Addressing Scalability for Real-time Multiuser Holo-portation: Introducing and Assessing a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) for Volumetric Video

Abstract

Scalability, interoperability, and cost efficiency are key remaining challenges to successfully providing real-time holo-portation (and Metaverse-like) services. This paper, for the first time, presents the design and integration of a Multipoint Control Unit (MCU) in a pioneering real-time holo-portation platform, supporting realistic and volumetric user representations (i.e., 3D holograms), with the aim of overcoming such challenges. The feasibility and implications of adopting such an MCU, in comparison with state-of-the-art architectural approaches, are assessed through experimentation in two different deployment setups, by iteratively increasing the number of concurrent users in shared sessions. The obtained results are promising, as it is empirically proved that the newly adopted stream multiplexing together with the novel per-client and per-frame Volumetric Video (VV) processing optimization features provided by the MCU allow increasing the number of concurrent users, while: (i) significantly reducing resources consumption metrics (e.g., CPU, GPU, bandwidth) and frame rate degradation on the client side; and (ii) keeping the end-to-end latency within acceptable limits.