5G AR/VR use cases

Virtual Reality and Augmented Reality are emerging as one of the first 5G areas for telecom operators.  But what are the initial 5G AR/VR use cases and what do they mean for 5G Operators?

Virtual reality (VR) is a simulation via computer graphics of an environment which is usually different from the real world.  Augmented reality (AR) is a representation of a real-world environment augmented or enhanced by computer-generated graphics, thus, changing the perception of the overall natural environment.  Mixed Reality (MR) is also another area where real and virtual worlds are combined, and the user can interact with virtual and real objects simultaneously.

5G AR/VR use cases

AR/VR can be used in areas such as entertainment, robotics, automotive and navigation, communication, maintenance, self-service, and support.

Specific examples are:

Real-time video updates for industrial applications:  The technician gets the AR video based on the direction he is looking at.  The goggles direction can be handled to give accurate location on the technician.

Real-time video updates for public safety scenarios:  There are different implementations and different impacts.  This case is focusing on real-time updates with video-on-video, location awareness, and local processing as much as possible.  For example, an emergency responder uses AR goggles that enable him/her to enter a difficult location with lesser visibility, such as a building filled with smoke.  Whatever the responder sees through the special purpose goggles is augmented with data from building plans to help the responder to “see” where the doors, stairs are despite the lack of visibility.

AR local video for remote technical support:  Technician providing on-site support uses AR and goggles to understand and get support when looking at a rack of equipment.  Service could include UL and DL for additional remote support.

AR video for digital museums use-case:  This service can be offered to museum visitors, by providing static images such as ancient monuments, statues, etc. on video or even holograms.

Gaming:  With AR virtual gaming experiences are integrated into the player’s real-world environment.  With VR the player can enter into a virtual world wearing specific VR headsets.

5G AR/VR service provisioning

5G AR/VR services can be provided by contextual information which is tuned to each user’s situation, activity, and intent.  The ubiquitous 2D video consumption and creation significantly boost usage.

Free viewpoint volumetric video, may be a new medium for entertainment, information, and communication.

Shared Space can be used for a co-located multi-user Mixed Reality.  Multiple users in a shared physical space manipulate virtual objects, using AR headsets.  Multi-client synchronization of movement and transformation of shared virtual objects with directly observable physical actions of co-users.

5G AR/VR Latency

Latency is an important factor for AR/VR applications since it is vital to ensure the correct service flow.  Furthermore, it may help avoid VR sickness and feelings of dizziness and nausea.

It is generally observed that with up to 1sec latency, there is uninterrupted user experience flow.  The user, however, notices the delay and lacks the feeling of direct date interaction.  Overall, the flow of thought is not interrupted, so this kind of latency may be appropriate for apps and web sites on handhelds.

The latency of up to 100ms offers an instantaneous reaction.  The user experiences immediate data interaction, required for smooth AR contextual info experiences as the user’s gaze scans the environment.

15ms is the maximum head movement to screen update latency to avoid motion sickness.  This can be handled locally in the AR headset.

5G Cloud AR/VR

Today virtual reality applications like gaming, require expensive hardware.  VR applications need lots of processing power and storage space for the virtual scenery and interactive experience.  Users need to have an expensive gaming console or PC, and usually, a hi-tech head-mounted display (HMD).

However, these HMDs devices and their graphics cannot live up to the latest user needs, such as 4K UHD quality.

5G cloud AR/VR streaming technology can provide the ability to support AR/VR by moving the content away from the PC or console and into the edge cloud.

For example, customers can use Cloud AR/VR via a thick client with sufficient computational resources on the device, or a thin client with most of the computational task offloaded to the cloud/edge.  This means that the customer can use a lightweight and inexpensive headset that can still provide quality similar to fixed equipment.

5G and edge cloud aim to improve the quality of experience of 5G AR/VR users.  Ongoing projects include the harmonization of requirements and implementations to stimulate the 5G ecosystem for both AR and VR use cases and services.