On December 10, the Entertainment Technology Center at USC will hold a symposium on “5G: Planning and Piloting First M&E Services.” Digital Town Square producer Rochelle Winters said the event will highlight 5G’s transformative potential, the first tests and trials of 5G-enabled enhancements such as AR overlays and immersive content, the benefits of edge computing, and the build-out of private and site-specific 5G networks. The symposium will also look into the future of 5G capture, content and services.

“Currently, there are deployments of site-specific networks and real-world entertainment examples we can look at,” Winters said. “And we’ll be hearing from those who have implemented them. We’ll also talk about some of the content transformations we’ll be seeing, including higher resolution, more personalization and interactivity, and possibly pinpoint geolocation, all delivered to 5G-enabled devices.”

Telecom Partners founding partner Bill Stueber will open the symposium with a discussion on the regulatory, business and standards climate. “He’ll also look at the 5G ecosystem and dive into spectrum, which is quite complex,” explained Winters. Verizon 5G Labs director Christian Guirnalda will go into detail about his company’s test deployment of 5G in NFL stadiums, and a technical executive from Sony’s R&D center will describe how the company’s engineering team designed and installed the Sony network.

Nexus Studios head of XR and interactive arts Luke Ritchie will describe his studio’s work to create a series of immersive experiences at the AT&T (formerly Dallas Cowboys) Stadium this last fall. Sebastian Sylwan, CTO/creative partner at Emmy-award winning studio Felix & Paul will talk about the company’s XR [interactive] work on the International Space Station (ISS).

“It’s too early to quantify the transformative power of 5G in the entertainment space, though it’s no longer a question that speed, the potential bandwidth and latency radically changes how entertainment will be delivered and experienced,” said Ritchie, who noted that his company’s tools and 5G allowed for “hyper-accurate” AR positioned with “centimeter accuracy” at the AT&T Stadium.

Amdocs vice president of product & solutions marketing Yogen Patel will address the future of 5G networks which, he said, are “poised to enable a wide array of innovative video and interactive content/application offerings.” “But, taking advantage of this new dynamic and programmable network requires that services providers be able to iterate fast and efficiently in defining, launching, monitoring, expanding or retiring offerings,” he added. “Media and communications companies need to start planning now to turn the 5G network into an agile monetization platform for video and more.”

University of San Diego School of Medicine professor Beatrice Golomb, MD, PhD will look at the potential safety issues of 5G, and debunk some widely held assumptions about it. Intel chief architect of advanced network solutions Andrew Alleman and Microsoft principal program manager, industry accelerators, media & telecommunications sector Martin Wahl will examine edge computing in a 5G ecosystem.

The “new nature of data” will fuel “media growth opportunities in areas such as video analytics and advertising, ultra HD content and immersive AR/VR experiences,” said Alleman, who said he will cover “specifics examples of media related deployments we have done over 5G … and the associated network and compute architecture.”

Finally, “Wolves in the Walls” director/creator Pete Billington, whose Fable Studio won the 2019 Emmy Award for immersive entertainment, will share his vision for storytelling, digital characters and a post-platform consumer experience in a 5G world.

To request an invite to ETC’s Digital Town Square on 5G, click here.