Partners in the 6G-XR consortium proved the potential of beyond 5G and 6G networks to handle immersive services including holograms in validation tests of a pair of tricky use cases, participant Capgemini stated.

The professional services company, Ericsson, i2CAT Research Centre and Vicomtech worked on holographic communication and the provision of advanced extended reality (XR) services using edge computing in the recent demonstrations.

Ericsson and i2CAT handled the holographic element.

They used dedicated i2CAT technology to deliver consistent holographic calling in tests conducted on Ericsson standalone 5G infrastructure in Barcelona and Madrid. The demonstration used proactive congestion detection, a new algorithmic capability, to monitor network performance in a cell and adapt the stream accordingly during periods of high traffic.

Intelligent traffic prioritisation was also highlighted: this is a means of activating an on-demand quality feature which puts holographic traffic first and can access additional resources if required.

Manuel Lorenzo, Ericsson R&D Spain head of technology and innovation, said the demonstrations “lay the groundwork for the future of XR applications across sectors such as remote industrial maintenance and advanced education, where instant, high-fidelity collaboration is vital”.

All four companies participated in the edge computing demonstration, which proved the ability of XR services to select the optimal node.

Capgemini stated the trial showed distributed XR services could employ standardised APIs to adapt to the underlying compute environment.

It added the demonstrations prove “how network intelligence, edge discovery and application-level adaptability” would shape the future of XR and holography.

Aurora Ramos, R&D connectivity and network lead at Capgemini Engineering, predicted the demonstrations would prove to be important in the development of 6G.

“It further lays the basis for substantial improvement on how people communicate, collaborate and experiment in the digital world.”