5G Enabled Broadcast at Pitlochry Highland Games
Live link from the games to international broadcasting conference on Saturday 10 September.
An unassuming box with an aerial, situated in a corner of the balcony at the pavilion in Pitlochry’s recreation ground, will put the town’s highland games at the forefront of a project trialling future broadcast production in locations even more remote using 5G and involving a number of world leading broadcasters, including the BBC and BT Sport.
While the games are underway action will be broadcast live to the International Broadcasting Conference (IBC) taking place in Amsterdam with an estimated audience of 40,000. The IBC sits at the crossroads of the media, entertainment and technology industries, providing an informative and engaging experience. The 5G private network has been developed at the University of Strathclyde.
“Pitlochry will help us show that 5G remote production can happen in many even more remote places and in the middle of anywhere. We are trialling in four areas of the world, in Ireland, in Kenya, New Zealand and in Pitlochry,” explained Mark Smith, the head of IBC’s Accelerator Media Innovation Programme. “It provides the perfect opportunity to focus on a private 5G network.”
As enthusiastic young dancers perform to pipe tunes and cabers whistle though the air, Pitlochry is providing a dedicated bandwidth with no interference or capacity issues affecting the quality of transmission even in big crowds, Mr Smith added.
The private 5G remote network has been developed by the University of Strathclyde working alongside the Scotland 5G Centre.
Professor Bob Stewart, from the University of Strathclyde and Director of the Strathclyde Software Defined Radio team, said: “This trial will show how truly portable our 5G private standalone network is and how we can ‘popup’ private networks.”
The trial was welcomed by Games Chieftain Charles Butter, who said: “This is a truly Scottish endeavour and the choice of Pitlochry Highland Games as an event to help in the future development of broadcasting is a testament to the high regard in which Pitlochry Highland Games are held, not just from the point of sporting excellence but also our wonderful location.”
This year also marks 170th anniversary of the first Pitlochry Highland Games and one highlight will be the playing for the first time of a new pipe tune composed specifically for Pitlochry.