AI-powered Cloud VR Experience Over O-RAN by Nokia
AI-powered Cloud VR Experience Over O-RAN by Nokia

Following the latest trends and tech solutions, modern users and gamers have become more demanding. Companies all around the world are trying to improve their user experience and stay on top of the competition by introducing various cutting-edge tech solutions in their business. However, the fastest growing industry brings new trends overnight, and that's the reason why users always want something fresh and more advanced.

As technology grows, something that was a mind-blowing solution a few months ago becomes outdated as soon as something new appears. Following that theory, developers worldwide are trying to perfect the existing solutions and cater to a satisfied audience.

VR Gaming of Today’s

Virtual reality and augmented reality games are the most demanding apps that work in real time. However, such apps have been available for a while, but this upgraded solution provides gamers with a much better experience.

Nokia and CMCC joined forces to create an intelligent radio network architecture that can support the usage of edge cloud computing in combination with artificial intelligence and machine learning techniques.

This novelty will affect all industries across all verticals, but let's find out what their collaboration means and how it will affect the gaming industry.

Mobile World Congress 2019

At the Mobile World Congress 2019 (MWC), on February 27, Nokia announced their collaboration with CMCC, where they demonstrated a 5G AI-powered, quality of experience solution for virtual reality gaming applications.

Using the latest O-RSN Alliance edge cloud for artificial intelligence, machine learning, and real-time computing, Nokia and China’s Mobile Research Institute managed to ensure the best user experience. Managing and updating machine learning powered models and adapting 5G connection of VR is possible thanks to the open API-based O-RAN RIC architecture.

Chief Scientist at China Mobile Research Institute, Dr. Chih-Lin I, said:

"At this MWC, China Mobile and the partners successfully demonstrated multiple capabilities based on O-RAN architecture, among of which VR gaming QoE use case is the most eye-catching one.

The Optimization of top-level service QoE is one of the most important RIC use cases, in which CMCC and Nokia have been accelerating the research for a long time, and already achieved a series of results, and its broad application prospect is highly expected. "

The foundation for such a project is Nokia's 5G commercial-ready Air Scale base station, a Cloud RAN split CU/DU architecture for 5G networks. However, together with the China Mobile Research Institute, they tested a VR gaming app based on artificial intelligence with machine learning, allowing trained models to learn and improve over time.

Ultra-low latency, enabled by VR video rendering in the cloud, is the first tech improvement of this kind, and Nokia strongly believes that open interfaces and open architecture are crucial for 5G to work as a wide eco-system. Real-time intelligence also ensures correspondence to the highly variable bit rate of virtual reality traffic.

Head of Cloud RAN at Nokia, Michael Clever, said: "This is one of the most exciting 5G Edge Computing demonstrations at MWC. VR gaming on a mobile network combines all the ingredients that make 5G so promising," and then he explained that Nokia is proud to be working closely with CMCC ''to extend the capabilities of the O-RAN architecture.''

Moreover, Michael Clever explained that O-RAN architecture enables them to combine the capabilities of Open Edge Server with the 5G radio network.

How Will This Collaboration Improve the Gaming Industry?

VR gaming apps have become cutting-edge technologies, and the favorite way of entertainment among gamers and modern users. However, as we mentioned above, VR gaming in real time is so complex, and that's why the transmission of the signal isn't always in real time.

The gaming experience over O-RAN eliminates latency, enabling a real-time response. Their algorithms succeed in eliminating connection issues, allowing for automatic, accurate, and almost real-time responses. Latency during VR gaming has a negative impact on user experience, and that's why many gamers disliked virtual reality apps until now.

This cutting-edge technological progress will affect other industries, too. Virtual and augmented reality have already hit various industries, including architecture, real estate, the film industry, and many more. With this improvement, companies among all industries will be able to rely on 5G virtual reality and utilize all the benefits of VR.

The Bottom Line

Just when we thought that VR technology reached its peak, Nokia and China’s Mobile Research Institute have blown our minds with the very first live VR gaming based on artificial intelligence and machine learning over 5G networks. This combination of the most advanced technological solutions will surely grow in the following few years.

We hope that their collaboration will bring even better VR apps, as well as lots of brand new cloud-based services. For now, we should wait until the next Mobile World Congress!

What do you think about VR gaming? Would you like to try real live VR game app over the 5G network? Let us know in the comments!