The participants of German research project 5G Today, in which linear TV was transmitted in 5G broadcast mode for the first time, have drawn a positive conclusion.
“We were able to achieve good mobile TV reception in large parts of the measurement area. These findings form an important basis for further standardisation work on 5G broadcasting,” said Aneta Baier, project manager at German broadcast technology research institute IRT.
The aim of the field trials, carried out on two transmitter sites in federal state Bavaria, was to examine the efficient distribution of TV channels for reception on future mobile 5G devices such as smartphones and tablets. 5G Broadcast offers advantages like high video quality, low latency and cost-effective distribution with high coverage, according to the 5G Today partners.
The project, funded by the Bavarian Research Foundation, has been running since 2017; it is scheduled to end on October 31, 2019. The participants IRT, Kathrein, Rohde & Schwarz and associated partners Bayerischer Rundfunk and Telefónica Deutschland jointly investigated the possibilities of a 5G-based broadcast solution. The project covered the development of components for transmission and reception technology, preliminary examinations, simulations and field measurements. In addition, various antenna polarisations were investigated, especially for reception on smartphones.
Due to the new status of the utilised LTE/5G broadcast mode FeMBMS, detailed research on the synchronisation behaviour and the resulting supply quality is still necessary, according to the partners. They have therefore agreed to continue the work started with 5G Today and to operate the test field beyond the planned duration of the project. Nevertheless, the participants conclude that the field measurements of 5G Today have shown that FeMBMS can achieve the characteristics of a classic broadcast transmission system.
