A demonstration combining 10G networks and an interactive holographic streaming system are on display at the SCTE•ISBE Cable-Tec Expo in Denver.
The demonstration is a cooperative effort of Charter Communications, CableLabs, CommScope, Comcast and the SCTE•ISBE. It features a holographic system created by Charter and Visby, a San Francisco-based company. Visby conducted a commercial light field shoot that employed 100 cameras sampling at 250 Gbps. The demonstration produced 8,000 minutes of raw video footage.
The software used to conduct two-way, low latency connectivity to support the holograms was developed by Charter. The software delivers the holographic data downstream that is altered with gesture input from the user and sent upstream. The 8K holographic resolution is presented on Looking Glass Factory’s light field display without the need for special glasses.
The other element is the 10G network on which the hologram was transmitted. The network features what the press release calls “a Charter-developed advanced edge compute cluster” with a CommScope 10G-capable hybrid fiber coax networking featuring a Wi-Fi 6E connection. The holograph was transmitted end-to-end on a multi-gigabit network with a latency of less than 10 milliseconds.
While the holographic display undoubtedly has a high “cool” factor, the thing that may have cable companies smiling is that the 10G infrastructure the industry is developing is capable of supporting such data-intensive and latency-sensitive applications.
“This first-of-its-kind demonstration gives a glimpse at how a powerful network can enhance the ways we work and live,” Andrew Ip, Charter’s Senior Vice President of Emerging Technology and Innovation, said in a press release about the interactive holographic streaming demo. “As new technological advancements continue to emerge, our networks are capable of delivering whatever is yet to come.”
The cable industry moves in unison with CableLabs and SCTE•ISBE. This is an additional piece of 10G news this month, which highlights that the industry is all-in on 10G. Last week, Comcast said it achieved symmetrical 1.25 Gbps service in a home on its Jacksonville, FL network. The trial – which will expand in the network – was said by the MSO to be an important step on the road to 10G services.
