Hong Kong Applied Science and Technology Research Institute (ASTRI), in partnership with Fu Huake Precision Industry (Shenzhen) Co. Ltd. (a subsidiary of Foxconn Industrial Internet Co. Ltd.), showcased the latest 5G + 8K video streaming demonstration at the Mobile World Congress in Shanghai, China.

The demonstration revealed the latest 3GPP Release 15 5G Cloud-Radio Access Network (C-RAN) Base-Station (BS) and User Equipment (UE) emulator solution, connected to a 5G wideband Remote Radio Units (RRU) jointly developed by ASTRI and Fu Huake. The live demonstration accomplished 8K (7,680 × 4,320 pixels) ultra-high definition (UHD) wireless video delivery from 5G C-RAN BS to 5G UE emulator over the 100MHz, 4×4 MIMO wireless channels at the carrier frequency of 3.5GHz.

8K UHD wireless video streaming over cellular network is a new use case for 5G enhanced mobile broadband (eMBB). Each of the 5G eMBB wireless channels could support a 4×4 MIMO and 100MHz bandwidth configuration. Such high rate of cellular data transmission could enable many new wireless UHD visual applications, such as 8K UHD video broadcasting that delivers 16 times as high resolution as HD video broadcasting. In addition, by combining with 8K wireless headsets, it can deliver both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) user experience – enabling ‘virtual’ interactions with the ‘reality’ world.

The 5GC-RAN reference design supports Network Functions Virtualisation (NFV), running on general purpose Intel Xeon x86 microprocessors. The fronthaul interfaces are flexibly designed to support Common Public Radio Interface (CPRI) or ethernet IP packet interface. This commercial-grade reference design has been verified over the 3GPP release 15 specifications. It supports different 5G usage scenarios such as enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra-Reliable and Low-Latency Communications(URLLC).

The demonstration took place at ATSRI’s booth (Hall N1 Stand E60) in MWC Shanghai 2018 at the Shanghai New International Expo Centre (SNIEC), Shanghai, China from 27 – 29 Jun2018.