Another sign of the changing times: for years the fans have also embarked on long trips to follow their favorites and sporting events. Today, thanks to technology, the dynamics try to completely overturn.
Japanese telecommunications giant NTT is using the Olympics to show off a new generation of technology that can take the sports experience wherever fans are, rather than having them come to the games.
Technology like this would have solved a lot of problems this year, with the limitations on fans and spectators in sports facilities. Better late than never, in any case: it can provide ideas for the near future.
What to Expect
In a demo developed for the occasion, NTT uses an augmented reality technology called Cry out to “teleport” from the fans the badminton matches from the facility where they take place (the Musashino Forest Sport Plaza) to the National Museum of Emerging Science and Innovation. A distance of about 35 kilometers.
In another, NTT uses fiber optic cables to allow fans to support sports and teams remotely in real time.
Even (even, I would say) this technology is not very usable in times of Covid. It is not a question of facilities: the state of emergency proclaimed in Tokyo means that fans cannot come together to support, either in presence or from a distance.
Sport "teleported" by fans: everything is ready but...
The technology for both remote experiences is fully developed today, as confirmed Shingo Kinoshita by NTT, but making it affordable will take some time.
With remote fan services, NTT hopes to eventually be able to use 5G or 6G cellular networks to offer a similar experience without the need for a fixed fiber optic connection.
Kirari, the holographic technology behind the project, it was also tested for music and other events, showing the potential of combining in-person and remote performers into a single performance.
Swollen
Kirari is also at the center of a collaboration between NTT and Intel, to improve the viewing experience for fans who follow sailing races.
The companies installed a 12-meter-wide 50K monitor at the water's edge so fans on the ground can watch the race without having to use binoculars. The real-time images of the race are made by three ships and a drone.
Not just fans: a separate, smaller 12K display was set up in the main press center to also allow the media to view the sailing action without having to travel on site.
The Olympics are generally used as a test bed for new technologies and these Tokyo Games, which could mark the end of the Olympic Games as we know them, were no exception.
