Advanced Media Delivery - Avatar based real time communication

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Background

In the 5G-MAG Reference Tools meetings on October 17th and October 24th we dived into 3GPP Release 19 features. In this thread, we will discuss the different topics that were presented and what it means to add them to the 5G-MAG Reference Tools.

Links

Main topics

• Avatar based real time communication

Related Discussions

• Strategy for adding features from new 3GPP releases to the reference tools

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IMS based AR real time communication

Background

3GPP TS 26.264 Release 19 defines how IMS-based Augmented Reality (AR) communication supports avatar-driven real-time interaction between users. It extends the IMS media architecture to include AR-MTSI clients, AR Application Servers, and Media Functions (MFs) that handle AR scene rendering and avatar animation. Users are represented by avatars encoded in the MPEG Avatar Representation Format (ARF), stored in a Base Avatar Repository (BAR) and exchanged via application data channels using JSON-based metadata. It defines protocols for avatar negotiation, synchronization of animation streams, and network-assisted rendering when devices lack local capability. Scene descriptions, spatial metadata, and pose data allow a shared immersive environment to be built across participants, with QoE monitoring ensuring lip-sync and latency control.

Links

Specifications

• TS26.264 - IMS based AR real time communication
• ISO/IEC DIS 23090-39 - Avatar Representation Format - https://mpeg-arf.org/
• ISO/IEC 23090-14 - MPEG-I Scene Description

5G-MAG Reference Tools

Which existing components are affected?

• rt-xr-unity-player supports MPEG-I scene description, but does not implement ARF.

What needs to be done from a high level?

Demonstrate Avatar RTC communication over WebRTC, demonstrate integration with IMS.

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Implementation based on 5G Real-time Media Communication architecture

Background

Avatar real time communication can be established between 2 peers with an OTT call flow, without IMS integration, using external WebRTC signalling function.

Such an OTT call flow is covered in TS 26.506 - 5.3 Call flow for over-the-top (OTT) RTC sessions , which describes how this collaboration scenario can still benefit from the 5G RTC architecture for QoS & network assistance.

The OTT scenario represents the lowest complexity solution for a POC. Other scenarios may be relevant.

Specifications

• TS 26.506 - 5G Real-time Media Communication Architecture
• TS 26.510 - Media delivery; interactions and APIs for provisioning and media session handling
• TS 26.113 - Real-Time Media Communication; Protocols and APIs

5G-MAG Reference Tools

Which existing components are affected?

There are no currently no reference tools to support the 5G Real-time Media Communication architecture.

What needs to be done from a high level?

• RTC AF
• RTC AS
  • TS 26.113 specifies SWAP (Simple WebRTC Application Protocol) for WebRTC signalling. It can be used to establish WebRTC avatar-based communication in an OTT call flow scenario, while introducing reference tools to support other collaboration scenarios.