SBIR Phase I: Multi-depth-camera volumetric video recording and streaming

Award ID: 2111631

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to improve digital content delivery of volumetric content, or representation of 3D subjects. Current volumetric content is commonly limited to very short clips (typically < 10 seconds) due to huge file sizes. This research advances a low-cost, live-streaming, 360-degree volumetric content platform with no duration limits, even on 4G networks. An individual will be able to take low-cost, readily available components and create what would commonly be referred to as a hologram of themselves, for live broadcast and/or recording. The content will be compatible with existing mobile devices, and most commercially available wearable extended reality (XR) devices. both mobile and tethered. Due to the entry-level off-the-shelf hardware that this project will leverage, volumetric content creation costs will be on par with online video production costs, ensuring broad adoption across a wide number of applications, including medical, education, training, safety, entertainment and telecommunications. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project seeks to enable the capture of a human subject using two or more depth-sensors, quickly combine those in a single stream of compressed video, and broadcast them to mobile and wearable devices using existing cloud services. This content can then be viewed on a standard two-dimensional device like a mobile phone, or on a 3D device like an XR wearable. The content will be fully realized, and viewable from any angle at any time. There will be no duration limits, and file sizes will be comparable to standard HD video content. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Rajesh Mehta