Broadcast and Multicast Communication Enablers for the Fifth-Generation of Wireless Systems

5G-Xcast will devise, assess and demonstrate large scale immersive media delivery by means of conceptually novel wireless technologies, contributing to the further definition of 5G and its standardisation. 5G-Xcast will focus on large scale media distribution, as this use case is one of the most demanding requirements in terms of data rate (capacity), scalability (cost-effectiveness) and ubiquity (coverage). The 5G-Xcast media delivery solution will have built-in unicast/multicast/broadcast modes and caching capabilities. The project will take a holistic approach in order to harmonize media delivery across the three communication modes being considered, and to provide a seamless user experience, as well as common Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to content service providers. The project will cover multiple disciplines from the radio interface to the transport and application layers, including protocols and APIs, as well as network and system architecture aspects. The development of the 5G-Xcast media delivery solution will be focused on the Media and Entertainment (M&E) vertical. The automotive, Internet of Things and public safety verticals will be considered to ensure that their respective technical requirements are also identified and suitably addressed. Proof-of-concept prototypes and technology demonstrators are pivotal tasks of the project. Special emphasis will be given to emerging new immersive media services that cannot be efficiently delivered by existing technologies and networks. 5G-Xcast will enable progressive convergence in the media delivery sector while optimising the resources of the available infrastructures, enabling new business models over fixed, mobile and broadcast networks that will be also investigated in the project.The consortium is a balanced combination of telecom and media entities, covering the complete M&E value chain, with a very strong presence in 5G-PPP phase-1 and 3GPP standardization of 4G Broadcast.