3D "videophone" calls are possible using existing wireless networks

The mobile telecommunications network is running out of space, the industry often tells us. In the coming years, we will see 5G standards supplant the existing 4G state-of-the-art, allowing more data to be sent between wireless devices faster and more accurately. However, a team of mechanical engineers from Purdue University in West LaFayette, Indiana, claims that the system that can use the existing standard wireless network to enable high quality 3D video communication on mobile devices such as tablets and smartphones.

“To our knowledge, this system is the first of its kind that can deliver dense and accurate 3D video content in real time across standard wireless networks,” said research leader Sung Zhang, who is to present his team's research at the upcoming Electronic Imaging 2018 conference in California.

The system, which the team has called holostream, works by converting the 3D video into a 2D format, and using standard 2D video compression algorithms to render the data transmittable on the existing network.