Breaking Boundaries: 5G and the Next Generation of Live Experiences

On Saturday 8 March a first-of-its-kind event brought fans together across Dundee, Salford, Cardiff and Belfast to experience the Scotland vs. Wales Six Nations rugby match in an entirely new way. This experience wasn’t just about watching the game - it was about transforming the fan experience using immersive technology to create a sense of connection and presence across multiple locations.

Over the past year, the CoSTAR Realtime Lab team at Abertay University has been working with the MediaCity based start-up AIX Live to explore how 5G innovation can provide connections between audiences in geographically distributed, immersive spaces interacting with the same live experience.

A private 5G network was established between two 23m-wide LED Volumes in Dundee’s CoSTAR Realtime Lab and MediaCity, and linked to CultVR (a full-dome experience in Cardiff) and CoSTAR Screen Lab.  Each venue was centrally controlled by the CoSTAR Realtime Lab in Dundee, creating an experience responding to the needs of each place - home venues for both Scottish and Welsh fans and natural venues for those in Salford and Belfast.

The invited audience were immersed in all the action of the Six Nations through bespoke content, real time graphics and lighting effects. Participants were able to interact with the experience through the AIX app helping them get closer to the game and each other through a series of in-app games and real time responses to the sporting action.

The CoSTAR Screen Lab, led by Ulster University, enabled Belfast’s participation in this landmark event, demonstrating the Lab’s capacity to host complex R&D activities in next-generation screen technologies. The collaboration also highlighted Northern Ireland’s growing role as a leader in innovation in virtual production and immersive media.

This R&D event was designed as a proof of concept, demonstrating how fans in different places can be authentically connected to a single, immersive experience and each other.  And this is just the beginning. As Professor Gregor White, Director of CoSTAR Realtime Lab, explains: "AIX Live and Realtime Lab will undertake an R&D collaboration to build new network solutions for simultaneous audience interaction with live events for audiences across the UK. The collaboration will benefit from the cutting-edge technologies at the Realtime Lab in Dundee and the low-latency 5G technology in the Tay5G Testbed."  

By leveraging this advanced 5G technology, we’re demonstrating how audiences in different locations can be authentically connected to a single, immersive experience. This has incredible potential for the future of live sports, entertainment, and audience engagement, paving the way for truly global, interactive events.

Professor Frank Lyons, Co-Director of the CoSTAR Screen Lab said: “This was a fantastic opportunity to showcase genuine innovation resulting from collaboration between different labs in the CoSTAR Network and with industry. The specialist 5G research team and infrastructure at Ulster University and the CoSTAR Screen Lab, funded by DSIT and by AHRC, were excited to help bring this challenging and exciting project to life and look forward to future collaborations which will drive the capability even further.”

This R&D project is being delivered by AIX Live and CoSTAR Realtime Lab, funded by Tay5G, a Tay Cities Region deal supported by the Scottish and UK Government, and the Scotland 5G Centre. We are grateful for the support of MediaCity Immersive Technologies Innovation Hub, BBC R&D, Dock10, CultVR, and CoSTAR Screen Lab Belfast in making this work possible.