National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT, President: Hideyuki Tokuda) ICT Testbed Research and Development Promotion Center provides various testbeds such as JGN as a place of demonstration experiment for companies, universities and research institutes in Japan. NICT conducted collaborative demonstration experiments through the participation of 53 institutions related to industry, government and academia. In the experiments, transmission of Ultra-High Definition 8K uncompressed live video images using Sapporo Snow festival held in City of Sapporo in February 2018, and scenery of Singapore which was made possible by international collaboration with the country. We have successfully demonstrated streaming of multiplexed video images through multiple international circuits simultaneously. This demonstrates that 8K video live streaming can be performed without interruption even when the physical line is disconnected by streaming of duplicated video data through multiple circuits simultaneously.
Background
In anticipation of advancement of video streaming technology, NICT has been working on demonstration experiments on IP transmission technology of Ultra-High Definition 8K video images. When live video images are transmitted and received to/from a remote place though IP network in real time, it may cause video image distortion or playback stop if data loss occurs in a physical line or equipment on the communication route. It is insufficient to switch to backup route in order to avoid the data loss. It is necessary to transmit the video image simultaneously via multiple communication routes. However, in case of transmission of 8K uncompressed video image which requires vast amount of data and wide bandwidth for transmission, it is necessary to have a network which has capability of multiplexed streaming to multiple points.
Achievements
We demonstrated, by using multiple long distance international circuits, it is possible to transmit the 8K video images uninterrupted even in the event of physical line disconnection. This is conducted by transmitting the data using multiple lines while “the duplicating process of the video data from the sender side” and “the deletion process of the duplicated arriving data at the receiving side” in real time. On February 6, 2018, we performed a public demonstration in Osaka (Grand Front Osaka North Building 2F).
In the experiments, we set up two experimental bases at Sapporo Snow Festival venue and at Osaka, using unique two communication routes between these bases. We also set up the experimental base at Nanyang Technological University in Singapore and use two international routes, via Hong Kong and via the US west coast. Two international long distance 100Gbps circuits which has significantly different transmission delay times were prepared and transmitted multiplexing uncompressed 8K video images (recorded and live images) to Japan. In this experiments, we applied IP multipath technology that made it possible to transmit multiplexed 8K uncompressed images (more than 25Gbps) without huge bandwidth-delay product’s negative effect and transmit them to multiple locations, and also used IP multicast that can transmit data efficiently to multiple destinations. We established six reception bases in Japan and three of them received data simultaneously. We demonstrated that it is possible to transmit the wide bandwidth of 8K uncompressed data (more than 25Gbps) through different route which has different delay time.
We used two different communication routes between Sapporo and Osaka using JGN and with the cooperation of SINET5 which is constructed and operated by National Institute of Informatics (NII). We have established a 100Gbps experimental circuit circulating the Pacific Ocean by international collaboration with SingAREN which provides educational network in Singapore, several R&D education networks in the United States and JGN Asia 100Gbps network which opened in late 2017.
In the experiment, we recorded and retransmitted 8K video images on StarBED provided by NICT. The video transmission is made possible by Kanagawa Institute of Technology which carries out collaborative research with NICT, and the experimental system was constructed by participation of many companies. The experimental environment of the network and 8K video transmission is a multi-vender configuration in which built by combination of development-in-progress prototype equipment and products brought in by each company. The development team carries out the software improvement and the hardware reconfiguration as the experiment advances. It also became a place for collaboration between industry, government, and academia through Cyber Kansai Project, sharing technological knowledge through this project among university students, corporate researchers and engineers and human resource development.
These experiments are carried out with the cooperation of the institutions listed below.
Future Prospects
These experiments provided the possibility of practical application of high quality video transmission using IP network for professional use between Broadcast stations and relay points in the field of broadcasting. It also expected to apply this to medical field where ultra-high definition video image with highly interactive response is required. With the success of this experiment as a foothold, we will continue to support all institutions to work as a team and to develop the technology of 8K video transport system in Japan.
Sponsor :
・National Institute of Information and Communications Technology
Participants and Collaborating Organizations (as of 1 February 2018) :
・National Institute of Informatics
・Hokkaido Television Broadcasting Co., Ltd. (HTB)
・ GAORA INCORPORATED
・ MAINICHI BROADCASTING SYSTEM, INC.
・ NTT Communications Corporation
・ Nippon Telegraph and Telephone West Corporation
・ NTT TechnoCross Corporation
・ KDDI CORPORATION
・ Hokkaido Telecommunication Network Co., Inc. (HOTnet)
・ KYOWA EXEO CORPORATION
・ OBIS, Inc. (OBIS)
・ Fatware Inc.
・ Information Services International-Dentsu, Ltc. (ISID)
・ Arista Networks Japan Limited.
・ Cisco Systems G.K.
・ Juniper Networks, Inc.
・ Palo Alto Networks
・ Keysight Technologies
・ NEC Corporation
・ NEC Networks & System Integration Corporation
・ Sharp Corporation
・ Panasonic Corporation
・ PFU Limited
・ ASTRODESIGN, Inc.
・ IKEGAMI TSUSHINKI CO., LTD.
・ Canon Inc.
・ FXC Inc.
・ Village Island Co., Ltd.
・ Purelogic CO.,LTD
・ Digital Research Corporation
・ SoftEther Corporaton
・ FOR-A COMPANY LIMITED
・ Seiko Solutions Inc.
・ STUDER JAPAN BROADAST Ltd.
・ PacketLight Networks Ltd.
・ Micro Research Ltd.
・ Kanagawa Institute of Technology
・ Keio University
・ NARA INSTITITE of SCIENCE and TECHNOLOGY
・ Knowledge Capital Association
・ VisLab OSAKA
・ Nago City, Okinawa pref.
・ Union-wide Municipal Affairs of Northern Area of Okinawa Prefecture
・ Specified NPO NDA
・ Information-Technology Promotion Agency
・ Cyber Kansai Project (CKP)
・ SingAREN (Singapore Advanced Research Education Network )
・ Nanyang Technological University (Singapore)
・ NSCC (National Supercomputing Centre Singapore)
・ Internet2 (United States)
・ PacificWave (United States)
・ TransPAC (United States)
