Bristol will be at the forefront of next generation wireless technology this weekend when, for the first time anywhere in the world, 5G will be demonstrated in a public urban setting.
Millennium Square will become a unique public test-bed as the ground-breaking tech will come out of the laboratory, allowing people to experience and experiment with the creative possibilities for the first time. 
Attractions during the Layered Realities Weekend 5G Showcase will include spectacular 3D-like projections, a virtual reality dance piece, a guided tour on which people can take a ‘walk through time’, and a programme of talks and demonstrations open for everyone.
The event brings together key players in Bristol’s tech, creative and science sectors including the University of Bristol’s Smart Internet Lab, the Watershed media centre and science venue We The Curious.
Watershed creative director Clare Reddington said: “We have asked artists, researchers and creatives to produce bold new works which explore the capability and potential of 5G and the result is the Layered Realities Weekend 5G Showcase.
“Technology and culture are inseparable – the Layered Realities weekend explores not only how artists might push the possibilities of 5G, but also explore how this technology might fit into the lives of people in new and transformative ways.”
The Smart Internet Lab is one of only three research institutions in the UK chosen to develop this type of cutting-edge 5G technology and, in collaboration with Watershed, will be providing artistic experiences of 5G’s capabilities through a series of public events.
The Smart Internet Lab demonstrations will include:
- Smart city safety for residents using an end-to-end 5G network;
- A real time transmission sent from a connected autonomous vehicle (CAV), parked in Millennium Square;
- More efficient sharing of wireless channels that will greatly boost network capacity and performance whilst reducing network congestion;
- How light can be used to transmit high-speed secure mobile data without the use of radio frequencies.
- How radio signals travel from 5G base stations to a mobile device. By using ultra high-resolution 3D city maps, these new tools will mean better 5G coverage throughout a city.
During the weekend university researchers will show how smart city safety could operate. Cyclists will be in Millennium Square wearing 360-degree cameras that are streaming in real-time to a Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) terminal or cloud.
Smart Internet Lab Senior Research Associate Dr Aloizio Eisenmann, who has been leading this part of the 5G test-bed, said: “The aim with this 5G application is to reduce delay in processing real-time sound and vision.
“During the event the public will see it being used through bicycles, but the technology could just as easily be used by people on foot, scooter or a drone. In the future it could be developed to tackle specific issues, such as helping to find missing people or criminals through a face recognition system, which could lead to safer cities for everyone.”
Smart Internet Lab Director Prof Dimitra Simeonidou added: “We are really excited to be hosting this weekend’s public event. This is a unique chance, thanks to the close co-operation of our technology partners BT, Nokia, CCS, Zeetta Networks, and pureLiFi, for members of the public to experience the world’s first 5G urban network. During the two-days citizens and visitors at Bristol will have the opportunity to discover how this new network technologies will transform the way we live, work and study in our cities.”
Last week Bristol Business News revealed that Bristol had won the title of the world’s smartest city at the GSMA Mobile World Congress in Barcelona – the international mobile industry’s largest gathering – beating global centres of excellence Dubai, New York, Singapore to the coveted title. Judges named its experiments with 5G among the reasons why Bristol deserved the award.
