The Metaverse From a Multimedia Communications Perspective

• Published in: IEEE multimedia Vol. 29; no. 4; pp. 123 - 127
• Main Authors: Dong, Haiwei, Lee, Jeannie S. A., Boll, Susanne
• Format: Magazine Article
• Language: English
• Published: New York IEEE 01.10.2022; The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. (IEEE)
• Subjects: Bandwidth; Communications traffic; Extended reality; Machine learning; Media; Metaverse; Multimedia; Network latency; Reinforcement learning; Stereo image processing; Telecommunication traffic; User experience; Virtual reality
• ISSN: 1070-986X; 1941-0166
• DOI: 10.1109/MMUL.2022.3217627

eXtended reality (XR) technologies such as virtual reality and 360° stereoscopic streaming enable the concept of the Metaverse, an immersive virtual space for collaboration and interaction. To ensure a high-fidelity display of immersive media, the bandwidth, latency and network traffic patterns will need to be considered to ensure a user's Quality of Experience (QoE). In this article, examples and calculations are explored to demonstrate the requirements of the above-mentioned parameters. Additionally, future methods such as network-awareness using reinforcement learning (RL) and XR content awareness using spatial or temporal differences in the frames could be explored from a multimedia communications perspective.