Realizing the Metaverse E-Book
107,99 €
Mehr erfahren.
- Herausgeber: John Wiley & Sons
- Kategorie: Wissenschaft und neue Technologien
- Sprache: Englisch
A guide to the challenges in making virtual reality, reality
The Metaverse, a version of the internet in which online interactions take place in real time within fully realized virtual spaces, has been promised as the next frontier in wireless communication. It has drawn huge investment from Silicon Valley and widespread media attention. However, the technologies required to make the Metaverse a reality are still in their infancy, and significant barriers must be overcome if this massive step is to be taken.
Realizing the Metaverse provides a systematic overview of these challenges and their likely solutions. Focusing on five key areas—infrastructure, access, intelligence, security, and future developments—it offers one of the first comprehensive, formalized treatments of the Metaverse as a nascent reality. It promises to be an integral contribution to the future development of Metaverse technologies.
Realizing the Metaverse readers will also find:
- An editorial team with extensive research experience in the field
- Detailed discussion of topics such as augmented reality (AR) adaptation, haptic feedback, artificial intelligence, and more
- Enlightening discussion of open questions and future prospects for research
Realizing the Metaverse is ideal for graduate and advanced undergraduate students in wireless technology, network communications, and related fields, as well as for researchers and industry professionals involved with the Metaverse or adjacent technologies.
Sie lesen das E-Book in den Legimi-Apps auf:
Seitenzahl: 332
Veröffentlichungsjahr: 2024
Ähnliche
Table of Contents
Cover
Table of Contents
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Editors
List of Contributors
Foreword
Preface
1 Introduction
1.1 Introduction
1.2 Architecture, Developments, and Tools of the Metaverse
Notes
2 Communication and Computing in Edge-enabled Metaverse
2.1 Introduction
2.2 Computation
2.3 Summary
3 Advanced and Future Network Access Technologies for the Metaverse
3.1 Introduction
3.2 Edge-enabled Metaverse
3.3 Ultra-low Latency Communications
3.4 Summary
4 How to Intelligentize the Metaverse
4.1 Seven-layer Model of the Intelligentized Metaverse
4.2 AI for the Metaverse
4.3 Edge AI for the Metaverse
4.4 Edge AI-empowered Metaverse
4.5 AI and Edge AI Empowered Metaverse Applications
4.6 Open Research Topics and Future Directions
4.7 Summary
Note
5 How to Secure the Metaverse
5.1 Introduction
5.2 Security Issues in the Metaverse
5.3 Privacy Issues in the Metaverse
5.4 Open Problems and Opportunities
5.5 Summary
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
List of Tables
Chapter 1
Table 1.1 Features of representative Metaverse examples.
Table 1.2 The summary of the development tools, platforms, and frameworks th...
Chapter 2
Table 2.1 Communication requirements of services in the Metaverse.
Table 2.2 Summary of scenarios, problems, performance metrics, and mathemati...
Table 2.3 Summary of the approaches in AR/VR cloud–edge–end rendering.
Table 2.4 Summary of the approaches in computing privacy and security.
List of Illustrations
Chapter 1
Figure 1.1 The Metaverse architecture features the immersive and real-time p...
Figure 1.2 The development path in the Metaverse from the perspective of the...
Figure 1.3 (a) Screenshot of AltspaceVR platform (Source: [57] Ben, 2022/Mic...
Chapter 2
Figure 2.1 Mathematical tools and human-oriented metrics for designing multi...
Figure 2.2 Comparison of data-oriented, semantic-oriented, and goal-oriented...
Figure 2.3 An illustration of real-time physical–virtual synchronization bet...
Figure 2.4 Screenshots of Meta AR, AIGC demo, and gesture AR. (a) Meta colla...
Figure 2.5 Various types of computing infrastructure to support the computat...
Figure 2.6 A visualization of connection pruning in a neural network [373]....
Figure 2.7 A visualization of the student–teacher network paradigm.
Figure 2.8 Applications can be protected by placing them into enclaves.
Figure 2.9 Federated learning in edge networks.
Chapter 3
Figure 3.1 Metaverse-based service migration system architecture.
Figure 3.2 Metaverse-enabled Docker-based handoff algorithms. (a) Reactive D...
Figure 3.3 Total migration time relates to migration probability.
Figure 3.4 A SELENE channel is created between sources and sinks with the sa...
Figure 3.5 The SELENE API.
Figure 3.6 The SELENE architecture.
Figure 3.7 SELENE communication flow.
Figure 3.8 Round-trip time (RTT) for increasing payload sizes.
Figure 3.9 Average RTT of raw network technologies, SELENE, and Demikernel f...
Figure 3.10 Throughput benchmark for SELENE and the other reference systems....
Figure 3.11 Lunar streaming framework application.
Figure 3.12 Benchmark for lunar stream and
sendfile
. (a) FPS for increasing ...
Chapter 4
Figure 4.1 The seven layers of the Metaverse.
Figure 4.2 From left to right are cloud-edge collaboration architecture, dec...
Figure 4.3 Cloud-edge-end empowered Metaverse network. Digilife/Adobe System...
Figure 4.4 Mobile edge cloud empowered Metaverse network.
Figure 4.5 Decentralized edge AI empowered Metaverse network. Roby/Adobe Sys...
Figure 4.6 Personalized and heterogeneous edge AI empowered Metaverse networ...
Figure 4.7 Space–air–ground empowered Metaverse network. Adobe Systems Incor...
Figure 4.8 The Metaverse applications.
Chapter 5
Figure 5.1 Technical issues in the Metaverse.
Figure 5.2 Technical security issues in the Metaverse divided according to t...
Figure 5.3 Open problems and opportunities in the Metaverse.
Guide
Cover
Table of Contents
Series Page
Title Page
Copyright
Dedication
About the Editors
List of Contributors
Foreword
Preface
Begin Reading
Bibliography
Index
End User License Agreement
Pages
ii
iii
iv
v
xiii
xiv
xv
xvii
xviii
xix
xx
xxi
xxii
1
2
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
13
14
15
16
17
19
20
21
22
23
24
25
26
27
28
29
30
31
32
33
34
35
36
37
38
39
40
41
42
43
44
45
46
47
48
49
50
51
52
53
54
55
56
57
58
59
60
61
63
64
65
66
67
68
69
70
71
72
73
74
75
76
77
78
79
80
81
82
83
84
85
86
87
88
89
90
91
92
93
94
95
96
97
98
99
100
101
102
103
104
105
106
107
108
109
110
111
112
113
114
115
116
117
118
119
120
121
122
123
124
125
126
127
128
129
130
131
132
133
134
135
136
137
138
139
140
141
142
143
144
145
146
147
148
149
150
151
152
153
154
155
156
157
158
159
160
161
162
163
164
165
166
167
168
169
170
171
173
174
175
176
177
178
179
180
181
182
IEEE Press445 Hoes LanePiscataway, NJ 08854
IEEE Press Editorial BoardSarah Spurgeon, Editor-in-Chief
Moeness Amin
Jón Atli Benediktsson
Adam Drobot
James Duncan
Ekram Hossain
Brian Johnson
Hai Li
James Lyke
Joydeep Mitra
Desineni Subbaram Naidu
Tony Q. S. Quek
Behzad Razavi
Thomas Robertazzi
Diomidis Spinellis
Realizing the Metaverse
A Communications and Networking Perspective
Edited by
Wei Yang Bryan Lim
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Zehui Xiong
Singapore University of Technology and Design
Singapore
Dusit Niyato
Nanyang Technological University
Singapore
Junshan Zhang
University of California
USA
Xuemin (Sherman) Shen
University of Waterloo
Canada
Copyright © 2025 by The Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers, Inc. All rights reserved.
Published by John Wiley & Sons, Inc., Hoboken, New Jersey.Published simultaneously in Canada.
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording, scanning, or otherwise, except as permitted under Section 107 or 108 of the 1976 United States Copyright Act, without either the prior written permission of the Publisher, or authorization through payment of the appropriate per-copy fee to the Copyright Clearance Center, Inc., 222 Rosewood Drive, Danvers, MA 01923, (978) 750-8400, fax (978) 750-4470, or on the web at www.copyright.com. Requests to the Publisher for permission should be addressed to the Permissions Department, John Wiley & Sons, Inc., 111 River Street, Hoboken, NJ 07030, (201) 748-6011, fax (201) 748-6008, or online at http://www.wiley.com/go/permission.
Trademarks: Wiley and the Wiley logo are trademarks or registered trademarks of John Wiley & Sons, Inc. and/or its affiliates in the United States and other countries and may not be used without written permission. All other trademarks are the property of their respective owners. John Wiley & Sons, Inc. is not associated with any product or vendor mentioned in this book.
Limit of Liability/Disclaimer of Warranty: While the publisher and author have used their best efforts in preparing this book, they make no representations or warranties with respect to the accuracy or completeness of the contents of this book and specifically disclaim any implied warranties of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose. No warranty may be created or extended by sales representatives or written sales materials. The advice and strategies contained herein may not be suitable for your situation. You should consult with a professional where appropriate. Neither the publisher nor author shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages. Further, readers should be aware that websites listed in this work may have changed or disappeared between when this work was written and when it is read. Neither the publisher nor authors shall be liable for any loss of profit or any other commercial damages, including but not limited to special, incidental, consequential, or other damages.
For general information on our other products and services or for technical support, please contact our Customer Care Department within the United States at (800) 762-2974, outside the United States at (317) 572-3993 or fax (317) 572-4002.
Wiley also publishes its books in a variety of electronic formats. Some content that appears in print may not be available in electronic formats. For more information about Wiley products, visit our web site at www.wiley.com.
Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data
Names: Lim, Wei Yang Bryan, editor. | Xiong, Zehui, editor. | Niyato, Dusit, editor. | Zhang, Junshan (Electrical engineer), editor. | Shen Xuemin (Sherman), 1958- editor.
Title: Realizing the Metaverse : a communications and networking perspective / edited by Wei Yang Bryan Lim, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Zehui Xiong, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Dusit Niyato, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Junshan Zhang, Arizona State University, United States, Xuemin (Sherman) Shen, University of Waterloo, Canada.
Description: First edition. | Hoboken, New Jersey : Wiley, [2025] | Includes index.
Identifiers: LCCN 2024004245 (print) | LCCN 2024004246 (ebook) | ISBN 9781394188901 (Hardback) | ISBN 9781394188925 (adobe pdf) | ISBN 9781394188918 (epub)
Subjects: LCSH: Metaverse. | Digital communications–Social aspects. | Digital communications–Technological innovations. | Computer networks–Access control. | Computer security.
Classification: LCC TK5105.8864 .R43 2025 (print) | LCC TK5105.8864 (ebook) | DDC 302.23/1–dc23/eng/20240323
LC record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024004245
LC ebook record available at https://lccn.loc.gov/2024004246
Cover Design: WileyCover Image: © enjoynz/Getty Images
With gratitude, to our friends and family.
About the Editors
Wei Yang Bryan Lim is currently an assistant professor in College of Computing and Data Science, Nanyang Technological University. He received the PhD degree in Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore, in 2022 under the Alibaba PhD Talent Programme, where he also won the “Most Promising Industrial Postgraduate Programme Student” award. His works have won Best Paper Awards including in the IEEE Wireless Communications and Networking Conference (WCNC), IEEE Asia Pacific Board, and IEEE SPCC Technical Committee Best Paper Award.
Zehui Xiong is an Assistant Professor at Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore. He received the Ph.D. degree at Nanyang Technological University (NTU), Singapore. He was a visiting scholar at Princeton University and University of Waterloo. Recognized as a Clarivate Highly Cited Researcher, he has published over 200 peer-reviewed research papers in leading journals, and he also won over 10 Best Paper Awards in international flagship conferences. He serves as the Guest Editor or Editor for many leading journals including IEEE JSAC, TCCN, TVT, and IoTJ. He is the recipient of many prestigious awards including Forbes Asia 30u30, IEEE Early Career Award for Excellence in Scalable Computing, IEEE Technical Committee on Blockchain and Distributed Ledger Technologies Early Career Award, IEEE Internet Technical Committee Early Achievement Award, IEEE TCSVC Rising Star Award, IEEE ComSoc AP Outstanding Young Researcher Award, IEEE ComSoc AP Oustanding Paper Award, IEEE TCI Rising Star Award, IEEE TCCLD Rising Star Award, IEEE ComSoc Outstanding Paper Award, IEEE Best Land Transport Paper Award, IEEE ComSoc AP Outstanding Paper Award, IEEE CSIM Technical Committee Best Journal Paper Award, IEEE SPCC Technical Committee Best Paper Award, and IEEE VTS Singapore Best Paper Award. He has served as the Associate Director of the National Future Communications R&D Programme and Deputy Lead of AI Mega Center hosted at SUTD.
Dusit Niyato (M’09-SM’15-F’17) is currently a professor in the School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore. Currently, Dusit is serving as editor-in-chief of IEEE Communications Surveys and Tutorials, an area editor of IEEE Transactions on Vehicular Technology, an editor of IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communications, an associate editor of IEEE Internet of Things Journal, IEEE Transactions on Mobile Computing, IEEE Wireless Communications, IEEE Network, and ACM Computing Surveys. He was a guest editor of IEEE Journal on Selected Areas on Communications. He was a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society for 2016–2017. He was named the 2017–2021 highly cited researcher in computer science. He is a fellow of IEEE.
Junshan Zhang is a professor in the ECE Department at University of California Davis. He received his PhD degree from the School of ECE at Purdue University in August 2000 and was on the faculty of the School of ECEE at Arizona State University from 2000 to 2021. His research interests fall in the general field of information networks and data science, including edge intelligence, reinforcement learning, continual learning, network optimization and control, game theory, with applications in connected and automated vehicles, 5G and beyond, wireless networks, IoT data privacy/security, and smart grid. Professor Zhang is a fellow of the IEEE, and a recipient of the ONR Young Investigator Award in 2005 and the NSF CAREER award in 2003. He received the IEEE Wireless Communication Technical Committee Recognition Award in 2016. His papers have won a few awards, including the Best Student paper at WiOPT 2018, the Kenneth C. Sevcik Outstanding Student Paper Award of ACM SIGMETRICS/IFIP Performance 2016, the Best Paper Runner-up Award of IEEE INFOCOM 2009 and IEEE INFOCOM 2014, and the Best Paper Award at IEEE ICC 2008 and ICC 2017. Building on his research findings, he co-founded Smartiply Inc in 2015, an edge-computing startup company delivering boosted network connectivity and embedded artificial intelligence for IoT applications. Professor Zhang is currently serving as editor-in-chief for IEEE Transactions on Wireless Communication and an editor-at-large for IEEE/ACM Transactions on Networking. He was TPC co-chair for a number of major conferences in communication networks, including IEEE INFOCOM 2012 and ACM MOBIHOC 2015. He was the general chair for ACM/IEEE SEC 2017, WiOPT 2016, and IEEE Communication Theory Workshop 2007. He was a distinguished lecturer of the IEEE Communications Society. He was an editor for the Computer Network journal, and an editor for IEEE Wireless Communication Magazine.
Xuemin (Sherman) Shen (M’97-SM’02-F’09) is a university professor with the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Canada. His research focuses on network resource management, wireless network security, Internet of Things, 5G and beyond, and vehicular networks. Dr. Shen is a registered professional engineer of Ontario, Canada, an Engineering Institute of Canada fellow, a Canadian Academy of Engineering Fellow, a Royal Society of Canada fellow, and a Chinese Academy of Engineering foreign member. He received the Canadian Award for Telecommunications Research from the Canadian Society of Information Theory (CSIT) in 2021, the R.A. Fessenden Award in 2019 from IEEE, Canada, Award of Merit from the Federation of Chinese Canadian Professionals (Ontario) in 2019, James Evans Avant Garde Award in 2018 from the IEEE Vehicular Technology Society, Joseph LoCicero Award in 2015 and Education Award in 2017 from the IEEE Communications Society (ComSoc), and Technical Recognition Award from Wireless Communications Technical Committee (2019) and AHSN Technical Committee (2013). Dr. Shen is the president of the IEEE ComSoc. He was the vice president for Technical & Educational Activities, vice president for Publications, and a member-at-large on the Board of Governors. Dr. Shen served as the editor-in-chief of the IEEE IoT Journal, IEEE Network, and IET Communication.
List of Contributors
Paolo Bellavista
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy
Zefeng Chen
College of Cyber Security, Jinan University, Jinan, China
Luca Foschini
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy
Wensheng Gan
College of Cyber Security, Jinan University, Jinan, China
Andrea Garbugli
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy
Ziwen Jin
Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang China
Jiawen Kang
Guangdong University of Technology Heilongjiang, China
Wei Yang Bryan Lim
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Alibaba Group and Alibaba-NTU Joint Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
Wei Chong Ng
Alibaba Group and Alibaba-NTU Joint Research Institute, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore Singapore
Dusit Niyato
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Domenico Scotece
Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Bologna Bologna, Italy
Xuemin Sherman Shen
Electrical and Computer Engineering University of Waterloo, Waterloo Ontario, Canada
Jiayi Sun
College of Cyber Security, Jinan University, Jinan, China
Xidong Wang
Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang China
Jialin Wu
Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang China
Jiayang Wu
College of Cyber Security, Jinan University, Jinan, China
Yi Wu
Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang China
Zehui Xiong
Information Systems Technology and Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore Singapore
Minrui Xu
School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
Philip S. Yu
Department of Computer Science University of Illinois at Chicago Chicago, USA
Junshan Zhang
ECE Department at University of California Davis College of Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
Zhe Zhang
Heilongjiang University, Heilongjiang China
Yanchao Zhao
Nanjing University of Aeronautics and Astronautics, Nanjing, China
Foreword
To date, tech giants have invested heavily toward realizing the Metaverse as “the successor to the mobile Internet.” In 2021, Facebook was even rebranded as “Meta” as it reinvents itself to be a “Metaverse company” from a social media company. Furthermore, government bodies around the world have announced their interest in establishing a presence in the Metaverse. However, the development of the Metaverse is still in its infancy at the time of writing this Foreword, at the end of 2023. For the Metaverse to truly succeed as the next-generation Internet, it is of paramount importance that users can ubiquitously access the Metaverse, just as the Internet entertains billions of users daily. This book delves into the various facets of the Metaverse, offering insights into its complexities, technological advancements, and the challenges it faces.
First, we examine the intersection of the Metaverse with mobile edge networks. This section delves into the nuances of 3D streaming, multisensory communications, and the challenges inherent in synchronizing the physical and virtual worlds. It highlights the significance of cutting-edge communication and networking solutions, essential for the Metaverse’s realization, and how these technologies bridge the gap between our physical reality and the boundless possibilities of virtual realms.
Second, the focus shifts to the crucial role of advanced access infrastructure and network protocols in the Metaverse. This part underscores the importance of edge computing and multi-access edge computing (MEC) in achieving ultra-low latency, integral for an immersive Metaverse experience. It extends to discussing the integration of next-generation networks like beyond 5G and 6G, essential for distributed orchestration and the management of physical and virtual computing resources. The narrative here is not just about technological advancements but also about enabling a new dimension of interaction and connectivity in our increasingly digital world.
Third, we explore the transformative potential of 6G communication and edge artificial intelligence (edge AI) in the journey toward intelligentizing the Metaverse. We highlight how edge AI addresses the Metaverse’s computational and resource limitations, enabling a seamless blend of virtual and real worlds. We offer a roadmap toward an intelligently interconnected future where advanced smart service applications and immersive virtual experiences enrich the Internet of Everything for billions of users.
Furthermore, the integration of blockchain technology in the Metaverse marks a significant evolution in digital worlds. Building on this, we explore the multifaceted role of blockchain in empowering cryptocurrency, enhancing transaction characteristics, authenticating, and shaping the market and business dynamics within this virtual realm.
Lastly, the book provides a comprehensive analysis of the technical security challenges in the Metaverse, focusing on data security and privacy throughout its life cycle. It addresses key security issues such as cyberattacks, privacy breaches, and challenges in the virtual economy and transactions. This part emphasizes the need for blockchain technology and privacy computing for data security enhancement and proposes using edge computing alongside cloud computing to fortify security measures in the Metaverse.
Qinglin YangHuawei Huang
Preface
To date, tech giants have invested heavily toward realizing the Metaverse as “the successor to the mobile Internet.” In 2021, Facebook was even rebranded as “Meta” as it reinvents itself to be a “Metaverse company” from a social media company. Furthermore, Government bodies around the world have announced their interests in establishing a presence in the Metaverse. However, the development of the Metaverse is still in its infancy. For the Metaverse to truly succeed as the next-generation Internet, it is of paramount importance that users can ubiquitously access the Metaverse, just as the Internet entertains billions of users daily. In this book, we will focus on discussing how cutting-edge developments in the communications and networking domain can pave the way for a realization of the Metaverse.
Stockholm, Sweden, 2023
Wei Yang Bryan Lim
1Introduction
Wei Yang Bryan Lim1, Zehui Xiong2, Dusit Niyato1, Junshan Zhang3, and Xuemin Sherman Shen4
1School of Computer Science and Engineering, Nanyang Technological University, Singapore, Singapore
2Information Systems Technology and Design, Singapore University of Technology and Design, Singapore, Singapore
3ECE Department at University of California Davis College of Engineering, University of California Davis, Davis, CA, USA
4Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Waterloo, Waterloo, Ontario, Canada
1.1 Introduction
1.1.1 Birth of the Metaverse
Initially introduced in Neal Stephenson’s 1992 science fiction novel Snow Crash, the concept of the Metaverse has re-emerged as a topic of interest several decades later. Essentially, the Metaverse is often seen as a more tangible form of the Internet. Much like how we utilize a mouse cursor to navigate web pages today, users will traverse the virtual world in the Metaverse via augmented reality (AR), virtual reality (VR), and the tactile Internet.
Recently, tech giants have been pouring resources into the development of the Metaverse, aiming for it to be “the successor to the mobile Internet.”, To put it simply, we can expect the Metaverse to revolutionize various sectors such as healthcare [433], education [286], entertainment, e-commerce [176], and smart industries [209]. Facebook, for example, rebranded itself as “Meta” in 2021,1 shifting its focus from being a “social media company” to a “Metaverse company.” This move underlines their commitment to the continued evolution of the Metaverse.
The excitement around the Metaverse is fueled by two key factors. First, the Covid-19 pandemic has redefined our approach to work, entertainment, and social interactions [26, 37, 300]. As more people adapt to conducting these traditionally physical activities in the digital realm, the Metaverse is increasingly seen as an imminent necessity. Second, the advent of new technologies has made the Metaverse a feasible possibility. For instance, beyond 5G/6G (B5G/6G), communication systems offer enhanced Mobile Broadband (eMBB) and Ultra Reliable Low Latency Communication (URLLC) [348, 369, 374, 408, 430], which pave the way for AR/VR and haptic technologies [344], whose advancements will allow users to visually and physically immerse themselves in virtual worlds.
The Metaverse is viewed as an enhanced phase and the ultimate goal of digital transformation [436]. It’s a remarkable multidimensional and multisensory communication platform [260] that breaks down geographical barriers by allowing users from different locations to fully engage and interact with each other in a shared 3D virtual world [104]. Presently, we have “lite” versions of the Metaverse, mainly evolving from massive multiplayer online (MMO) games like Roblox2 and Fortnite,3 which started as online gaming platforms. Recently, these platforms hosted virtual concerts that drew millions of views. Beyond gaming, cities worldwide are undertaking ambitious projects to construct their meta-cities [459] within the Metaverse.
We are still some way off from truly realizing the full concept of the Metaverse [233]. The current “lite” versions are essentially separate virtual worlds run by different organizations. For instance, this means the Fortnite avatar and virtual items cannot be used in the Roblox world. But the vision for the Metaverse is a seamless mash-up of various virtual worlds, each one developed by different service providers. Like in the real world, your possessions and assets should keep their value when you move from one virtual world to another. While MMO games can support over a 100 players at once, given they have high-spec systems, an open-world virtual reality MMO (VRMMO) is still a relatively new idea, even in the gaming industry. The Metaverse aims to host millions of users simultaneously within its virtual worlds, mimicking the physical world. Developing a shared Metaverse, one that doesn’t need to divide players into different server sessions will be a big challenge. The Metaverse also aims to merge the physical and virtual worlds, for example, by creating a digital twin (DT) of the physical world [406]. The high requirements for sensing, communication, and computation make it tough to implement the Metaverse in a real-time and scalable way. Finally, the emergence of the Metaverse happens in a time of heightened privacy regulations [65]. The data-driven nature of the Metaverse brings up new issues. New ways of accessing the Internet, such as AR/VR, mean new types of data, like eye-tracking information, can be gathered and used by businesses.
The Metaverse is often seen as the next step beyond the Internet. However, edge devices, which are linked to the Metaverse via radio access networks, might not have the capability to handle interactive and resource-heavy applications, like avatar interactions and 3D world rendering. To truly lead as the Internet’s successor, it’s crucial that users can access the Metaverse as easily as they do the Internet today. Fortunately, with AR/VR, the tactile Internet, and hologram streaming being key applications of 6G, it’s clear that future communication and networking systems will be developed with the Metaverse in mind. Plus, the shift from a traditional focus on classical communication metrics such as data rates to the co-design of computation and communication systems suggests that the design of next-gen mobile edge networks will also aim to solve the challenge of bringing the Metaverse to users with computational constraints. Lastly, the move from centralized big data to distributed or decentralized small data across the “Internet of Everything” indicates that blockchain will be a key player in making the Metaverse a reality at mobile edge networks.
With the aforementioned factors taken into account, this publication centers its attention on the examination and exploration of a comprehensive range of resolutions and viewpoints regarding the resolution of communication and networking obstacles in the actualization of the Metaverse. Our publication will endeavor to tackle the difficulties in achieving the Metaverse from the standpoint of communication and networking, encompassing five principal avenues outlined as follows:
How to Build the Metaverse:
DTs have the capacity to facilitate the creation of virtual realms within the Metaverse that mirror the physical world in real-time. The incorporation of DTs enhances the authenticity of the Metaverse and fosters novel forms of services and social interaction. To illustrate, Nvidia Omniverse enables BMW staff to access a virtual replica of their automotive factories in VR, hence enhancing their precision and adaptability in industrial operations. Consequently, the establishment and maintenance of the Metaverse necessitates a multifaceted synchronization between entities in both the physical realm and the virtual domains. For instance, the physical edge networks, such as sensor networks, must consistently gather data from the physical world to ensure the timely synchronization and construction of the virtual realms. Conversely, actions performed within the virtual domains can lead to tangible effects in the physical world. This cyclical process demands the seamless collaboration of numerous physical devices and their digital counterparts across various dimensions, including time and space.
How to Access the Metaverse:
The distinction between the real and virtual worlds is muddled by the Metaverse. Users can physically interact with the virtual worlds by giving them a tangible form, such as through VR and haptic feedback. By using AR adaption, users can bring their virtual environments into the real world. However, AR/VR and haptic traffic must meet strict rate, reliability, and latency criteria in order to avoid breaks in the presence (BIP), which are disruptions that make a user aware of the real-world surroundings. Additionally, users of AR and VR within the Metaverse may have dynamically changing dependability requirements, which complicates the network orchestrator’s decision-making process when allocating resources. Consequently, this book will examine significant advancements in networking and communications that allow users to access the Metaverse everywhere while maintaining a high quality of experience (QoE).
How to Intelligentize the Metaverse:
The Metaverse should provide intelligent and personalized virtual services. Artificial intelligence (AI) will be a crucial aid in realizing this ambition on a large scale. For instance, the virtual services offered in the Metaverse are designed to leverage AI approaches to replicate human cognitive capacities. This allows the virtual agents within the Metaverse to offer high-quality services or make wise judgments on their own to enhance users’ quality of experience. But nowadays, AI models are getting more and more complicated. For consumer-grade edge devices with limited resources, training or computing for inference outcomes presents a challenge. The fact that using VR apps on head-mounted displays (HMDs) already requires a lot of resources makes this worse. Thus, this book investigates how networking and communication strategies can provide consumers with AI everywhere.
How to Secure the Metaverse:
Although AR and VR will improve the Metaverse’s quality of service delivery, this also means that new modalities for data collection are possible. For instance, users’ eye-tracking data may be collected since they utilize HMDs rather than cell phones. Although this information might be essential for enhancing the effectiveness of VR rendering, enemies or snoopers could abuse it by using it, for example, to control devices by using users’ gesture signatures. This book investigates how networking and communication systems can protect the transmission of novel data modalities in response.
1.2 Architecture, Developments, and Tools of the Metaverse
In this section, we present the architecture, examples, and development tools for the Metaverse.
1.2.1 Definition and Architecture
The Metaverse is an embodied version of the Internet that comprises a seamless integration of interoperable, immersive, and shared virtual ecosystems navigable by user avatars. In the following, we explain each keyword in this definition.
Embodied:
The boundary between the virtual and physical worlds is blurred by the Metaverse
[263]
, allowing users to engage with virtual worlds “physically” through tangible experiences, such as 3D visual, aural, kinesthetic, and haptic input. AR may be used by the Metaverse to bring virtual worlds into the real world.
Seamless/interoperable:
The avatars of users in one virtual world should have the same worth as their real counterparts when they are effortlessly transferred to another, even if the virtual worlds are created by different companies. Put differently, no one business can “own” the Metaverse.
Immersive:
Beyond 2D interactions that let users engage with other users in a way that is comparable to that of the real world, the Metaverse can be “experienced.”
Shared:
Thousands of users should be able to coexist in a single server session, much as in the real world, instead of being divided into many virtual servers. The lifelike interaction between users is therefore shared globally, meaning that an activity may affect any other user exactly as it would in an open environment, rather than exclusively for users at a single server, thanks to users being able to enter the Metaverse and immerse themselves whenever and wherever they want.
Ecosystem:
For users having digital identities (DIDs), the Metaverse will provide end-to-end service provisioning. These services will include content production, social entertainment, in-world value transfer, and physical services that transcend the boundaries of the physical and virtual worlds, irrespective of the nationality of the users. The decentralized architecture of blockchains has enabled the Metaverse ecosystem, which is believed to be sustainable due to its clear operating rules and closed-loop independent economic system.
Next, we discuss the architecture of the Metaverse with some fundamental enabling technologies (Figure 1.1).
Physical–virtual Synchronization
: Every nonexclusive stakeholder in the real world is in charge of elements that have an impact on the virtual worlds. In virtual worlds, shareholder actions have repercussions that might potentially impact the real world. The principal parties involved are:
Users
: Users may enter virtual worlds as avatars
[454]
with a variety of tools, such as HMDs or AR goggles. Users in virtual communities can then undertake activities to communicate with other users or virtual objects.
IoT and Sensor Networks
: Data is gathered from the physical world via IoT and sensor networks that are installed there. The obtained insights are applied to maintain DTs for physical entities, for example, and to update the virtual worlds. Sensing service providers (SSPs) can independently own sensor networks and give live data feeds (sensing as a service) to virtual service providers (VSPs) so they can create and manage virtual worlds.
Figure 1.1 The Metaverse architecture features the immersive and real-time physical–virtual synchronization supported by communication and networking, computation, and blockchain infrastructure.
Virtual Service Providers (VSPs)
: The Metaverse’s virtual environments are created and maintained by VSPs. The Metaverse is intended to be enhanced by user-generated content (UGC), which includes games, artwork, and social applications, much like user-created videos do now (e.g., YouTube)
[199]
. In the Metaverse, users may produce, exchange, and consume this UGC.
Physical Service Providers (PSPs)
: Physical service providers manage the physical infrastructure that supports the Metaverse engine and handle transaction requests sent from the Metaverse. Logistics services for the delivery of tangible products transacted in the Metaverse, as well as the operations of communication and compute resources at edge networks, fall under this category.
The
Metaverse engine
obtains inputs such as data from stakeholder-controlled components that are generated, maintained, and enhanced by entities and their activities in the physical and virtual worlds.
AR/VR:
Enables users to experience the Metaverse visually, whereas
haptics
enables users to experience the Metaverse through the additional dimension of touch, e.g., using haptic gloves. This makes it possible to send a handshake across the globe and improves user interactions. It also creates opportunities for the provision of physical services in the Metaverse, such as remote surgery. The standards that enable interoperability, such as virtual reality modeling language (VRML),
4
are responsible for the development of these technologies. These standards regulate the physics, properties, animation, and rendering of virtual assets, enabling users to navigate the Metaverse with ease.
Tactile Internet:
Enables users in the Metaverse to transmit/receive haptic and kinesthetic information over the network with a round-trip delay of approximately 1 ms
[120]
. This makes it possible to send a handshake across the globe and improves user interactions. It also creates opportunities for the provision of physical services in the Metaverse, such as remote surgery. The standards that enable interoperability, such as VRML, are responsible for the development of these technologies. These standards regulate the physics, properties, animation, and rendering of virtual assets, enabling users to navigate the Metaverse with ease.
Digital Twin:
Enables some virtual worlds within the Metaverse to be modeled after the physical world in real time. Modeling and data fusion are used to achieve this [
195
,
237
]. DT enhances the Metaverse’s realism and opens up new avenues for social engagement and service delivery
[30]
. Nvidia Omniverse,
5
for instance, enables BMW to combine its physical auto factories with VR, AI, and robotics to enhance industrial precision and flexibility, ultimately leading to a roughly 30.
Artificial Intelligence (AI):
Can be leveraged to incorporate intelligence into the Metaverse for improved user experience, e.g., for efficient 3D object rendering, cognitive avatars, and artificial intelligence generated content (AIGC). For instance, AI is used by EpicGames’ MetaHuman project
6
to swiftly produce lifelike digital characters. VSPs might use the produced characters to fill the Metaverse by using them as conversational virtual assistants. Reference
[168]
presents a thorough analysis of AI inference and training in the Metaverse.
Economy:
Governs incentives and content creation, UGC trading, and service provisioning to support all aspects of the Metaverse ecosystem. To synchronize the virtual and physical worlds, for instance, VSP can pay PSP a fee in return for data streams
[144]
. In order to assist customers with limited resources, metaverse service providers may also buy computer resources from cloud services
[287]
. Furthermore, the economy serves as the primary catalyst for the sustainable growth of digital assets and DIDs, which in turn promotes the sustainable growth of the Metaverse.
The
infrastructure layer
enables the Metaverse to be accessed at the edge.
Communication and networking:
AR/VR and haptic traffic have strict rate, reliability, and latency requirements to avoid BIP, i.e., disturbances that make a user aware of the real-world context
[303]
. The deployment of ultra-dense networks in edge networks has the potential to alleviate limited system capacity, owing to the anticipated exponential rise in data traffic. Furthermore, post-Shannon communication will be made possible by the B5G/6G communication infrastructure
[348]
, which will help to relieve bandwidth restrictions and control the rapidly rising cost of communication. We go into further depth about these ideas in this chapter.
Computation:
These days, massively multiplayer online games may support up to 100 people at once, necessitating high graphics processing unit (GPU) specifications. The foundation of the Metaverse system, VRMMO games are still rather rare in the market. The reason for this is that in order to portray both the immersive virtual worlds and the interactions with hundreds of other players, VRMMO games may necessitate the connection of devices like HMDs to powerful computers. The cloud-edge-end computing paradigm is a viable way to allow ubiquitous access to the Metaverse. In particular, the least resource-intensive tasks, such as those needed by the physics engine to calculate an avatar’s movement and location, can have local calculations carried out on edge devices. Therefore, edge servers can be used to carry out expensive foreground rendering, which needs less graphical details but lower latency, to lessen the load on the cloud for scalability and further reduce end-to-end latency
[137]
. In turn, cloud servers may handle the more computationally demanding but less delay-sensitive jobs, such as background rendering. Furthermore, distributed learning model pruning and compression AI approaches help lighten the load on backbone networks.
Blockchain:
The distributed ledger technology (DLT) made possible by the blockchain will be essential for creating the Metaverse’s economic ecology and for proving proof-of-ownership of virtual products. Present-day virtual products have a hard time becoming valuable outside of the platforms where they are made or sold. The use of blockchain technology will be crucial in lowering the dependency on this kind of centralization. As an illustration, a non-fungible token (NFT) verifies a person’s possession of a virtual asset and acts as a symbol of its uniqueness
[391]
. In a decentralized setting, this method promotes peer-to-peer trade while safeguarding the value of virtual products. Since distinct entities are creating multiple virtual worlds within the Metaverse, it is also possible for user data to be handled differently. Multiple parties will need to access and work with such user data in order to provide smooth navigation among virtual worlds. Cross-chain technology is essential for enabling safe data interoperability because it provides value segregation between several blockchains. Furthermore, edge resource management has shown recent success using blockchain technology
[422]
