Enabling Haptic-Integrated Interactive Holographic Video Streaming Powered by 5G Edge Computing

Driven by the rapid advancement of XR technologies, an increasing demand has emerged for enabling interactive holographic real-time applications of multiple users. However, in wireless systems, the challenges of practically delivering a satisfactory experience for such applications arise not only from the high bandwidth and computational demands of holographic content but also from the need to effectively integrate and transmit additional sensory data, such as haptic feedback, to convey accurate and human-perceivable semantics. In this paper, we propose an architecture that leverages the computational capabilities of 5G edge computing to collaborate with multi-user haptic-integrated holographic video applications. We detail the components of this solution architecture, including haptic-integrated holographic video capture and streaming, and a simple reinforcement learning algorithm to synchronise multiuser frames at the MEC server. A prototype of a representative hand-touch social interaction application was designed, implemented, and measured to exemplify the potential of human-perceivable, haptic-integrated holographic video applications.