Holograms are sounding less and less like science fiction and are becoming another tool for developing certain activities remotely. These new uses are being made possible thanks to 5G, considering that, compared to 4G, it has very low latency that allows the sending of images and sound in a few milliseconds, achieving a completely immersive experience. Under this new paradigm, the 5G Catalunya initiative has tested holograms for teaching classes, without the need for the teacher to be physically in the classroom and able to deliver the lesson from another location.
The demonstration was held at Cibernàrium, Barcelona Activa's technology training and dissemination center, located in Media TIC. Attendees were able to see and hear a speaker as if they were in the room, through their 3D image and with almost instant interaction. The image of the speaker, who was in another location, was volumetrically captured to be streamed to another point through a private 5G network. All this, without the need for 3D glasses or any other cumbersome device other than a screen on which to reproduce the hologram.
The pilot was made possible thanks to the telecommunications infrastructure company Cellnex Telecom, the telecommunications infrastructure operator Masmovil, the company specialized in augmented reality Aumenta Solutions, the technology company Lenovo, and the consultancy firm Nae. It also had the collaboration of the economic development agency Barcelona Activa.
Each of the participants contributed one of the parts of the solution to make this bidirectional hologram possible. Cellnex provided the 5G access network infrastructure to enable the streaming connection between two remote points. For its part, Aumenta Solutions provided the volumetric capture technology. It did so with Microsoft depth cameras that allow real-time capture of volumetric models of people and the environment to be transmitted over the network and subsequently reconstructed three-dimensionally. This solution is based on the streaming of the captured image and the depth image from the emission point, which makes volumetric reconstruction possible at the reception point.
Another leg of this pilot has been Lenovo, with the use of technology that has allowed distributed processing, consisting of a treatment of information close to the data that allows creating multipoint meetings between different locations. Finally, to achieve more realism, the process relies on two types of visualization supports. On the one hand, autostereoscopic screens, which allow viewing models in volume, without the need for additional hardware or 3D glasses. On the other hand, encapsulated 2D screens without a back part, to visualize elements that, although flat, give a sensation of depth.
5G Catalunya is developed by a consortium of eight companies led by Cellnex Telecom and the Masmovil group, in which Parlem Telecom, Aumenta Solutions, Atos, Nae, Lenovo, and Nearby Computing also participate. In addition, the project has the support of the Mobile World Capital Barcelona (MWCapital) foundation. The project consists of seven use cases aimed at developing solutions based on 5G technology for urban environments, with the aim of promoting digital transformation and consolidating the implementation of a technological ecosystem that acts as a lever for social and economic development.
The 5G Catalunya initiative has been one of the beneficiaries of the aid for the development of 5G pilots from Red.es, an entity of the Ministry of Economic Affairs and Digital Transformation. This is the second call and was launched at the end of 2019. It is co-financed by Feder funds.
Possibility of reaching other sectors
The leader of the 5G Catalunya pilot and Open Innovation Program Manager at Cellnex Telecom, Ana Varela, highlighted the possibilities that this holographic solution based on 5G networks offers to improve people's lives: "5G technology makes it possible to transmit a large volume of data in real time, so we will be able to experience immersive communication services, such as connectivity through bidirectional holography, with a sense of presence and immediacy that will improve the quality of interaction compared to other forms of distance teaching or learning."
Ana Varela (Cellnex Telecom): "5G technology makes it possible to transmit a large volume of data in real time, so we will be able to experience immersive communication services"The director of Digital Talent at Barcelona Activa, Sara Díaz, has defended that the use of 5G technology and holograms will allow transforming the world of training andopen new business models for companies"Barcelona is already the third European city in digital innovation and, thanks to these implementations, the city reinforces its leadership as a technological capital," he remarked.
Seeing the possibilities of holography for remote environments such as education, the CTO and CIO of Aumenta Solutions, Javier Campos, explained that "5G technology and this use case open up many opportunities in other sectors, for remote medicine, care for people at risk of exclusion, or the industrial sector." To which Lara M. Rubianes, from Red.es, pointed the way, adding that "the design of use cases jointly with end-users allows perceiving the maturity and adequacy of these solutions prior to the development of what could be future new services."