Understanding How Holographic Environments Will Operate

Formula 1 racer Lewis Hamilton from the UK stands beside a 3D hologram at the Reebok launch event for their new Smooth Fit technology. Michael Steele/Getty Images for Reebok

If you’ve ever watched “Star Trek,” you might recall the crew of the Starship Enterprise experiencing their wildest dreams in a room known as the holodeck. This massive, holographic space allowed them to engage with virtual simulations as if they were stepping into an interactive video game. Today, scientists are pushing forward with new communication technologies that could soon allow you and others to interact within a simulated world, no matter how far apart you are.

The fundamental building blocks needed for tele-immersion are already in place. Tele-immersion is the answer from the scientific world to creating a modern-day holodeck.

By merging cameras with Internet telephony, videoconferencing has revolutionized how we share information in real time, without the need to gather in a single location. Tele-immersion will take this to new heights, offering a shared, simulated environment where everyone can meet in a virtual room without leaving their homes.

In this article, you'll discover how employees from Los Angeles, New York, Tokyo, and Paris will soon collaborate in a tele-immersive environment, exchanging handshakes with holographic versions of their colleagues.

Tele-immersion: Beyond Videoconferencing

In the future office, you won't be dialing a phone to reach someone. Instead, you’ll instruct your computer to contact a specific person. For example, you might say, "Computer, call Joe at the London office." Almost instantly, one of your office walls will light up, and Joe will appear right in front of you, as if he’s actually there. Joe, on his end, will experience the same lifelike connection. This is the essence of tele-immersion: bringing distant colleagues together into one shared, virtual workspace, making business travel nearly obsolete.

This form of communication goes far beyond the limitations of videoconferencing. Have you ever used a Webcam for a video call? If you have, you’ve probably noticed the imperfections in this form of communication, such as video delays and the jerky motion of the image. Additionally, if someone steps out of view of the camera, they’re no longer visible. With tele-immersion, however, this won’t be an issue. You won’t lose sight of anyone, and in fact, you’ll be able to explore their office by adjusting your view from different angles. It’s like having a window into their space.

Holographic environments will be powered by computers with processing speeds thousands of times faster than your typical PC

. There are multiple stages involved in creating a holographic environment:

There are numerous teams collaborating on the National Tele-Immersion Initiative (NTII) to unite us all in these virtual environments. In May 2000, researchers from the University of North Carolina (UNC), the University of Pennsylvania, and Advanced Networks and Services achieved a breakthrough in this field. A user in an office at UNC in Chapel Hill, NC, was able to view realistic, 3D representations of colleagues located hundreds of miles away, one in Philadelphia and another in New York.

While tele-immersion might seem similar to virtual reality, the two technologies are distinct. Virtual reality enables users to move within a computer-generated 3D environment, whereas tele-immersion, for now, only provides a 3D view without the ability to interact with the environment. The next phase is combining tele-immersion with virtual reality, allowing users to modify the scenes they are experiencing.

The possibilities for immersive holographic environments are limitless. Imagine a video game without joysticks, where you fully immerse yourself in the game, battling monsters or scoring touchdowns. Instead of flying miles to spend the holidays with family, you’ll simply connect and join them in a shared holographic space. Eventually, you’ll even be able to embrace loved ones using this technology. In the future, tele-immersion could also serve as a training ground for doctors and soldiers in simulated environments.

Holographic Displays

A young boy enjoys a holographic game Colin Anderson

Early versions of tele-immersive displays require users to wear special goggles and a head-tracking device that follows their gaze as they look at the screen. Meanwhile, the people appearing as 3-D images are tracked by an array of seven regular video cameras, while two additional cameras capture the real light patterns in each room to determine distances. This allows for accurate depth reproduction on the screen. For example, when a viewer moves their head to the right, they will see the corresponding image as if they were physically in the room with the person on the screen.

The images on the screen are split and polarized, presenting a distinct image for each eye. The goggles combine these visuals, allowing the brain to interpret them as a single 3-D image. This process resembles the function of old 3-D movie glasses. Early trials, such as the one at UNC in May, have encountered some issues similar to those found in regular video-conferencing. For instance, the scenes projected are refreshed only three times per second, resulting in a jerky image. If this rate could be increased to 10 frames per second, the image would be smooth, resembling the view through a window. Scientists are developing new technologies to enhance this type of communication, such as:

Tele-immersion will erase the distinction between real and computer-generated images. It will be the ultimate telecommuting technology, potentially eliminating the need for rush-hour commuting altogether. Rather than commuting, individuals could attend board meetings by virtually entering the company's conference room. And for those whose work requires travel, they could still make it home in time for dinner by tele-immersing themselves into their family kitchen. As this technology is still in its early stages, the potential applications are virtually limitless.

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