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The i2CAT Foundation has recently joined HEAT (Hybrid Extended reAliTy), a Horizon Europe research project launched in June 2024 that will pave the way for a new eXtended Reality era by developing realistically immersed (holo-ported) experiences within real captured omnidirectional and navigable hyper-realistic 3D spaces, feeling their atmosphere, and sharing those experiences with others, regardless of their location. The project is funded by the European Commission with almost €7M and brings together 15 European partners, including universities, research centres, and cultural entities (such as Opera theatres). During three years, they will work on integrating immersive media technologies in a multi-user communication system to provide the construction of compelling context-aware and embodied experiences for innovative hybrid XR applications. The main goal is to allow users to experience a real captured environment through immersive Virtual Reality (VR), while in presence, users can visualise and interact with the holograms of remote users integrated into the real environment through eXtended Reality (XR )holographic rendering.
Within the project, the i2CAT Foundation serves as Technical Coordinator and leads Work package WP3 – Technological Components and Architectural Integration, which main objective is the design and development of the innovative technological components required for the realisation of the project and their integration in the proposed end-to-end architecture, from media capture/retrieval to media presentation, including a wide range of multi-modal content and interaction methods. Within WP3, i2CAT will also lead two tasks: T3.2, which will focus on service and media Orchestration and adaptive low-latency delivery, and T3.5, which will focus on iterative testing and integration activities. The key WP3 technological outcome by i2CAT will be an evolved holographic communications platform, which will enable a truly natural and rich interaction between remote users connected via hybrid XR modes (i.e., in-presence users interacting with the real environment connecting via XR mode and remote users connecting via VR mode and being immersed in virtual replicas of the real environment).
i2CAT will also take part in other Work Packages. Specifically, the Catalan research centre will participate in Work package WP2 – Requirements, Scenarios, Platform Architecture and QoE Methodology by leading Task 2.2 – Platform Design and Architecture. Within this task, researchers will specify the overall platform architecture, with the required modularity to be adapted to the envisioned scenarios. This task will also encompass a thorough analysis to maximise interoperability with existing open standards, current network infrastructure, and off-the-shelf hardware and software solutions applicable and/or relevant to the extensible platform to be developed. The architecture specification will also include a comprehensive description of the hardware and software components, associated modules, and required interfaces.
Finally, i2CAT will participate in Work package WP4 – Pilots, Content Production and Evaluation, playing a key role in the pilot planning and execution activities, which will adopt the technological contributions of the Catalan research centre.
