The Metaverse is getting a lot of attention from the market in 2021. Many companies have entered the Metaverse, including well-known international technology companies such as Meta, Microsoft, Nvidia, and more. In addition to international giants, domestic giants also have different levels of layout, such as Tencent , ByteDance, Alibaba and so on. Previously, 01 Blockchain compiled an article on the key technologies of the metaverse , including computing technology, display technology, transmission technology and modeling technology. Today, let us sort out the relationship between the Metaverse and 5G.

The relationship between communication technology and the Metaverse

An important element of the metaverse is being able to connect with people. Metaverse is based on VR/AR technology to achieve interactive experience, but VR/AR technology requires a lot of data computing, so it is a good solution to transmit data to cloud computing and then feedback to the device. However, today's technical difficulty lies in realizing low-latency connections, which puts forward higher requirements for communication technology, especially 5G.

Previous Oculus headsets (like the Oculus Go) were basically paired with a smartphone to render and compute their world, but that made them heavy, hot, and less graphically than what a PC or console could offer much more. Although today's latest Oculus Quest 2 does not need to be connected to a mobile phone, it can calculate by itself, but the texture is still rough. Obviously, it is unrealistic for AR/VR devices to fully compute the rendering and operation of virtual worlds. We can use cloud computing to send important input parameters to the cloud, and then receive output parameters. And with faster connections such as 5G, AR/VR devices will be able to render their graphics remotely, further sending the results to our AR/VR devices quickly for display, just like a display and sensor collection.

However, to achieve this, we need reliable latency under about 7 milliseconds and another technology called mobile edge computing. For this, we need standalone 5G networks or even more advanced communication networks to achieve this goal.

Mobile Edge Computing (MEC) enables cloud computing capabilities and an IT service environment at the edge of cellular networks. The basic idea behind MEC is that by running applications and performing related processing tasks closer to cellular customers, network congestion can be reduced and application performance improved. MEC technology is designed to be implemented at cellular base stations or other edge nodes and provide customers with flexible and rapid deployment of new applications and services.

5G has been very hot in the past two years, and many people have discussed its application scenarios. Metaverse will be an important application scenario for 5G to show its strengths. 5G, 6G and other related communication technologies will be greatly developed under the trend of the Metaverse, and the Metaverse will also provide people with a more realistic virtual experience due to the rapid development of 5G, 6G and other related communication technologies.

The more bandwidth value that Metaverse computing obtains through 5G and more advanced communication technology means that the rendering of the metaverse virtual world can be done on edge devices and transmitted to the user's VR/AR device, which means that with the continuous development of communication technology Progress, the size of VR/AR devices may shrink further in the coming years, making it more comfortable for users to use.

Chinese telecom operators deploy related infrastructure

China is a country that is actively laying out 5G and more advanced communication-related infrastructure, so it leads the world in communication technology and infrastructure. Domestic telecom operators have also begun to think about and lay out the fields that can be applied in the future.

On November 2, 2021, at the main forum of the 2021 China Mobile Global Partner Conference, Yang Jie, chairman of China Mobile, introduced China Mobile's deployment of the computing power network. In the future, China Mobile wants to build a ubiquitous and integrated computing power network, create a one-point access, instant computing power service, and achieve the vision of omnipresent network, ubiquitous computing power, and ubiquitous intelligence.

On the same day, Liu Xin, general manager of Migu, a subsidiary of China Mobile, released Migu's metaverse evolution roadmap and NrealAir, the first consumer-grade augmented reality glasses, at the conference. According to the metaverse evolution roadmap announced by Migu, Migu will focus on five major directions in the future, including ultra-high-definition video, video CRBT, cloud games, cloud VR, and cloud AR. In addition, Migu will also invest more resources in the four major fields of 5G+MSC, 5G+video CRBT, 5G+cloud gaming, and 5G+XR. More detailed plans in the future include creating a sports metaverse through 5G + MSC; creating a global standard for digital and intelligent sports through 5G + cloud games; deploying 5G + video ringtones to achieve the interconnection of the three networks; 5G + XR, empowering the industry Innovative experience.

It can be seen from this that the core points of Migu's layout lie in 5G and cloud computing. These technologies are inseparable from low-latency links, and this field is China Mobile's housekeeping skills. Migu uses the advantages of its parent company to open the door to the metaverse. With computing power as the center and network as the foundation, Migu's evolution roadmap will be gradually realized, the development of the digital economy will be promoted, and the application and experience of the Metaverse will be realized.

China Mobile has been deploying and building infrastructure such as 5G and computing power networks. Objectively, basic technical reserves for the Metaverse have been formed, and the Metaverse itself has a large demand for underlying computing.

On November 12, 2021, at the forum on China Telecom's 5G innovative application cooperation, Xinguomai, a subsidiary of China Telecom, announced its Metaverse strategic layout. According to the strategy, Xinguomai will be positioned as a new infrastructure builder in the Metaverse in the future, based on innovative application achievements, and comprehensively card the Metaverse track.

Li Anmin, chairman of Xinguomai, said that Xinguomai will be committed to building an integrator of Metaverse platform and computing power, a service integrator of Metaverse software and applications, and a collaborative innovator of Metaverse social ecology and content construction. In the future, the new national pulse plan will be mainly divided into two stages to achieve development goals. In the next few years, in the process of combining a series of large and small virtual worlds based on the real world, it will provide platforms and basic cloud network capabilities to serve various virtual world formats. After years of development, it will enter the second stage, and gradually form a super virtual world. New Guomai will rely on the state-owned identity and business technology foundation, and strive to become the national team and main force provided by the base of the virtual world. The Metaverse is the next generation of the Internet in the next 20 years, the virtual space for the digital life of future human beings, and an important production place/source of future digital assets.

On December 16, 2021, the official version of China Unicom's Metaverse APP was officially launched. Created by China Unicom, this platform is a brand-new virtual communication platform.

According to the introduction on the official website, this platform hopes to build a Metaverse content production brand, promote the acceleration of the VR industry, and lay a solid foundation for the digital base; build a 5G boutique network, a gigabit broadband network, and an integrated computing network service system, as well as pave the way for the VR industry. Promote 5G + MR integration applications with regard to the new high-speed interconnection between virtual and real.

The specific functions and services include the Yunchuang digital human creation system launched by Unicom Wo Music, which is currently mainly used in virtual world content production, virtual IP creation, and virtual intelligent assistants and other business fields; Unicom Wo Music will continue to focus on covering live broadcasts in the future. , content production, online and offline and other fields of multi-form innovation and layout.

Liu Liehong, chairman of China Unicom, said that in order to accelerate the development of the VR/AR industry, it is necessary to lay a solid digital foundation and achieve a new high speed for the VR/AR industry to connect the virtual and the real. Then we can take advantage of this technology to break through many bottlenecks in human-computer interaction and the intelligent connection of all things.

Discuss the importance of 5G and 6G for the Metaverse

The Metaverse is a platform with a wide range of scenarios and diversified technology integration, and the rapid progress of 5G technology will become the main support of the Metaverse. Large bandwidth, low latency and high reliability, and low power consumption and large connections are the foundations required by the Metaverse. In fact, as early as 2019, the industry began to study the impact of 5G on the metaverse and how to speed up the implementation of the metaverse.

Research on 5G enabling XR (including AR, VR and MR) began on December 9, 2019. At that time, 3GPP (an international telecommunications technology standards organization) held a meeting in Sitges, Spain. 3GPP standards experts planned and laid out the 5G evolution standard R17, which was established around three major directions: network intelligence, capability refinement, and service extension. 23 standard projects.

It is worth noting that the international chip design giant Qualcomm took the lead in proposing an evaluation research project based on 5G NR to support XR, which is a new "from 0 to 1" research project added in R17. XR is the core interface for the fusion of virtual and reality in the Metaverse. XR requires high bandwidth while supporting low latency and high reliability. This poses new challenges for 5G infrastructure networks. Telecom operators need to work with other industries to seek more networks. Optimization means to ensure that the operator network has the ability to support XR and even the future metaverse on a large scale.

Then, 3GPP released a technical report in December 2021. The technical report is over 270 pages long. 3GPP technical experts have comprehensively studied multiple aspects of 5G support for XR, including performance evaluations such as capacity, power consumption, coverage, and mobility.

Then in December 2021, 3GPP established the R18 project for further research. The R18 project focuses on XR service perception on the radio access network side, XR-related energy-saving technologies, and XR-related capacity enhancement technologies. In addition to the above, the research of the R18 project also includes supporting multi-stream coordinated transmission of XR and tactile services (such as hands, elbows, knees, etc.), enhancing network opening, and ensuring service quality for XR services and media service transmission. The network needs to obtain terminal power, so as to adjust the size and frequency of packets sent by the network to the terminal to ensure the end-to-end experience. According to the introduction of China Mobile standards experts, the goal of 5G R18 is to achieve ultra-low latency, low jitter, quality of service control and multi-stream collaboration that meet business needs.

5G will not be the end of human communication technology, and there are bound to be 6G, 7G and other technologies in the future. The industry has also considered the impact of 6G on the metaverse.

In June 2021, IMT2030 (China's 6G technology promotion organization) released the "6G Overall Vision and Potential Key Technology White Paper". This white paper systematically expounds the application scenarios of 6G, and proposes that for 2030 and the future, 6G networks will help realize the deep integration of the real physical world and the virtual digital world, and build a new world of intelligent interconnection and digital twin. The white paper mentions that 6G can meet most scenarios in the Metaverse, and these scenarios also need to fully exceed the communication performance requirements of 5G. The white paper argues that 6G appears to be a technology born for the metaverse.

Obstacles are also opportunities

Today, the metaverse is unlikely to become a reality in the short term. Even the Meta company of the "All In" Metaverse has stated that its investment in the Metaverse will not be profitable at any time in the near future. With today's technology, the metaverse is far from the ideal state of science fiction such as "Ready Player One" and "Avalanche". Today's immersive experience VR/AR devices are difficult to achieve a virtual world effect close to the real world. In addition, the Metaverse requires a series of technical support such as display technology, network transmission, cloud storage services, etc.

Yet lack of infrastructure also means opportunity. There are not many players in the relevant infrastructure today. If you enter the market earlier, then the established moat will be deeper, and you will have a first-mover advantage.

According to ResearchAndMarkets.com's report "5G Technology Market, Global Forecast, Impact of COVID-19, Industry Trends, by Components, Growth, Opportunity Company Analysis", the global 5G technology market is expected to reach $65.49 billion by 2026, with annual The compound growth rate is 58.7%. And the predictive models for this report do not include the metaverse.

Although the Metaverse is full of controversy and uncertainty, its concept has indeed been recognized by the market, and its concept and ideal world are gradually moving towards reality. The arrival of the metaverse will be no less than the huge impact of the Internet on human society, economy and other aspects.

The development of the Metaverse will drive the rapid development of a series of industries, such as chip, display, transmission, communication and other industries. According to IDC's data forecast, from 2021 to 2025, the global VR virtual reality product shipments are expected to reach an average annual growth rate of about 41.4%, and AR augmented reality product shipments are expected to reach an average annual growth rate of about 138%. It is expected that the global VR headset shipments will maintain a compound annual growth rate of 41% from 2021 to 2025. Shipments are expected to increase from 6.7 million in 2020 to 8.5 million in 2021, and 28.6 million in 2025.

Research firm Newzoo predicts that the Metaverse market will reach $40 billion in 2021; Bloomberg predicts it will reach $800 billion. Regardless of the future of the industry, the current capital market has already moved under the influence of the metaverse concept, and the metaverse is expected to replace new energy and become the next battlefield for investment and speculation.

Today, the connection + computing power + capability network built by telecom operators will play an active role in the future digital economy, thereby promoting the progress of the entire society.