Professor in ECE believes XR platforms can be wireless without compromising quality
Published: Jan 9, 2025 12:30 PM
By Joe McAdory
Extended reality (XR) offers users immersive experiences across many virtual worlds, including gaming, training and medical imaging. Current XR platforms, however, are tethered with wired constraints. Could users cut the cord, go wireless and achieve identical results?
Shiwen Mao, director of the Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center in the Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering (ECE), believes so.
His project, “Collaborative Research: NewSpectrum: Toward Untethered Extended Reality Through Wireless Sensing and Communications Co-design,” is developing integrated sensing and communications techniques that will support seamless transmission of wireless XR data. Mao, principal investigator on the project, was awarded a three-year, $170,000 National Science Foundation grant, effective Feb. 1.
Mao will 1) develop sensing methods using millimeter wave (mmWave) signals to detect full-body movements of multiple XR users, 2) create a collaborative learning system for XR access points to improve user experience by optimizing sensing and data transmission and, 3) build a platform and testbed to validate these wireless XR solutions.
“This study will greatly enhance the wireless sensing performance and spectrum efficiency of XR systems, leading to more resilient systems and enhanced user experience,” said Mao, ECE professor and Earle C. Williams Eminent Scholar Chair.
Wireless XR transmission faces many challenges, Mao said. Transmitting high-resolution video at high frame rates consumes large amounts of energy and requires an enhanced bandwidth capacity. Since most XR applications are interactive ones, the latency should be less than 20 milliseconds to prevent motion sickness and ensure smooth operation.
“It is difficult to ensure such low latency with the existing wireless technologies,” Mao said. “Additionally, XR requires precise spatial tracking and synchronization, especially for multi-user experiences, which can strain wireless systems due to the need for accurate and real-time data transmission.
“We aim to overcome technical barriers in wireless-enabled XR and develop effective solutions for eliminating XR-wired connections by utilizing millimeter wave technology, machine learning, edge computing and integrated sensing and communications (ISAC) technologies to truly unleash the high potential of XR.”
Millimeter wave, a band of electromagnetic frequencies used for wireless communications from 30 to 300 gigahertz, offers multiple advantages. First, it can provide a 10 times higher bandwidth for sensing each XR wiser, allows flexible beam-steering to track XR user body movements, is sensitive to changes in surrounding environments/body movements and its transceivers are adept at detecting user movement with improved sensing directivity.
“We believe this project will enable highly efficient and robust wireless enabled XR networks and applications, with significantly enhanced accuracy and resilience that can more than satisfy user demand,” Mao said. “This project will also provide opportunities for Auburn undergraduate and graduate students to participate in cutting-edge wireless engineering research and gain valuable experiences, making them more competitive in the job market.”
Software and data from the project will be released to the community.
“We will widely disseminate the research outcomes at international conferences and IEEE (Institute of Electrical and Electronics Engineers) distinguished lecturers and summer schools, as well as organizing workshops and journal special issues on relevant research topics,” Mao said. “We will also seek collaboration with industry, for commercialization and technology transfer.”
Media Contact: , jem0040@auburn.edu, 334.844.3447
Shiwen Mao is director of the Wireless Engineering Research and Education Center.
