The University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab invites audiences to experience a unique musical performance in Bristol’s ‘We The Curious’ centre. The innovative performance will connect three musicians in three distinct geographical areas over a 5G network to deliver a music concert.
The event, scheduled to take place on Saturday 16th March 2019 at 15.30 at Bristol’s ‘We the Curious’ Science centre, is part of the ‘5G Smart Futures’ a day of demonstrations and discussions that celebrate the creative and economic potential of the power of 5G.
Audiences will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in the world of 5G and experience a three-way distributed music performance showcasing the potential of ultra low-latency, high bandwidth and full synchronization delivered over 5G networks.
This demonstration is an output of the UK Government’s Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS) ‘5GUK Testbeds and Trials Programme’ (Phase 1) funded project, ‘5G Smart Tourism’.
Professor Mischa Dohler, from Kings College London, is an internationally recognised 5G researcher and is also an accomplished music composer. Professor Dohler will perform a live composition from London’s Guildhall, and over the 5G network will be accompanied in real time by musicians based at London’s Digital Catapult. Rita Fernandes will be playing the violin, Ms Noa Dohler will be performing vocals and Bristol’s ‘We the Curious’ Ms Anneka Sutcliffe is also playing the violin.
What do we mean by ‘orchestrating the orchestra’?
Researchers at the Smart Internet Lab have been working on the creation of a novel and intelligent technology platform which enables automated composition of services across multiple 5G domains.
This breakthrough solution, called a Network Orchestrator, will allow mobile operators (i.e. EE, Vodafone, Three etc.) to provide highly synchronized and low latency services across their networks.
This showcase will test, for the first time, the performance of the Orchestrator through the delivery of music performed by remotely located musicians. The audience experience will be exactly the same, as if the musicians were performing in the same venue.
Professor Dimitra Simeonidou, Director of the Smart Internet Lab, said: “We are very happy to work with our partners in London to deliver for the first time a three-way concert across 5G networks. This showcase demonstrates how key 5G technology innovation carried out in our labs at the University of Bristol can revolutionise cultural experiences in new and unexpected ways. The event will give us a glimpse of exciting Digital Futures.”
Dritan Kaleshi, Head of Technology at 5G at Digital Catapult, said: “The live, simultaneous performance of these artists using the 5G network is an ideal demonstration of the ability that 5G will have on transforming cultural and artistic experiences for audiences around the country.
The performance represents momentous change and the team at Digital Catapult are proud to be playing a key role in making it happen.”
Professor Mischa Dohler, Chair Professor, Department of Informatics at King's College London, said: "We are delighted to be part of this exciting and pioneering 5G usecase focused on tourism. Over the past months, we have been working on an advanced virtualised infrastructure which allows for a flexible and cost-efficient deployment and use of 5G's advanced Internet capabilities.
As a result, we are able to demonstrate the "virtualization" of musicians where a tourist concert takes place in Bristol with the "missing music talent" being brought in from London. The demonstrated three-way engagement is made possible by 5G due to its ultra-low latency and high-bandwidth capabilities, and is indeed the world's first."
The 5G Smart Tourism project is led by the West of England Combined Authority and funded by The Department for Digital, Culture, Media & Sport. It brings together 19 organisations and will see the development of a testbed to demonstrate 5G capability, establishing the West of England as a world-leader in the development of advanced fixed and mobile communication systems.