The DOI matches its Crossref record; 17 of the 24 references it cites were found in a registry or an index.
Will Metaverse Be NextG Internet? Vision, Hype, and Reality
Open accessAbstract
Metaverse, with the combination of the prefix “meta” (meaning transcending) and the word “universe,” has been deemed as a hypothetical next-generation (NextG) Internet. It aims to create a shared virtual space that connects all virtual worlds via the Internet, where users, represented as digital avatars, can communicate and collaborate as if they are in the physical world. Nevertheless, there is still no unified definition of the Metaverse. This article first reviews what has been heavily advocated by the industry and the positions of various high-tech companies. It then presents our vision of what the key requirements of Metaverse should be. After that, it briefly introduces existing social virtual reality (VR) platforms that can be viewed as early prototypes of the Metaverse, and conducts a reality check by diving into the network operation and performance of two representative platforms: Workrooms from Meta and AltspaceVR from Microsoft. Finally, it concludes by discussing several opportunities and future directions for further innovation.
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“Research shows that individuals can experience psychological and physiological responses to virtual events as though they occurred in the physical world (Cheng et al., 2022; Patel, 2021), raising urgent questions about harm, consent, and protection in immersive spaces.”
From Virtual Reality Risks for Children in the Metaverse: An Examination through Criminological Perspectives (2026) · cites this paper as Cheng et al., 2022
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Cites
Facial Expression Recognition System using Statistical Feature and Neural Network
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A Metaverse: Taxonomy, Components, Applications, and Open Challenges
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“A narrow definition of Metaverse is thus a universal virtual world focusing on social interaction, which connects multiple 3D virtual environments via the Internet ( i.e., a network of virtual worlds [2]).”
InfluentialHoloportation: Virtual 3D Teleportation in Real-time
Orts-Escolano, S., Rhemann, C., Fanello, S., Chang, W., Kowdle, A., Degtyarev, Y. G., Kim, D., Davidson, P. L., Khamis, S., Dou, M., et al. (2016) · ACM Symposium on User Interface Software and Technology · doi:10.1145/2984511.2984517 · Cited by 768
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“Laaki et al. [5] designed a prototype for remote surgery using digital twins of patients.”
Han, B., Liu, Y., & Qian, F. (2020) · ACM Annual International Conference on Mobile Computing and Networking (MobiCom) · doi:10.1145/3372224.3380888 · Cited by 194 · cited 1×
“On the one hand, compared to traditional 2D videos, the bandwidth for transmitting up to 16K 360-degree panorama [6] or 3D volumetric content [7] to XR headsets could be high.”
Self-citationProtected interactive 3D graphics via remote rendering
Koller, D., Turitzin, M., Levoy, M., Tarini, M., Croccia, G., Cignoni, P., & Scopigno, R. (2004) · ACM Transactions on Graphics · doi:10.1145/1186562.1015782 · Cited by 170 · cited 1×
“Another promising strategy to address the aforementioned scalability issue is to utilize remote rendering [14], in which the server is responsible for performing rendering tasks.”
Immersive virtual reality attacks and the human joystick
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“Similar to online social networks, in the Metaverse, there will be security and privacy issues, such as attacks on user authentication and impersonation [9].”
Measuring the performance and network utilization of popular video conferencing applications
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“Currently, the U.S. Federal Communications Commission (FCC) defines the standard broadband service as 25 Mbps in downlink and 3 Mbps in uplink [8].”
Are we ready for metaverse?: a measurement study of social virtual reality platforms
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“Moreover, our recent measurement study [13] demonstrates that the scalability issue identified earlier also exists on other popular commercial social VR platforms including Mozilla Hubs, Rec Room, VRChat, and Horizon Worlds (https://www.”
Self-citationFast and Secure Authentication in Virtual Reality Using Coordinated 3D Manipulation and Pointing
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“Meanwhile, users’ personal information ( e.g., biometric data) may be collected for authentication, compromising their privacy [10].”
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“It is closely related to user-generated content (UGC) such as digital assets that can greatly enrich the Metaverse [4].”
Reality Check of Metaverse: A First Look at Commercial Social Virtual Reality Platforms
Cheng, R.-Z., Wu, N., Chen, S.-Q., & Han, B. (2022) · 2022 IEEE Conference on Virtual Reality and 3D User Interfaces Abstracts and Workshops (VRW) · doi:10.1109/vrw55335.2022.00040 · Cited by 47 · cited 2×
“We have proven that this flow transmits virtual content [12] and refer it to as virtual content (VC) flow.”
Self-citationSEAR: Scaling Experiences in Multi-user Augmented Reality
Zhang, W., Han, B., & Hui, P. (2022) · IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics · doi:10.1109/tvcg.2022.3150467 · Cited by 38 · cited 1×
“Meanwhile, sensors in the Metaverse, such as those on XR headsets and haptic devices, require latency as low as tens of milliseconds to maintain an immersive user experience [14].”
Self-citationDeepVista: 16K Panoramic Cinema on Your Mobile Device
Zhang, W., Qian, F., Han, B., & Hui, P. (2021) · International World Wide Web Conference (WWW) · doi:10.1145/3442381.3449829 · Cited by 30 · cited 2×
“Moreover, the server needs to predict the future viewport of the user to determine the to-be-delivered content, which may negatively impact the user experience if the prediction is inaccurate [6].”
Self-citationMobile Immersive Computing: Research Challenges and the Road Ahead
Han, B. (2019) · IEEE Communications Magazine · doi:10.1109/mcom.001.1800876 · Cited by 25 · cited 1×
“In the current stage, with the flourishing of 5G and mobile immersive computing [1], there has been a surge of research & development on the Metaverse in both industry and academia.”
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Defining the Metaverse: A Systematic Literature Review
Ritterbusch, G. D., & Teichmann, M. R. (2023) · IEEE Access · doi:10.1109/access.2023.3241809 · Cited by 216
“From an infrastructural perspective, this might involve blockchain technology as an enabler of decentralized functioning, thus allowing for an open and fairMetaverse [4], [6], [11].”
BackgroundInfluentialThe rising trend of Metaverse in education: challenges, opportunities, and ethical considerations
Kaddoura, S., & Husseiny, F. A. A. (2023) · PeerJ Computer Science · doi:10.7717/peerj-cs.1252 · Cited by 321
“The terms “meta,” which means beyond or after, and “universe” are combined to make the phrase “Metaverse” (Cheng et al., 2022).”
BackgroundInfluentialWhen Internet of Things Meets Metaverse: Convergence of Physical and Cyber Worlds
Li, K., Cui, Y., Li, W., Lv, T., Yuan, X., Li, S., Ni, W., Simsek, M., & Dressler, F. (2022) · IEEE Internet of Things Journal · doi:10.1109/jiot.2022.3232845 · Cited by 299
“Secondly, the Metaverse needs to be powered by other technologies such as AI, AR/VR, blockchain, and web [251] to ensure that the Metaverse can create secure, scalable, and realistic virtual worlds on a reliable and always-on platform.”
MethodAI and 6G Into the Metaverse: Fundamentals, Challenges and Future Research Trends
Zawish, M., Dharejo, F. A., Khowaja, S. A., Raza, S., Davy, S., Dev, K., & Bellavista, P. (2024) · IEEE Open Journal of the Communications Society · doi:10.1109/ojcoms.2024.3349465 · Cited by 224
“Microsoft is constructing Microsoft Mesh, a business-focused Metaverse [286].”
MethodJagatheesaperumal, S. K., Ahmad, K., Al-Fuqaha, A. I., & Qadir, J. (2022) · IEEE Transactions on Learning Technologies · doi:10.48550/arxiv.2207.01512 · Cited by 143
Metadata
- Authors
- Cheng, R., Wu, N., Chen, S., & Han, B.
- Affiliations
- George Mason University (US)
- Venue
- IEEE Network
- Published
- 2022-09
- Volume
- 36
- Issue
- 5
- Pages
- 197-204
- ISSN
- 0890-8044 (ISSN-L)
- 1558-156X
- OpenAlex
- W4294643390
- Cited by
- 280
- References
- 24
- Citations by year
- 2026: 21 · 2025: 63 · 2024: 87 · 2023: 88 · 2022: 21
- FWCI
- 32.00
- Type
- journal article
- Language
- en
- Open access
- green
- arxiv.org
- Licence
- Locations
- IEEE Network (publishedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University) (submittedVersion)
- arXiv (Cornell University)
- Topics
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Human-Computer Interaction › Virtual Reality Applications and Impacts
- Physical Sciences › Computer Science › Computer Networks and Communications › Software-Defined Networks and 5G
- Physical Sciences › Engineering › Control and Systems Engineering › Simulation and Modeling Applications
- Keywords
- metaverse, virtual worlds, social virtual reality, avatars, network performance, workrooms, remote collaboration
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