The Infocomm Media Development Authority (IMDA) has announced the award of three 5G-enabled projects under the S$30 million 5G Innovation Programme
The three projects are:
- Asia Pacific's first 5G mobile edge computing for mixed reality and holomedicine capabilities in health tech.
- The region’s first outdoor mass 5G-enabled cinematic quality AR experience.
- Southeast Asia’s first maritime 5G AR/VR smart glasses solution.
IMDA’s chief executive, Lew Chuen Hong, told the GSMA-organised Mobile360 event that Singapore will continue to push the boundaries of innovation through frontier technologies such as 5G.
“We are excited to work with our industry partners to unlock the real impact of 5G. We look forward to seeing new and exciting ways 5G will benefit our businesses and consumers”, he said.
For the 5G-enabled mixed reality for health tech, IMDA partnered with National University Health System (NUHS), Singapore Telecommunications, and apoQlar GmbH to develop new 5G-enabled holomedicine capabilities that use new remote rendering capabilities, and MR devices such as Microsoft's HoloLens 2.
The collaboration project will enable the holomedicine platform to leverage on a high-speed network which is essential for the real-time transmission of large volumes of data from the HoloLens 2 devices, IMDA said.
Capabilities such as real-time rendering of high-resolution 3D images and holographic projections, scan reconstructions, procedure and surgical navigation, and remote assistance will be possible in the operating theatres, he added.
Outside the operating theatres, capabilities such as enhanced visualisation of patients' veins during blood-taking procedures, advanced point-of-care ultrasound imaging capabilities, and patient education and counselling will be made possible.
For the 5G-enabled cinematic quality AR experience, IMDA will collaborate with Infinite Studios (local co-producers of Crazy Rich Asians and Westworld 3) and D.ink, a mixed reality (XR) company.
The aim was to develop the region’s first outdoor 5G-enabled cinematic quality AR experience “that will fully utilise the bandwidth and computational capabilities of 5G and 5G-enabled mobile devices”.
IMDA said the collaboration will bring together creative storytelling and immersive technology, “producing a unique experience at the Marina Bay area that merges the physical world with simulated reality using AR”.
Maritime solution
For the 5G-enabled AR/VR smart glasses project, Keppel Offshore & Marine and its collaborators, telco M1, Hiverlab and Suga developed and commercialised 5G-enabled solutions for the maritime sector that allowed for virtual inspections, site and vessel surveys, and audits.
“This use-case will allow for AR to be overlayed through smart glasses, incorporating the digital into the physical world.
“This solution will also empower workers with real-time support and augmented work instructions,” IMDA said.
Talking about previous 5G use cases, IMDA said port operator PSA’s automated guided vehicles (AGV) achieved a reduction in latency by 50 percent compared to the current 4G network.
This will enable PSA to scale AGV operations at Tuas Mega Port beyond 2000 vehicles.
The port operator’s automated rubber tyre gantry cranes (aRTGs) “have also seen significant stability in terms of throughput low latency”, IMDA said.
5G will enable PSA to completely automate its RTG operations and empower its staff for higher-value job roles and upskilling in new areas of work, according to the agency.
