Huawei is working in collaboration with media group BBC, Qualcomm Technologies and telecom operator firm EE to demonstrate multicast 4G broadcasting benefits over unicast streaming.
The demonstration, scheduled to take place at the BBC R&D Future of Broadcasting Showcase in the Glasgow Science Centre from 24 July to 3 August, will showcase how the trial technology delivers high-quality, uninterrupted live streaming to mobile devices with no buffering through LTE broadcast mode eMBMS (Evolved Multimedia Broadcast and Multicast Service).
The multicast technology eMBMS, offers mobile network operators a more efficient and cost-effective means of sending content to numerous customers simultaneously over an existing LTE network.
As the technology flexibly shares the same spectrum with content delivery to individual (unicast) users in the network, it does not require any additional frequency spectrum. Unlike unicast, eMBMS continues to deliver consistent quality content with increase in users without adding network capacity and spectrum bandwidth.
The live BBC content in MPEG-DASH format for the trial will be sent over an IP link to a Huawei server situated within the EE test labs. An application developed by BBC will be used to display and navigate the live streams on handsets.
EE’s chief technology officer, Fotis Karonis, said that using eMBMS to deliver TV over 4G will be an incredible demonstration of LTE capabilities.
He said that the network quality they are offering will give consumers an amazing experience, and provide an amazing opportunity for broadcasters to deliver their most popular content to multiple mobile users in a more efficient manner.
