What technologies and applications do 5G and the Internet of Things have in the World Cup?

Recently, the most exciting things are the completion of the 5G R15 standard and the start of the World Cup in Russia. When 5G meets the World Cup, it heralds the beginning of a digital transformation of the football industry.

It is said that the Russian World Cup cost 14 billion US dollars, which is called the "most expensive World Cup in history". Information and communication play an important role in sports events. What technologies and applications have been unveiled in this World Cup?

1. Europe’s largest Massive MIMO deployment

As we all know, a football stadium can accommodate tens of thousands of people, with the highest concentration of connected users and the highest communication density. Once a goal is scored, tens of thousands of people may communicate simultaneously to share the joy with their family and friends, which is a huge challenge to the network capacity.

In order to ensure communications, Russian operators deployed a large number of Massive MIMO antennas in 11 competition venues. It is revealed that this is the largest Massive MIMO deployment in Europe.

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Massive MIMO is one of the key technologies of 5G and is currently deployed in 4G networks. Massive MIMO deploys a large-scale antenna array on the base station side and uses beamforming and beam steering technologies to simultaneously serve multiple users watching the game on site with the same time and frequency resources, thereby significantly increasing capacity.

2. High-speed, low-latency VAR system

The Russian World Cup first adopted VAR, the video assistant referee system.

In the match between France and Australia, in the second half, French striker Griezmann received a through ball from Pogba and fell to the ground after contact with Australian right back Risdon in the Australian penalty area. The referee on duty did not award a penalty kick in the first minute. At this time, all the players walked to the sidelines and watched the replay of the controversial scene and the VAR's decision on the big screen together with more than 40,000 spectators in the Kazan Stadium. The referee Cunha awarded a penalty kick to the French team.

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VAR is a newly introduced auxiliary penalty system in addition to the referee, two assistant referees and the fourth referee. Once the referee has any doubts, he can ask VAR for assistance. VAR will provide reference to the referee through video playback to help the referee correct wrong judgments and missed judgments.

What kind of system is VAR?

▲VAR

It has set up 35 8K high-definition cameras around the stadium and connected to the control room via optical fiber and wireless network. When watching a game, you will see the referee sometimes put his hand to his ear, which may be communicating with the VAR. This information communication process is transmitted through the wireless network.

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▲VAR control room

It is worth mentioning that the VAR control room is not located in the stadium, but in an office in Moscow. Obviously, it requires a reliable, high-speed, low-latency communication network to achieve long-distance real-time transmission.

3. 5G VR Experience

MegaFon, Russia's largest operator, has deployed 5G test areas in 11 cities hosting the World Cup, allowing viewers to watch the events through 5G VR.

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They installed multiple 360-degree high-definition cameras on each football field. The 4K video was transmitted to the 5G CPE terminal in the test area through the 5G base station, and then distributed to multiple VR helmets through the WiFi network, allowing viewers wearing VR helmets to watch the game immersively, as if they were there in person.

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▲CPE terminal in the experience area

5G VR is considered to be one of the killer applications of 5G, which embodies the high-speed and low-latency services of 5G networks.

4. Rich IoT Applications

Facing the 5G era of the Internet of Everything, Russia has launched a 5G infrastructure plan, hoping to provide innovative services to citizens through future networks.

We also saw many innovative IoT applications in this World Cup.

1. Remote mobile vehicle

This is a cooperation plan between the Moscow city government and Yandex, Moscow's largest taxi company. When a Yandex taxi parks improperly and does not park in a parking space, the company can remotely control the vehicle through the Internet to make it park correctly in the parking space.

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2. EPTS Player Tracking System

EPTS, or Electronic Tracking System, collects data through tracking cameras in the stadium and MEMS with GPS on players' jerseys to record heart rates, and transmits the data in real time to the team's analysts and medical team. It uses tablet computers to understand and count players' positions, passes, speeds, physical conditions and other data in real time.

3. Telstar 18 Smart Football

The Russian World Cup uses Adidas' new match ball Telstar 18. Telstar 18 has an embedded NFC chip. When a smartphone with NFC function is connected to Telstar 18, various information and data about the game can be read. Players can also upload the data and share it with football fans around the world.

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*** Here are a few more Russian-style base stations, pretending to be on the scene...

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