Huawei Announces MirrorSys, a Virtual Reality-powered Communications System
At the recently held Mobile World Congress (MWC) in Spain, Huawei Technologies announced a major leap in the advancement of virtual reality in the complex field of communications: coming up with a solution to close the gap caused by communication delays, as well as putting a sense of presence in the communication process.
MirrorSys is a virtual reality prototype developed by Huawei that is touted as “the future of communication”. It is a communications platform that recreates real environment conditions in any part of the world without issues caused by the complexity of communication across various time zones. MirrorSys’ feature philosophy is based off the concept of field communication, where the normal human audio-visual perception is surpassed through the utilization of virtual reality technology. It attempts to revolutionize the usual way of communication made via text or voice data.
Dr. James Begole, Huawei’s Media Technologies Lab director said at the 2015 MWC: “Today, even the highest quality telepresence systems have a limited, fixed view of the world that doesn’t match human perception of our rich, real environment. We aim to change that.” He added, “Full field communication transports all of the information from one environment to another over the network, creating a true digital reflection with all of the sights, sounds, and feelings of the people in it… Tomorrow’s immersive communications will provide a feeling of reality as if you were right there, fully present in the remote reality.” This so-called field communication is Huawei’s approach to simulating the real-world conditions of a user’s end to another by utilizing an ultra-high bandwidth, ultra-low latency system.
The MirrorSys’ first prototype features ultra-high-definition video capture and output rated at 8K resolution, a wide viewing angle of up to 110 degrees wide, and a 22.2-channel surround sound field – all working together to give the most realistic real-time communication medium possible, rendered over virtual reality.
Ultra low latency is one key aspect of the MirrorSys. Its sound technology is engineered to have the lowest latency possible in order to eliminate perceptible delays in the audio-visual experience. This helps to simulate face-to-face interactions between two ends of the communication process across two distinct time zones.
Huawei foresees the numerous potential applications of the MirrorSys in various fields. Begole said, “In the future, we will be able to enjoy exotic scenery sent wirelessly from friends’ cameras or by remotely piloted unmanned aerial vehicles, experience live sports events on the field with world-class athletes, and shop virtually in the world’s most exclusive boutique shops.”
For more information on Huawei and MirrorSys, please visit the following websites:
http://www.huawei.com
http://www.space150.com/blog/space150-creates-immersive-living-wall-experience-for-huaweis-mirrorsys-lau/
http://www.chinatopix.com/articles/40127/20150302/huawei-unveils-mirrorsys-mwc-2015.htm
