Shared Access in the news…

UK football club Crystal Palace FC has installed a 5G private network with a permanent vision enhancement system for fans with sight loss. The network claims to be the first in the world to use these permanent virtual reality headsets and for Shared Access, the firm that installed the network, this could be the new capability that will drive further adoption of private 5G in UK stadiums.

Shared Access is a neutral host provider that typically extends coverage from UK public operators to indoor locations. The firm has a niche in providing connectivity in football stadiums, through its relationships with the England’s Football Association and the Football Association of Ireland. The firm started working with the Crystal Palace stadium in South London, called Selhurst Park, around four years ago, to install a neutral host network that would extend the services of public operators into the football ground.

“We have a major problem in the area every time there’s a game because of the way the stadium is in the middle of the community. It destroys the connectivity in the community when several thousand people descend on the area for an hour and a half.

So, we started working with Crystal Palace to try to fix that problem,” said Sam Jackman, the Chief Development Officer of Shared Access.

The relationship with Crystal Palace led to discussions around accessibility for spectators with sight loss. This is where GiveVision came in. GiveVision makes VR headsets that enhance the remaining sight of people with sight loss, and targets users in stadiums and venues so that visually impaired people can share in the live experience.

The headset delivers a sharp stereoscopic feed to the working part of the user’s retina to enhance their remaining vision. Stereoscopy is a technique for creating or enhancing the illusion of depth.

The headsets receive a live feed of the football match from a broadcaster such as Sky Sports or TNT Sports, which means they can clearly follow the game. Latency is a key part of the exercise, since if the broadcast is delayed then the user will not be able to share in the live experience and may hear other spectators celebrating a goal score that they have not yet seen.

Shared Access said that the firm ran trials using WiFi connections for the VR headsets but found that latency was an issue, and what they needed was an on-site core network to guarantee the necessary broadcast speeds.

Shared Access designed, installed and funded the system, working with partners Druid Software, which built and maintains the core network, Airspan which provided the antennas, and Neutroon which works with Shared Access to manage the network management platform.

“We found the first private 5G use case that we had been looking for, because we wanted to keep the network localised inside the stadium. The application needs that low latency bandwidth to deliver the services,” said Jackman.

The network began trials earlier this year and debuted the service at a football game last weekend against Manchester United.

“It makes such a difference to be able to see the game rather than just hear it. I want to be at the ground because of the atmosphere and the GiveVision headset has completely changed the way I can enjoy a match now. It’s brought me right up into the game as if I haven’t got any issues at all really,” said one spectator using the headset.

The network has 15 headsets that can be used by spectators in different parts of the stadium and operates in the 3.8-4.2 GHz band.

Jackman hopes that this new application will drive broader 5G adoption in UK football stadiums. Even for Crystal Palace, the 5G network is currently only connected to the GiveVision headsets, but this can be extended to other devices, and Shared Access is hoping that the club will make use of the network.

“It is a stadium-wide network, so it can be upgraded and extended to be used elsewhere in the venue,” said Jackman. “Private 5G has not yet taken off in the UK because of a lack of tangible applications that will make people feel the need to invest in a private 5G network. We think that GiveVision is the application to make that happen.”

While AR/VR use cases for 5G public networks have been overblown, along with much of the 5G hype, VR headsets to improve accessibility for spectators in stadiums are a valuable use of the technology and will require a 5G connection. This may also drive adoption in other stadiums and act as a key that opens up other 5G use cases in these settings. This may not be a means to make existing public 5G networks more profitable for MNOs, but may spur some growth in the private network sector.