Tuesday 26 January 2021

Banana and Egg gets 5G Telesurgery


Last year I wrote a detailed post on '5G Remote Surgery and Telehealth Solutions' here. Since then many people with little or no understanding of how the technology works have got in touch with me to educate me about all the 5G remote surgeries taking place. 

I am always prepared to learn new things and looked at both of these surgeries (detailed below) with open mind. I was still unable to see the 5G angle here. In fact in the case of banana, I don't even know if 5G was used.

Back in 2014, a BBC article detailed how a surgeon in Canada has performed over 20 remote surgeries with the help of a robot including colon operations and hernia repairs. The article goes on to ask, "The technology behind long-distance surgery is now mature enough to be used more widely, allowing people to access world-leading expertise and better healthcare without having to travel. Could it become the norm in hospitals?"

The first case is from Aug 2020 as shown in the video above where Doctor Liu Rong from a hospital in Beijing takes on the challenge of remotely controlling a medical robot in distant Qingdao City via the 5G network to finish an egg membrane suture surgery in 90 minutes.

The question here is that where exactly was 5G used and why? Did both the ends have 5G or just one end? Etc. I was unable to find a schematic to show the end-to-end details that would provide credibility to such a scenario.

To explain what I mean, when Vodafone UK launched 5G, they demonstrated low latency by giving an example of Haptic tackle using TeslaSuit. You can read the details and watch the video here

As you can see, the end-to-end solution architecture is nicely explained as shown in this picture. I would expect a similar kind of schematic for the surgery scenario. While I can clearly understand the use case for sports outdoor, I am not able to understand the use case for the surgery indoors. Where was the access point? What frequency was used? Was this Standalone or Non-Standalone network? And many other questions like these. 

The second case was a more recent one. The video is embedded below.

Even though the video mentions 5G and many other sites (see this LinkedIn post with nearly 2.5 million views) that have picked this up mention 5G, the original Instagram video does not mention 5G. In all likelihood there is no 5G connection with this one.

Surely there will be a real life 5G remote surgery use case someday that will capture our imagination but not today.

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Thursday 21 January 2021

Some Cool Gadgets from CES 2021

 


With all the disruption on events and conferences due to Covid-19 pandemic, it wasn't a surprise that CES 2021 was completely digital. It was also moved by a week so it did disrupt a few smaller events here and there. I thought it may be worth sharing a few quick videos to give you an idea about the big announcements out there. BBC has a nice detailed coverage of the whole event here.

Let's start with this short 4 mins video from CNET that quickly shows all the best devices from CES 2021.

The next is this slightly longer 12 minute video that has 20 awesome gadgets for smart homes.

Finally, there is this 11 minute plus video that is a summary of all new mobile phone technology. It's not as polished as the ones before but still good enough.

In addition, here are some links for you to watch the keynotes from relevant to our industry:

Samsung gets full marks for making a short event highlights video here. In addition, they have a press conference video and a detailed keynote video. All details are on their CES microsite here.

TCL's rollable phone and tablet is nicely captured by CNET here. Their CES microsite is here.

LG Electronics may want to learn a few tricks from Samsung as far as making microsites and videos are concerned. They CES micro site is here. The full press conference is here while Engadget summarises the keynote in just over 9 mins here. LG Wing video here makes an interesting viewing.

Finally, here are 3 links that have summarised the best/weird gadgets from CES and yes there are overlaps in their choices

If you want to share something, feel free to comment.

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Friday 15 January 2021

UE Radio Capability Signaling Optimization (RACS) in Rel. 16

The data volume of UE Radio Capability Information defined in 3GPP 38.306 is already high and will further increase starting with Rel. 16 due to additional supported bands and other features.

Due to this 3GPP has standardized in Release 16 what is called UE Radio Capability Signaling Optimization (RACS) for both, E-UTRAN/EPS and NG RAN/NGC networks. 

Release 16 RACS does not apply to NB-IoT.

The first key element of this feature set is the introduction of a new UE Radio Capability ID that is structured as defined in 3GPP 23.003 and shown in figure 1 below:

UE Radio Capability ID
Figure 1: UE Radio Capability ID according to 3GPP 23.003

The components of this new ID are:

  •    TF - Type Field (TF): identifies the type of UE radio capability ID.
            Type = 0 -> manufacturer-assigned UE radio capability ID
            Type = 1 -> network-assigned UE radio capability ID

  •  The Version ID configured by the UE Capability Management Function (UCMF) that is part of the EPS/5GC. The Version ID value makes it possible to detect whether a UE Radio Capability ID is current or outdated.

·      The Radio Configuration Identifier (RCI) identifies the UE radio configuration.

The PLMN-assigned UE Radio Capability ID is assigned to the UE using the Non-Access Stratum UE Configuration Update Command or Registration Accept message (figure 2).

Figure 2: PLMN-assigned UE Radio Capability Update according to 3GPP 23.743

The new UCMF (UE radio Capability Management Function) stores All UE Radio Capability ID mappings in a PLMN and is responsible for assigning every PLMN-assigned UE Radio Capability ID.

Due to introduction of the UMCM in the core networks the new Nucmf service-based interface is defined for the 5GC and new S17 reference point is defined for the EPS as shown in figure 3.

Figure 3: Network Architecture with UCMF according to 3GPP 21.916

Each UE Radio Capability ID stored in the UCMF can be associated to one or both UE radio capabilities formats specified in 3GPP TS 36.331 [LTE RRC] and 3GPP TS 38.331 [NR RRC]. The AMF must only be able ot handle the NR RRC format while the MME uses the LTE RRC format. Which format is required by the UCMF is configurable.

If at any time the AMF/MME has neither a valid UE Radio Capability ID nor any stored UE radio capabilities for the UE, the AMF/MME may trigger the RAN to provide the UE Radio Capability information and subsequently request the UCMF to allocate a UE Radio Capability ID.

In NG RAN the UE Capability Request can be requested by the AMF as a flag in any NGAP Downlink NAS Transport message or by sending a NGAP UE Radio Capability Check Request (for checking compatibility of IMS voice capabilities). This triggers a NR RRC UE Capability Transfer procedure and subsequently NGAP UE Radio Capability Info Indication or NGAP UE Radio Capability Check Response (for IMS voice support parameters).

Using the NGAP UE Capability ID Mapping procedure the NG RAN node is able to request the most recent UE Capability ID mapping information from the core network functions AMF/UCMF. The same functionality is implemented in S1AP for signaling between eNB and MME/UCMF.

If the volume of the LTE/NR RRC UE Capability to be sent by the UE is larger than the maximum supported size of a PDCP SDU (specified in 3GPP 38.323) then the UE Capability Info can be transported in LTE/NR RRC using a chain of UL Dedicated Message Segment messages.

Figure 4: RRC UL Dedicated Segment Message transporting UE Radio Capability Information according to 3GPP 36.331 and 38.331

Each of these message will have a dedicated segment number and the last one has the rrc-MessageSegmentType =  “lastSegment”, which triggers reassembly of the orignal UE Capabability information in the receiving entity.

Monday 11 January 2021

5G for Content Acquisition and Distribution

The Cambridge Wireless (CW) Content Production & Delivery group recently delivered a two part webinar series exploring ‘5G for content acquisition and distribution’ These online events introduced participants to the state of play with 5G for content distribution and production and the path to delivering the benefits 5G.

Aspirational discussion of benefits of 5G for content production and distribution needs to be turned into operational reality. 5G will enhance what is possible to be achieved with current mobile systems and the advantages to distribution and consumption are obvious through bigger pipes and enhanced agility to support ever evolving content and application platforms. The possibilities for content production and acquisition are also exiting but may be less obvious. 5G will allow service and capacity to be delivered where required through use of small cell and potentially highly localised private 5G networks, edge computing and support of a wide range of equipment and applications (not just those use cases directly involved in content acquisition).

The first session on 24 Nov 2020 in the series considers the role of 5G for content distribution and security. It covers the role of 5G for the creation of a more varied and vibrant ecosystem for content and the desire of some content creators for greater focus on security.

Henry Johnson, Director, Plum Consulting, '5G opportunities in the provision of content distribution' - 5G services promise to provide connectivity performance in terms of bandwidth and latency which have hitherto been possible only with fixed network connectivity. This session will look into the capabilities and potential limitations of 5G services once deployed and what that might mean for content delivery to consumers. [PPT presentation]

Malcolm Brew, University of Strathclyde, ‘5G-enabled remote broadcast’ - Malcolm will share some Strathclyde’s insights over the last 10 years in working with BBC and Ofcom on ‘Spectrum Sharing’ and how this has recently been lead to working in an IBC Accelerator Program ‘5G In Remote Production’ [PDF

For limited time, the recording is available here.

The following is the description from session 2, on 2nd Dec 2020:

Join the CW Content Production and Delivery Group’s aspirational discussion of benefits of 5G for content production and distribution needs to be turned into operational reality.

There is no doubt 5G will enhance what is possible to be achieved with current mobile systems and the advantages to distribution and consumption are obvious through bigger pipes and enhanced agility to support ever evolving content and application platforms.

The possibilities for content production and acquisition are also exciting, but may be less obvious. 5G will allow service and capacity to be delivered where required through use of small cell and potentially highly localised private 5G networks, edge computing and support of a wide range of equipment and applications (not just those use cases directly involved in content acquisition).

Ian Wagdin, Senior Technology Transfer Manager, BBC R&D, '5G in Content Production, work in standards and deployments' - A look at what’s here and what’s coming and how 5G may impact broadcast workflows. [PDF]

Paola Sunna, Technology and Innovation Department, EBU, '5G for Content Production' - EBU perspective on 5G for professional content production and challenges/ambitions in the Horizon 2020 project 5G-RECORDS. [PDF

For limited time, the recording is available here.

Other Recent News / Articles / Videos on 4G/5G Broadcast:

  • SoftBank Corp. Showcases 5G-powered Entertainment and Advanced Technologies at Pop Culture Complex (link)
  • 5G TODAY: BAVARIA’S BROADCAST TRIALS (link)
  • Webinar: The role of broadcast and multicast in 5G-TOURS: High-quality video services distribution (link)
  • Delivering Media with 5G Technology: FeMBMS, 5G-Xcast and beyond (link)
  • 5G TODAY: 5G Broadcast trial using FeMBMS (link)
  • 5G Today: On the Road to 5G Broadcast (link)

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Monday 4 January 2021

Top Videos on 3G4G YouTube Channel

We made quite a few videos last year for our YouTube channel. In fact we crossed over 10K subscribers last year. Here are couple of playlists, one for the Top 5 videos of 2020 and other is Top 10 videos of all time. Hopefully you like them and subscribe to our channel

Top 5 3G4G videos from 2020


Top 10 3G4G videos from all time


 Let us know which ones are your favourite.

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