PYEONGCHANG/GANGNEUNG -- Special booths have been installed at the Pyeongchang Olympic Games so visitors can experience fifth-generation telecommunications technology (5G), the next-generation system expected to be used at the 2020 Tokyo Games as a new way of watching sports.
Presenting the Pyeongchang Games as the world's first 5G Olympics, the organizing committee is exhibiting the latest technologies, including high-definition videos, at the booths via ultra-high speed telecommunications.
Near the snowboarding venue in Pyeongchang, for example, tablet computer devices let visitors watch skaters glide across the ice from the angles of their choice. It does this by processing video data from 40 locations. It's said that the 5G technology -- which can transmit large volumes of video content -- can even handle live broadcasts.
Companies such as KT Corp., South Korea's major telecommunications firm, cooperated to present this technology at the Olympic venues, to offer visitors the real feeling of watching sporting events.
A virtual reality booth was also installed at the figure skating venue in Gangneung. By wearing headsets, visitors can enjoy simulated events from the athletes' point of view, such as ski jumping from a ramp into the air and landing.
"I was able to feel how tense athletes become during competition," a 22-year-old university student from Seoul said.
The 5G system's transmission speed will be increased to about 100 times the level of Long Term Evolution (LTE) technology, and its transmission capacity is expected to be about 1,000 times higher, according to the Internal Affairs and Communications Ministry and other sources.
Research has also been moving forward in Japan, in a bid to put 5G into practical use.
NTT Docomo Inc. is proceeding with research on a technology for the 2020 Games to enable people to watch events from their favorite angles by processing 5G video data that has been taken from numerous viewpoints at the venues.
"We want to feasibly offer a new style of watching events for the Tokyo Games through the 5G technology," an NTT official said excitedly.
Read more from The Japan News at https://japannews.yomiuri.co.jp/
