During Mobile World Congress 2024, telecom equipment giant Ericsson and Spanish telecom Telefónica used the latest 5G technology to present a live and holographic concert with Chinese pianist Lang Lang.
The concert used a union of Ericsson’s private 5G network configured for 5G standalone and 100 MHz of Telefónica’s mid-band spectrum.
The event was to kick-off Telefonica’s 100-year anniversary celebration that included a five-minute drone show at the Gran Teatre del Liceu in Barcelona. Lang Lang performed popular pieces by Bach, Mozart, Beethoven, Schubert and Mendelsohn with a full holographic piano. Simultaneously, Lang Lang’s own holographic digital representation played the real piano alongside in synchronization.
Connected sensors in Lang Lang’s jacket and illuminated LED lights allowed the audience to see the musician’s emotions and heartbeat as he performed the music. Additionally, the audience was involved in the performance to form chords on their mobile phones as an immersive part of the concert.
How they did it
For Lang Lang’s holographic twin, multiple cameras were used to film every detail of the performance, then transmitted in 4K. The 5G network was able to sustain the data upload in real-time as well as minimize jitter and connectivity loss due to the low latency the technology affords.
The 5G standalone transports the data streams to make sure the critical data packets are guaranteed for simultaneous video and audio as well as thousands of simultaneous connections or fully immersive viewer interactions.
Ericsson’s private 5G network solution then provided a secure and reliable 5G connection as well as dual mode 5G core solution running on a single server.
MWC 2024 takes place this week in Barcelona, Spain.
