Singapore to test world's first outdoor 5G-enabled extended reality experience

Source: STB. A scene from the POC featuring a British soldier.

The world’s first outdoor 5G-enabled Extended Reality (XR) experience will soon be tested at Fort Siloso Sentosa, through The Battle of Fort Siloso: A 5G-enabled XR Experience Proof-of-Concept (POC), jointly developed by the Singapore Tourism Board (STB), Sentosa Development Corporation (SDC) and Singapore's Government Technology Agency (GovTech).

Guests can experience immersive audio and visuals amidst simulated war-time commands, as well as participate in the defence of the fort through gaming. The trial experience will be open for registration for members of the Sentosa Islander programme up to 24 June 2023. Feedback from the trial will allow SDC to identify areas for further enhancement and deployment, subject to technology maturity and commercial interest.

The Battle of Fort Siloso: A 5G-enabled XR Experience POC is part of the 5G@Sentosa testbed – a public-private sector collaboration led by GovTech, SDC, and Singtel. The testbed, which runs until mid-August, aims to catalyse the public sector’s adoption of 5G connectivity ahead of the nationwide 5G rollout in 2025 by enabling agencies to trial cases to improve operational effectiveness and deliver citizen-centric services.

Thirty trials from over 10 agencies have been undertaken on Sentosa since the programme launched in October 2021. Of the 30 trials, a number of 5G use cases have been commercialised under the Infocomm Media Development Authority’s (IMDA) 5G Innovation Programme. These include the Asia-Pacific region’s first 5G mobile edge computing for mixed reality and holomedicine capabilities in health tech with National University Health System, and 5G-enabled mixed reality for construction with Gammon.

Wong Ming Fai, CTO, Singapore Tourism Board said, “STB is excited to partner GovTech and SDC to roll out this novel and innovative heritage experience at Fort Siloso. STB’s Tcube1 has been working closely with Singtel and their vendors over the past few months, to develop this new 5G-enabled XR experience that pushes the boundaries of technology. We hope this will encourage tourism companies to embrace innovation and create unique and memorable experiences for visitors.”

Michael Ma, Assistant Chief Executive, SDC, said, “Through exploring immersive technologies in partnership with STB and GovTech, we are excited to bring on digitally-innovative experiences for our guests to try out on Sentosa. Such a trial is a key step in our journey to evaluate unique opportunities to enhance tourism offerings on Sentosa as we gear up for the recovery of international arrivals, minimising extensive physical infrastructure on preserved heritage sites such as Fort Siloso.”

Kok Ping Soon, Chief Executive, GovTech, said: “The 5G@Sentosa testbed has helped demonstrate the potential of 5G technology to public agencies over the past two years, and SDC and STB’s XR trial at Fort Siloso is a particularly exciting use case that visitors to Sentosa will be able to experience. Going forward, the takeaways from 5G@Sentosa will also help GovTech better support the technical needs of agencies looking to adopt 5G for mainland operations, in collaboration with IMDA.”