5G Network Slicing in Action

Network slicing allows customers to send data over virtual end-to-end networks tailored to specific application requirements. It also optimizes network performance to support all services. Designed for network traffic on Verizon’s new cloud-native, containerized, virtualized standalone 5G core, the capability will offer greater service agility, flexibility, and automated scalability.

Verizon and Axon Enterprises demonstrated sustainable performance levels for mission-critical functions when passing video data over a network slice in a commercial 5G environment using Axon Fleet 3 and Axon Respond services.

Axon ran side-by-side tests for the demo with Verizon’s live 5G network in Phoenix, AZ. The Axon Fleet 3 in-car video system provides live maps, live streaming from mobile cameras, and real-time situational awareness through Axon Respond, enhancing situational awareness for law enforcement members not on the scene. One video feed was run over a network slice on Verizon’s commercial 5G Ultra Wideband network and 5G Standalone core. The other test was run simultaneously over Verizon’s commercial 5G Ultra Wideband network without slicing.

Test results were measured in four categories:

• The time to first frame—the time between when a remote law enforcement officer requests a stream and when that officer can remotely access it
• Start percent—the percent of time the stream started before timing out and causing the law enforcement officer not on the scene to abandon remotely accessing video and call into law enforcement personnel on the scene instead.
• Latency—the responsiveness of the application across the network
• Jitter—the sequence and timing of the audio and video packages being sent across the network.

The results showed a 53% improvement in the 95th percentile of time to first frame, a 5% improvement in start percent, a 68% improvement in latency, and an 83% improvement in jitter.

The advanced capabilities, high speed, increased bandwidth, and low latency of 5G are inspiring developments of a wide variety of new use cases, including massive numbers of IoT devices that use very few network resources to smartphone applications that use data in a variety of ways, to more complex solutions such as gaming, AR/VR and mixed reality requiring massive computing capabilities and low latency on the edge of the network.