During 2020 and the first months of 2021, Telefónica, Ericsson and cinfo have combined their technologies to carry out the largest 5G deployment in a European football stadium: Abanca Riazor, home of Deportivo de la Coruña. Several antennas and routers (including the 26 Ghz millimetre band and 8 cameras) have been deployed in this field to provide the best coverage to the sports facility for the broadcasting of any type of event, as well as an Edge Computing centre deployed by Telefónica so that the software with which tiivii works has the minimum latency and stability.

Users that visited the Telefónica stand at MWC saw a demo of the main use case of this deployment: the automatic and AI-governed broadcasting of sporting events. With access to the production tool, the user saw how the cameras move automatically following the game and how the production tool works to decide which camera offers the best shot of the play, among other things.

Through this automatic production use case, tiivii and Telefónica show how it will change the way of broadcasting events in the future, putting an end to the need to have or move a large number of people and mobile units physically to the event location, significantly reducing the cost of each production and allowing events that until now have not been broadcast to be broadcast. At the same time, this solution is much more environmentally friendly due to the CO2 savings produced by eliminating the number of journeys required.

In addition to this case, Telefónica, Ericsson and cinfo have also developed three applications in this field: a kisscam service that will allow users to appear on the stadium’s video scoreboards, a heat-mapping application using augmented reality, and a multi-camera viewing system that allows spectators to choose from the different cameras and viewpoints available in the stadium.

More information: https://www.telefonica.es/es/casos-de-uso-5g/realizacion-automatica-tv5g-el-estadio-de-abanca-riazor

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 954040.

The Competence and Development Group has worked together with cinfo to install the edustream virtual classroom system at the Faculty of Economics and Business of the University of A Coruña.

edustream brings physical and virtual spaces closer together, facilitating communication between students and teachers, whether they participate in person in the classroom or at a distance.

The customized edustream solution designed by cinfo was developed in the classes of the UDC Master in Innovation and Digital Strategy. It allows the teacher to give his class normally and the students who are connected remotely can see it as if they were physically in the classroom. The system, using artificial intelligence algorithms, follows the teacher if he moves in the classroom so that the student always sees and hears him perfectly. In addition, it allows access to what is written on the blackboard through screenshots that are captured and saved in real time and also allows thr students to view any projection that is made in the classroom. All this combined with an adaptive stream solution so that the student at home can follow the class regardless of the quality of their internet connection.

Based on edustream and following the requirements of the directors of the Master, cinfo adapted the system so that the entire solution could be managed from a computer located in the classroom, combining two cameras (one that follows the teacher’s movements in real time and the other that focuses on students), will use a high quality sound system and will be integrated with the Microsoft Teams videoconferencing tool.

The system is completed with two monitors where, in one, the Microsoft Teams interface is projected (the implemented solution allows customizing the Microsoft Teams view that is offered even by mixing two views at the same time) so that all students see each other and can participate at any time and another where presentations can be shared both by students or teacher present in the classroom and with those who are remotely.

The edustream system was successfully tested and validated in the classes of the Master in Innovation and Digital Strategy of the Company, where students, professors and guests highlighted the efficiency and possibilities of the system. “We are very happy with the quality of the broadcast and the students also appreciate having an interactive system like this one” – mentioned Andrés Faíña, co-director of the Master and president of the Competition and Development Group of the UDC. Antonio Rodríguez del Corral, CEO of cinfo, remarked “the importance of these teaching solutions, which have come to stay and eliminate barriers, so that everyone can access the best teaching, wherever they are.”

The implementation of the edustream project at the UDC is the result of a collaborative effort between cinfo, the Faculty of Economics and Business, and the Competition and Development Group. The versatility of the system allows it to be used for teaching purposes, reinforcing research collaboration with international teams, and promoting transfer to companies and the dissemination of research results.

In addition to this solution, the edustream system was launched on the market on November the 1st and through it, more than 1,200 classes have already been taught, with more than 6,000 remote connections of students who for different reasons cannot go to their reference centers. In total, the system is already installed in 215 classrooms

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under grant agreement No 954040.

This functionality makes it possible to choose different parameters, such as: 

• Creation of different texts.
• Free election of font size and colour.
• Background colour.
• Size of the text box (small, medium and large).
• Position of the screen in which the text will appear with nine possible positions. 

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040

The functionality allows not only the ability to switch between different video signals during an event, but also to mix the different audio signals received. This means that, in addition to being able to decide which video signal is emitted, if different audio signals are received (different people speaking with different microphones, a speaker, a commentator, background sound or different instruments), we will be able to decide which audios are emitted in the production and their volume, for example, listening to what the coaches on the bench are saying, lowering the ambient sound if it is too loud, etc.

This new functionality opens up new opportunities for even more professional broadcasting using the tiivii remote production tool.

* The tiivii project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040

tiivii is an automatic event production service using artificial intelligence that allows the transmission of events at 10%of the cost of a traditional broadcast. In this way, town halls, low- budget teams, minority sports, music halls, theatres or schools can broadcast their events on live and all those people who are currently unable to attend in person due to capacity restrictions can enjoy them.

The speed, low latency and bandwidth reservation capabilities of Telefónica’s 5G networks offer a highly reliable connection as well as allowing faster communication with cloud services so it is the perfect solution for tiivii.

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040

This broadcast was possible due to the alliance of Euskaltel and the Bilbao Bishopric with cinfo for the incorporation of tiivii, an automatic video production system in the cloud that allows fixed and mobile cameras directed by artificial intelligence to produce the TV signal automatically, reducing the costs of quality video production and providing an advanced installation that can be adapted to any type of event.

For the correct live broadcast of the ceremonies, a camera had been installed in the Basilica that collects the different shots at each moment; an encoder or audio encoder that collects the input from the different microphones in the Basilica in analog format and transforms the sound into a digital signal; and an environmental microphone, which also acts as a backup of the audio.

tiivii is a product designed for the generation of content and audiovisual production of events in a totally automated way, which allows the creation from scratch and quickly and easily of a TV channel to transmit it on the Internet automatically.  In addition, tiivii solves its clients from the recording of an event to the production, realization and broadcasting on the Internet through any video platform, either its own or that of third parties.

With this technology it is possible to record an event without having to move a team to the place where it takes place, it also has a cloud production table that allows the production of the highest quality events, scalable and combined with artificial intelligence for detection of people, objects and classification of scenes in real time

The installation of tiivii guaranteed that the event had audio and video quality from homes through the website of the bishopric www.bizkeliza.org which has set up a special section dedicated to the retransmission of the masses.

10th anniversary of the appointment of the Bishop of Bilbao

The health crisis caused by the COVID-19 pandemic is currently altering some of the most deeply rooted and everyday customs and traditions. This is especially evident on such important dates as the celebration of the Virgen de Begoña. For this reason, this year the Diocese of Bilbao is making it possible for people who cannot attend in person to follow the ceremonies live from their homes. Precisely this coming 11 October will mark the tenth anniversary of Mario Iceta’s appointment as Bishop of Bilbao and he will preside over the High Mass at 12 noon in the basilica. It will be his last celebration on Amatxu Day as prelate in Bilbao, as from 5 December he will be Archbishop of Burgos. Many of the faithful will follow the celebration thanks to technology, and in particular to Artificial Intelligence, which has become a great partner bringing religious celebrations closer nowadays when the capacity of the churches has been reduced to 75{da72309c24064dbcf43d9859ea74deb3aa622b719a6c8b6ff0d2a72c17438682}.

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040

These are the improvements made to the media gallery of our Cloud Live Media Switcher (CLS) production desk:

• Mixing of pre-recorded videos: Thus, we can include any recorded content, interviews or explanations at any time during the event to improve the production. It also allows us to add an advertising video from any of the event’s sponsors.
• Unlimited support for graphics, animations and videos: The Cloud Studio system has evolved to support as many graphic elements (such as logos, animations or videos) as are needed, in contrast to the maximum of five elements per broadcast that were previously available. 
• Incorporation and suppression of graphic elements directly from the CLS: the system has become more flexible by allowing the incorporation or suppression of any graphic resource during the broadcast process. This means that if a new resource needs to be created during the event or one has been forgotten, it can be added or deleted dynamically.

These improvements complement the already familiar features of Cloud Studio:

• Flexible and deployed in the cloud.
• High quality live production.
• Live audio mixing.
• RTMP, RTSP and SRT support.
• Parallel publication in masters, YouTube, Facebook and Twitter, among others.
• Change of camera for AI.
• Camera movement via AI.
• AI and manual “hot” mixing.

With these improvements, tiivii is much more prepared to support any need for graphic resources in a real production as if it were a traditional production table with the advantage that this table is cheaper and can be remotely managed from any place in the world.

* The project has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under Grant Agreement No 954040