The 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics gave us a chance to fully understand 5G.
Olympic Broadcasting Services (OBS) attributed the record-breaking Winter Olympics to China's world leadership in the use of 5G technology. CEO Ioannis Exacos mentioned that this time may be the highest quality broadcast infrastructure he has experienced in the past Winter Olympics: "Every venue has a very stable 5G network connection, very good facilities, very good commentator seats, which is very important for us to complete the broadcast work and can help us better present the event to a wider audience." ”
As he said, the three competition areas in Beijing and Zhangjiakou City, Hebei Province, 87 venues and roads connecting venues have achieved full coverage of 5G networks, which is also the largest commercial use of 5G networks in the history of the Olympic Games.
Friends who know 5G may know that 5G website construction, especially SA independent networks, is a big investment. How to attract more 5G users, transform network construction into commercial value, and enter the payback cycle earlier is the primary challenge of major operators.
In the C-end market, the "one bowl of soup theory" has always been popular among operators, that is, the user transfer network is like a bowl of soup poured into this bowl, and when a transfer network is poured into another bowl, tossing half a day is actually the bowl of soup. Because the total number of individual users is limited, the traffic dispute will inevitably evolve into a price war, which will eventually lead to a slowdown in revenue. This bowl of soup for individual users, "every time it is poured, the value of the industry drops once", is a long-term pain point in the operator market.
In this situation, 5GtoB's private network business, as a new field outside the personal mobile market and the broadband market, has become an incremental market to attract operators, becoming attractive. However, the B-end market with high requirements and long cycle has been in the "experimental" stage in terms of application effect, and the commercial scale has always been inferior to the C-end market, and it is not easy to eat this cake.
The "5G Application Award" of the Beijing Winter Olympics is also like the "one fish to eat more" of the 5G private network, so that the public can feel the delicious taste of 5GtoB, and also see the value, breakthrough and development of the 5G private network in the operator market.
The 5G of "eating more fish" makes who is "really fragrant"?
It is said that this Winter Olympics is the one with the highest "scientific content", but this is not something I made up blindly with my eyes closed. The various innovative applications based on 5G technology have really shocked many people.
First of all, the most direct sense of the power of science and technology is the global audience.
I've heard a lot of people say that I didn't think ice and snow events were so good before, and it was so exciting! Yes, this Winter Olympics has made many competitions in the lofty mountains and mountains, lack of signals, as well as high-speed competitions and difficult to capture pictures, clear and timely into a visual feast. Many of these wonderful pictures are presented through 5G direct (retransmission) technology.
For the audience, the picture supported by 5G is more high-definition and rich. For example, at the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, some Bird's Nest long-range shots, athlete admission, etc., were achieved by the Olympic Broadcasting Service Company (OBS) through the deployment of a 5G network with full coverage in the Bird's Nest venue, and for the first time broadcast in 4K ultra-high-definition format, some of which were broadcast in 8K format. As a very high standard of current video display technology, 4K/8K has high requirements for transmission bandwidth, such as 8K screens need at least 130Mbps or more, and only gigabit-level 5GSA networks can ensure picture quality. Some operators revealed that this year's Winter Olympics have prepared 600G bandwidth for video transmission.
The mobility of 5G networks has also allowed many images to be changed from impossible to possible. For example, projects carried out in mountainous areas such as alpine skiing are not easy to lay TV lines and optical cables, and they cannot meet the standards of direct broadcasting, at this time, the flexible deployment of 5G base stations can make the figure of athletes more "exposed". In addition, the combination of VR cameras and 5G networks can allow the audience to enjoy the game from a 180-degree free perspective, the audience in the stands, the arena environment... A lot of spatial information that had been omitted in the past was displayed this time, allowing the audience to see the actual situation from different angles.
Clearer, more immersive, more three-dimensional, doesn't it look extra energetic?
Another group that has benefited a lot from 5G is the media.
The media center of the Winter Olympics can accommodate nearly 5,000 domestic and foreign media, who need to transmit the pictures taken by multiple cameras to the background in real time, interview relevant personnel, and produce wonderful content in the venue, outdoor arena, and high-speed rail movement. At this time, the three "5G artifacts" have made a great contribution.
One of the artifacts is the media private network. The Winter Olympics specially built a media private network for activities such as direct media broadcasting, 4K/8K picture quality, free viewing angle, "bullet time" and other pictures, are uploaded at high speed through low-latency, high-bandwidth 5G media private networks. Even in highly crowded venues, network capacity can still meet media demand. According to reports, this year's Winter Olympics will provide 20MB of bandwidth for the media, which is 10 times that of the Tokyo Olympic Games. In the National Bobsleigh Center track "Snow Dragon", many virtual private network equipment has also been deployed, so that the pictures taken by the media are not affected by the public network signal, and can be quickly transmitted to the background of various media through the "exclusive channel" to ensure the timeliness of news.
The second artifact is the high-speed rail special network. On the Beijing-Zhangjiakou high-speed railway connecting the two major Winter Olympic games in Beijing and Zhangjiakou, China Unicom deployed 356 base stations throughout the process and built a 3.5G200M high-speed rail private network, allowing high-speed rail users to occupy the 5G network stably. Even at speeds of up to 350 kilometers per hour and through mountains, media workers around the world can watch the race in real time and use 4K live broadcasting throughout the whole process without any stuttering.
The third artifact is a 5G backpack. During the competition, many media reporters also need to run in the mountains, shoot and interview athletes, etc. At this time, the 5G backpack is like a mobile signal station, which can follow the footsteps of the camera reporter, guarantee the mobile network signal in the minus zero low temperature, let the high-definition video pictures be uploaded to the cloud in real time, and the background personnel directly remotely edit, produce, and broadcast, so that everyone can see the wonderful scene for the first time.
Through these three artifacts, the media can deliver a particularly wonderful content feast.
As the focus of the competition, athletes are naturally also beneficiaries of 5G.
Injury is the most feared situation in high-speed ice and snow projects, and some areas located in high mountains and mountains have brought great challenges to the transport and treatment of injured people. During the Winter Olympics, ski doctors are specially equipped with 5G network-based equipment, which can record the whole process of rescue, and transmit the physical information of the injured to the background cloud through the 5G network for the hospital to quickly judge the situation and make medical preparations in advance; at the same time, it can send positioning to ensure that it arrives at the rescue site at the first time, providing an accurate location for the follow-up helicopters and rescue resources.
The 5G smart ambulance jointly built by The Beijing Emergency Center and China Unicom uses data collection equipment such as cameras and emergency gateways to make remote first aid possible, and hospital experts judge the condition in a timely manner through ultra-high-definition audio and video to achieve "admission to the hospital on the bus". These 5G applications have won golden time for treatment.
On February 10, in the men's all-around downhill race of alpine skiing, an athlete fell on the track, and the alpine ski doctor in charge of this position immediately left the station and dealt with it in time to minimize the damage of the accident to the athletes.
In addition, for the organizers, the intelligent capabilities brought by 5G+ edge computing also make the daily management of cross-region, multi-campus, multi-project, and high traffic more automatic and convenient.
5G is integrated with cloud computing and AI to form a new communication network, making the interconnection of intelligent terminals a reality. Like what:
Epidemic prevention, in the face of athletes, media and related staff from all over the world, how to prevent and control it efficiently and accurately is a great test. Through the 5G network, the handheld "WozhiHu" intelligent epidemic prevention machine can easily complete the identification work such as face temperature measurement and itinerary code registration in multiple competition venues, which greatly improves the efficiency of entry and exit, and makes safety and efficiency both correct.
In the Shougang Park, with the help of the 5G + Beidou system, the vehicle-road coordination allows driverless vehicles, intelligent delivery robots, etc. to shuttle smoothly, complete a variety of tasks such as connection, retail, and food delivery, and can also avoid in time when encountering pedestrians or unexpected road conditions, minimize personnel contact, and improve the management efficiency of the venue.
The Shahe Campus of Beijing University of Posts and Telecommunications, as the campus where the School's Winter Olympic Volunteer Service Group lives and rests, also uses the self-developed 5G artificial intelligence sweeper, with the help of the precise positioning and perception capabilities brought by the 5G network, automatically completes garbage cleaning, disinfection spray, contactless garbage transportation and other operations to reduce the risk of contact.
I have to say that the 5G application of "eating more than one fish" has indeed benefited many groups. The soil where the rich application grows is a 5G private network.
"Private kitchen mode" to create a 5G private network with full color and flavor
This Winter Olympics will make the world's audience feel the charm of ice and snow sports, but also see the strength of China's 5G. As a communication technology partner of the Beijing Winter Olympics, China Unicom also revealed that it has built 7 dedicated networks specifically for the Winter Olympics.
Why not use the Internet to carry both C-end users and B-end services?
Different from the 5G public network with a large number of users and the same demand type, B-end scenarios such as the Winter Olympics require 5G networks to be like private customization, and have higher standards and personalized requirements for the network.
Take the Winter Olympics, first of all, the quality standards for 5G networks are extremely high.
To ensure large-scale events such as the Winter Olympics and a variety of 5G service applications, a network with high coverage, capacity and quality is required. Before the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympics, China Unicom tailored the "Bird's Nest" to create a 5GSA network with 300MHz bandwidth and full coverage without dead ends. Using technologies such as "300 megabit bandwidth", "intelligent dynamic beam", "cell merger", and "distributed large-scale antenna", we ensure the ultra-high speed rate of network services and meet the differentiated needs of various groups and applications on the day.
These "tailor-made" capabilities also made the opening ceremony of the Beijing Winter Olympics the largest and fastest network bandwidth in Olympic history.
Second, the requirements for O&M automation are high.
If the complex network of the two places and three divisions of the Winter Olympic Games all rely on manpower to operate, maintain and overhaul, not only is the effect difficult to guarantee, but the pressure on the staff is also huge. Therefore, the "autonomous driving" ability of the network is very important. The 5G network of the Winter Olympics has realized the "self-management" of the smart private line, which can be controlled and automatically adjusted in real time according to some indicators during operation, such as packet loss rate, delay, usage rate, etc., and timely troubleshooting. The "smart dedicated line" also reduces the pressure on O&M engineers to conduct command and dispatch remotely.
Different industries will put forward a variety of customized requirements for private networks, if it is obviously unrealistic to rely on "heap manpower" to operate and maintain, 5G + AI can allow operators to move towards the road of benign development.
In addition, green energy conservation also poses a challenge to technological innovation.
In the opening ceremony of the Winter Olympic Games, with the small flame of "no ignition", the concept of energy conservation and emission reduction and green Olympics was transmitted, and the low-carbon awareness was reflected in all aspects of the Olympic Games, and the 5G network was naturally indispensable. As we all know, 5G base stations are "power consumption maniacs", and some cities will turn off 5G base stations at night to save energy. Then, the task of saving energy and reducing consumption for the Olympic Games naturally falls on the operators. China Unicom has reduced the energy consumption of base stations through multi-standard network intelligent collaboration and "one station, one policy" differentiated energy-saving scheduling. With the continuous advancement of the dual-carbon strategy, green environmental protection will also become the basic standard for the application of 5G private networks in various industries.
Unlike the public network, which is aimed at hundreds of millions of individual users and has relatively unified indicators, the 5G private network is how big the customer's heart is, and how big the operator's ability is. Under the tempering of high-quality "Party A", a higher standard of 5G private network can be born.
5G private network, what kind of operator "chef" is needed
It is not difficult to find that the "private kitchen model" of the 5G private network means:
New market space. Previously, the income of operators was mainly based on individual mobile users and broadband users, with the popularity of mobile Internet, the market gradually became saturated, the growth space was limited, and the total number of people who ate "big pot rice" was limited, which eventually became a homogeneous competition between operators. With the rise of the digital economy, many industries are eager to digital and intelligent transformation, and the different network needs of vertical industries, governments and enterprises have opened up a new market space for operators.
New business models. Through the combination of cloud computing, edge computing, big data, artificial intelligence and other technologies, 5G private network has brought unprecedented value services, from pipeline traffic management to providing network and computing power collaborative customization solutions, becoming an industrial digital intelligence service provider, and the new business model naturally brings new business models and new billing methods.
New competitive landscape. The slowdown in the growth of mobile users and broadband users has also led to the basic solidification of the market structure of traditional operators, and it is obvious that new opportunities are needed to break the inherent pattern, re-divide the cake, and pursue higher profit margins. Taking the to B service as the second growth curve, the construction of a 5G private network has become the key to the realization of the value of 5G networks, attracting the three major operators to compete in multiple vertical scenarios.
But also because of the "private kitchen model", for operators who are accustomed to providing infrastructure and scale benefits, new capability challenges are proposed:
The network needs of To B enterprises vary widely, requiring customized and flexible deployment, which requires operators to change the unified service model, take the customer as the basis, provide more intimate and diversified value services, and establish organizational competitiveness. From this Winter Olympics, it is not difficult to see The intention of China Unicom as a communication service provider.
And as Sylvain Fabre, senior research director at Gartner, a global research institute, says, 5G private networks can be provided not only by CSPs (commercial service providers) but also directly by infrastructure providers; not just traditional large infrastructure vendors, but also providers with cloud and software backgrounds.
Under this competitive landscape, the cooperation mechanism with supplier management as the main model is no longer suitable for the rapid development of operators. Building a digital industry ecology, uniting the upstream and downstream of the industrial chain, creating win-win cooperation, and providing customers with a package of solutions are the inevitable trends for operators to leverage the private network market.
For individual users like you and me, the continuous development of 5G private networks is also a "training" for operators' technical capabilities. When their "cooking skills" are "abused" by B-end customers more and more superb, technological upgrades will also benefit the public network, so that everyone's 5G experience will become more and more awesome.
For example, technological breakthroughs such as large uplinks and distributed large-scale antennas in this Winter Olympics can allow everyone to rely on upstream bandwidth projects such as games and live broadcasts, or in crowded indoor scenes, the 5G experience is as silky and stable.
There are many similar "Winter Olympic heritages", such as the computer room standards for Olympic communication services and the business standards for security services, which have also been submitted to the International Olympic Committee, which may become the "standard" of the Olympic Games and promote the construction and upgrading of 5G networks in various regions of the world. The 5G of the Winter Olympics, which "eats more than one fish", will float throughout the world.
One day in the future, when we think back to the 2022 Beijing Winter Olympics, those about China's strength and beauty are not only the struggle of athletes, but also the 5G that leads the world.