Wireless networking for automated live video broadcasting: System architecture and research challenges

The majority of sport events are of interest only to a relatively small group of viewers, such as college and regional league competitions. The broadcasting of these sport events is often not economically viable because of the required installation/cabling and the need for an on-site crew for content production. An automated or semi-automated broadcast system with multiple cameras would potentially enable a significant cost reduction. This contribution analyzes to what extent wireless technology simplifies the deployment and reduce the cost of such automated multi-camera systems. We present a networking architecture for wirelessly connected cameras and discuss research challenges and potential solutions. A particular emphasis is given on how emerging wireless technologies can be exploited towards this path and on mechanisms that could be used to relax the system requirements.