EUROPE News
PUBLISHER
André Rousselot
+32 27400053
andre.rousselot@electronicseurope.net
EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Julien Happich
+33 0534655306
julien.happich@electronicseurope.net
EDITORS
Christoph Hammerschmidt
+49 8944450209
chammerschmidt@electronicseurope.net
Peter Clarke
+44 776 786 55 93
peter.clarke@electronicseurope.net
Nick Flaherty
+44 7710 236368
nick.flaherty@electronicseurope.net
Jean-Pierre Joosting
+44 7800548133
jean-pierre.joosting@electronicseurope.net
Alistair Winning
+44 7834 770342
ally.winning@electronicseurope.net
CIRCULATION & FINANCE
Luc Desimpel
luc.desimpel@electronicseurope.net
ADVERTISING PRODUCTION &
REPRINTS
Lydia Gijsegom
lydia.gijsegom@electronicseurope.net
ART MANAGER
Jean-Paul Speliers
ACCOUNTING
Ricardo Pinto Ferreira
REGIONAL ADVERTISING
REPRESENTATIVES
Contact information at:
http://www.eenewseurope.com/content/
sales-contacts
eeNews Europe
is published 10 times in 2020
by European Business Press SA
Chaussée de Louvain 533,
1380 Lasne, Belgium
Tel: +32-2-740 00 50
Fax: +32-2-740 00 59
email: info@electronics europe.net
www.eenewseurope.com
VAT Registration: BE 461.357.437.
Company Number: 0461357437
RPM: Nivelles.
Volume 22, Issue 4 eeNews P 304128
It is free to qualified engineers and managers
involved in engineering decisions – see:
http://www.eenewseurope.com/subscribe
© 2020 E.B.P. SA
All rights reserved. P 304128
european
business press
LAST WORD
SMPTE ST 2100-1:2017: This standard
deals with the definition and representation
of haptic-tactile essence
for broadcast production applications.
ISO 9241-940:2017: This standard
deals with the evaluation of haptic
and tactile interactions with devices
such as 2D and 3D gesture sensors,
desktop haptic interfaces, and tactile
mobile displays (phones).
While we may want to approach these
SDOs at a later date to integrate the new
haptic standards, other SDOs may be a
better fit for what we’re trying to accomplish
with standardization of the haptic
stack. Below is a brief overview of these
SDOs:
MPEG
MPEG (Motion Pictures Expert Group)
needs no introduction, as it’s the SDO
responsible for standards such as MP3,
AAC, MP4, etc., that pervade our digital
media lives. Immersion is working on an
MPEG4+HAPT specification proposal to
introduce a ‘hapt’ box into the ISO Base
Media File Format (ISO BMFF). The company
plans on presenting this proposal
at the MPEG-130 meeting in Alpbach,
Austria. Adding a ‘hapt’ box and related
fields to ISO BMFF will allow content
creators to more easily incorporate one
or more timed haptic tracks into their
media files. A MPEG4+HAPT standard is
an important first step in making haptics
ubiquitous in all media files.
IEEE
The IEEE Standards Association has an
ongoing standardization effort called
P1918.1 (Tactile Internet Working Group)
that focuses on the Tactile Internet as
a 5G and beyond application across a
range of different user groups. A subgroup
of P1918.1, called P1918.1.1
(Haptic Codecs for the Tactile Internet),
focuses on standardizing haptic codecs
for both open-loop (vibrotactile) and
closed-loop (kinesthetic) communication
in the Tactile Internet. Perceptual evaluation
of haptic codecs is also under the
purview of this sub-group. We’re actively
working with both groups to start the
standards discussion.
ATSC
ATSC (Advanced Television Systems
Committee) recently released its nextgeneration
TV standard, called ATSC
3.0, which is a quantum leap compared
to the existing ATSC 1.0 (and ATSC 2.0)
standards that run our existing digital
TV sets. We’re not able to get into all of
the different aspects of the ATSC 3.0
standards suite in this article. However,
it’s important to point out that one of the
promises of ATSC 3.0 is the ability to
view TV broadcasts as well as supplemental
content on “companion devices”
(i.e., smartphones and tablets) along
with “primary devices” (regular ATSC
3.0-compliant TV sets).
Since nearly all companion devices
come with haptic actuators built into
them, there is a real opportunity here to
enhance the viewers’ experience with
haptics when they’re watching ATSC 3.0
content on their companion devices. Live
sports, feature films, music videos, etc.
can all benefit from sophisticated (and
customizable) haptics when played back
on these devices.
HD motor performance
standards
While HD motor specifications themselves
are best left to the motor manufacturers,
motor performance characteristics
can benefit from standardization so
that upper layers of the haptic technology
stack can get a level of assurance of
motor performance.
Immersion has developed its own HD
motor performance criteria to ensure that
certain performance levels are met before
they are qualified as HD. It’s been used
as the baseline to build an understanding
between the company, its partners, and
its customers on the level of experience
to expect. Lofelt has also published a
specification (VT-1) that provides parameters
and requirements for creating
high-quality, realistic user experiences
through vibrotactile (VT) haptic feedback.
These two documents are good starting
points for the development of a standard
for HD motors.
Call to action
The standardization of haptics has the
potential to lead to better experiences,
faster integration, and greater adoption.
Now is the right time for it, as more
consumer-facing products (automobile
dashboards, smart appliances, advanced
game controllers, AR/VR headsets)
incorporate HD haptics. The success of
any standardization effort depends on
the active participation of all stakeholders—
customers, business partners,
technology vendors, and market competitors
alike. It can’t be done alone. We
at Immersion hope that other members of
the haptics community will join us in this
effort.
This article first appeared on
Electronic Design – www.electronicdesign.
50 News April 2020 @eeNewsEurope www.eenewseurope.com
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
link
/eenewseurope
/
/europe.net
/www.eenewseurope.com
/www.eenewseurope.com
/subscribe
/www.electronicdesign