Advanced and Future Network Access Technologies for the Metaverse

The Metaverse, a fully immersive, shared, and persistent 3D virtual space integrating virtual and real-world environments, is gaining significant attention. This chapter focuses on the crucial role of the access infrastructure and of the employed network protocols in supporting the Metaverse, with a specific emphasis on Edge Computing and multi-access Edge Computing (MEC) paradigms, as well as network acceleration technologies. The Edge Computing and MEC paradigms, bringing computational capabilities closer to the network edge, further enhance processing capabilities and enable ultra-low latency. Next-generation networks, such as beyond 5G and 6G, are required to provide distributed orchestration and management capabilities, integrating physical and virtual computing resources. Network protocols, such as 5G/6G, Wi-Fi 6, and TSN, play a crucial role in efficient and reliable communication within the Metaverse while networking acceleration technologies, both software-based (DPDK, XDP) and hardware-based (RDMA), enhance performance and enable ultra-reliable low-latency communication. The chapter also introduces SELENE, a solution designed to provide a technology-agnostic middleware application programming interface (API). SELENE allows developers to specify their quality of service (QoS) communication requirements, while dynamically selecting the most suitable acceleration technology based on the hosting edge node. Additionally, the chapter demonstrates the development of SELENE-based applications, such as an image streaming framework, with minimal code complexity. Extensive performance evaluations reveal that SELENE introduces negligible ns-scale overhead to the underlying network acceleration technologies, further highlighting its effectiveness in supporting the Metaverse demanding requirements and facilitating seamless and immersive experiences within this virtual realm.