Integration of 5G Wireless into Hybrid Media Production Including SMPTE ST 2110

Abstract

Professional media production will in the future require more flexibility over where and how its operations are provided, including where there are multiple networks, which could include 5G, wired, cloud-based, and home networks. The broadcast industry’s adoption of live networked media systems is still relatively immature, especially in wireless and there is not yet a consistent and complete approach to describing architectures and the interfaces required for interoperability. This article describes a set of gateway functions for a professional media production using both 5G and wired (SMPTE ST 2110-based) media networks, in particular a scenario from the EU Horizon IC-41 Project 5G-RECORDS ( <uri xmlns:mml="http://www.w3.org/1998/Math/MathML" xmlns:xlink="http://www.w3.org/1999/xlink">https://www.5g-records.eu/</uri> ) about a multicamera 5G-enabled broadcast studio. The Media Gateway (MG) converts media streams between the wireless and wired environments and the Media Orchestration and Control Gateway (MOCG) provides discovery, configuration, connection, and control of broadcast equipment deployed in various locations. In a ST 2110 environment, the latter is done in part through Advanced Media Workflow Association (AMWA) Networked Media Open Specifications (NMOS) APIs; however, this approach needs to be adapted for use in a 5G network, through the introduction of middleware components that decouple the wired and wireless. This article gives a detailed description of the wireless studio use-case and the approach taken by 5G-RECORDS in developing the MG and MOCG.