TVU Networks Powers China Unicom 8K Over 5G Demonstration

China has been at the forefront of 5G developments so it’s no surprise that China Unicom, the world’s fourth largest mobile service provider, was able to work with TVU Networks to demonstrate the transmission of 8K video signals over 5mmWave technology at the Mobile World Congress exhibition in Shanghai.

“We have been working very closely with a number of mobile operators and telecom technology companies, such as Qualcomm in developing and deploying 5G infrastructure,” says Paul Shen, TVU Networks, CEO. “China Unicom was awarded as official Telecommunication Service Partner of the Olympic and Paralympic Winter Games Beijing 2022.  They are deploying 5G services for the 2022 Olympics in Beijing, and we will be the ones providing all the necessary infrastructure tools and equipment for them.”

TVU Networks was involved in a demonstration of 8K over 5G at Mobile World Congress in Shanghai.

As part of the partnership, TVU Networks is focused on the development of technology for collection, transmission, distribution, and management of 4K and 8K ultra-high-definition video using 5G networks. Advantages to the 5G mmWave band include increased bandwidth, reduced latency, and flexible configuration, which enable the capacity and transmission of future mobile application scenarios such as 4K, 8K and immersive AR/VR. The radio frequency utilized for 5G mmWave is far less congested than the frequency spectrum used by most TV and radio signals, which increases the bandwidth available.

CCTV is already operating in 8K and the demonstration was designed to prove out the concept of using 5G to deliver 8K signals for production use. China Unicom will deploy 5G mmWave technology across all the Olympic venues so the potential to use that technology to cut down on cabling for camera signal transport could help on events like skiing and others that have long runs.

“With 8K a lot of special effects can be done with panning and scanning, and they can be used for instant replays,” says Shen. “So, there are a lot of benefits to this on the acquisition side.”

The real-time 8K video followed athletes in training for the games and was an example of the type of live 8K and AR/VR mobile coverage viewers may see during the 2022 Winter Olympics.

Throughput was as high as 1 Gbps via the new TVU 5G Rack Router. The portable Internet access point includes six embedded 5G modems and can be used for delivering live video signals or file transfers. An optional IP67 external MIMO antenna helped maximize signal strength.

“We believe that with the China Unicom planned 5G mmWave deployment at the 2022 Winter Olympics venues,  we are able to use a compact-size mmWave atenna array,” says Shen. “So, it will get down to a small backpack like what we have today.”

China Unicom’s 5G mmWave technology will be deployed over 5G networks during the 2022 Winter Olympics in Beijing, where the Chinese telecommunications operator will be the exclusive mobile service provider.

The new 5G TVU Rack Router is a portable Internet access point that includes six embedded 5G modems and is ideal for remote live video production set up, file transfers and emergency communication applications. It provides the highest bandwidth reliability under extreme network environments. An optional IP67 external MIMI antenna is available to maximize signal strength. Others in the TVU Router family include the 5G TVU One Router, 4G/LTE Nano Router, and the TVU Router app.