Telecommunications company BT Group has launched a new testbed that will bring together technology partners and 5G network providers to trial ‘immersive experiences’ for work, home, health and entertainment using mixed and augmented reality (AR).
Some of the new capabilities the testbed will explore include network exposure functions, cloud-rendering and enhanced localisation, which will be done with support from 5G networks to support the growth of mixed reality use cases.
Immersive extended reality experiences offer a broad range of opportunities but rely upon strong foundations in networks, technologies and standards.
“Network optimisation is a fundamental enabler for immersive experiences that will require high bandwidth, high capacity, and ultra-low latency networks which can be dynamically configured for the demands of different extended reality service applications,” said Gabriela Styf Sjoman, MD, research and network strategy, BT Group.
“As the UK’s leading provider of fixed and mobile networks we’re delighted to invite others in the ecosystem to work with us, using the testbed to explore future use cases for consumers, enterprise and industry sectors.”
BT Group will look to understand how networks, platforms, services and apps can be optimised for cloud-GPU rendered extended reality immersive experiences delivered over EE’s public and private 5G networks.
One of the key use cases the testbed will support is the use of AR to enable blended reality experiences by mixing virtual content with the real-world.
Though still in its infancy, the company reports having completed successful trials of potential deployments for car retail, education, sports broadcasting and medical imaging.
Recently, the company showcased an extended reality digital twin of Adastral Park, its global R&D headquarters, which was developed using 5G, cloud-GPU rendering and hybrid localisation. This enabled users to view information like power usage of buildings by embedding live data.
Digital twins can be used to collate and present real-time data from physical systems, enabling real-time visibility and two-way control, as well as modelling, simulation and analytics of real-world systems.
Other potential immersive experiences using this technology will be developed collaboratively by an ecosystem of content providers, hardware, software, platform developers from a supporting foundation of enabling technologies.
BT Group is a finalist for the first-ever Robotics & Automation Awards in the R&D Innovation category for its work with partners on the InDePTH (Intelligent Drones for Port and Highways) project. Interested in attending this unmissable event for the robotics and automation sectors and networking with the industry’s elite? Book your table now!
