Supporting Live Production Using Precision Time Protocol Over 5G Systems With Dedicated Time Synchronization Support

The article explores the possibility of using IEEE 1588 Precision Time Protocol (PTP) over a 5G system for media production applications. The article describes lab sessions performed by the 5G RECORDS consortium members, testing the performance of PTP over 5G with and without the dedicated time synchronization support. A trial with a real camera supporting SMPTE ST 2110–22 with JPEG- XS was conducted to experiment with synchronization and packet pacing precision. The 5G system used in these experiments features additional functionalities from the 3rd Generation Partnership Program (3GPP) Release 16, including specific time synchronization support for time-sensitive networks (TSNs), that is, acting as a time-aware system, and Release 17 in which the support for IEEE 1588 is extended with several additional features. The article also describes the testing setup based on the open-source software used by the team and the methodology developed. The article concludes on the performance and synchronization quality when using PTP over various 5G systems and analyzes the results from the lab trials. This new approach with the experimental setup allows using PTP according to the SMPTE ST 2059–2 PTP profile reliably over 5G for media device synchronization, which is not usually done in the context of the 5G networks.