation of the FUDGE-5G Platform for the Concurrent Media Delivery trials. After successful reports from Remote Production and Media Showroom; the implementation work required to accommodate and interwork both realizations will begin. The system slicing functionality will be preliminary tested, stressing each slice in laboratory settings to evaluate the possible service degradation across slices. If the preliminary trials show proper isolation between slices, the platform on Fornebu will be updated.
Activity 8:

Execution of the Concurrent Media Delivery trials. Two system slices will be deployed, one covering the Remote Production and the other serving the Media Showroom. Professional 5G equipment will gather content, will deliver it into a remote studio application, process it, then used as input for the Media Showroom devices. On top of the metrics mentioned in Activity #4 and Activity #6, additional ones regarding the system slice monitoring will be gathered.
Activity 9:

Compilation of results and drafting of a report. Summarizing all the efforts done in beforehand activities, a report reflected in D4.1, scheduled for February 2022; will contain the findings of this use case, describe the challenges found and how they were overcome, and illustration of metrics gathered via tables and graphs. It will also serve as the final validation evaluation for the components and if it can be considered that the goal of reaching TRL 7 was met.