ORS tests 5G broadcast technology at MotoGP event in Austria

As part of MotoGP™, the world’s most exciting motorsport, last weekend the Red Bull Ring in Spielberg became a test track for the innovative transmission technology 5G Broadcast, which will enable the audience at the race track to follow live content from various camera perspectives directly on their cell phones in future.

Live broadcast from the race track directly to smartphones

During the tests, several signals, including the Servus TV signal and onboard camera perspectives of the riders, were transmitted directly to 5G Broadcast-enabled smartphones at the race track. The latency between the live experience and the live stream on the mobiles was measured. The test users of the prototype smartphones were thus able to enjoy a unique live experience at the race track for the first time.

The setup, developed by ORS’ Nakolos team and technical partners, consisting of a low latency encoder, 5G Broadcast core and transmitter, enabled a 5G Broadcast coverage for the duration of the event for the first time.

Successful deployment of 5G broadcast at major event
The test demonstrated that 5G Broadcast is perfectly suited to enable viewers to watch the action in real time on their mobiles or tablets at events with a large audience – in this case a crowd of nearly 100,000 – with relatively small effort. With latencies measured well below one second (glass-to-glass), the test was completed successfully, which makes the two companies supporting the test, Dorna and ServusTV, positive for future applications:

“ServusTV stands for innovation in every area, as proven by the real-time layover in ServusTV ON as part of our football broadcasts. We are therefore delighted that, together with ORS and in cooperation with MotoGP™, we were able to successfully enable a new broadcast technology through domestic development know-how in a first go-live test,” says David Morgenbesser, Commercial Director at Servus TV.

“As the commercial rights holder for the world’s most exciting sport, we naturally support new technologies that take the viewer experience to a new level and push boundaries. Innovation is a core value of our sport and we’re proud to have seen it in action with this successful test at the Red Bull Ring,” said Sergi Sendra, Head of Global Technology at Dorna, who was delighted with the successful test.

“After the successful test at the Donauinselfest, we have now demonstrated at the MotoGP™ at Red Bull Ring that with 5G broadcast event technology, many people can simultaneously follow the action at the race track without any loss of quality and, for the first time, with a camera-to-stream (glass-to-glass) latency of less than one second,” says ORS Managing Director Michael Wagenhofer, “With ORS’ mobile setup, temporary 5G broadcast coverage at sporting events, concerts or festivals is thus possible at any time.”

The test was conducted by ORS’ Nakolos team with the support of technology partners Bitstem, Insys VT and Syes. BCS Bureau