Metaverse: Breaking the boundary between virtuality and reality

Recently, the concept of meta-universe has become a hot spot of people's attention. Metaverse consists of two parts: Meta (transcendence) + Universe (universe), that is, a virtual digital world is built on the basis of the real world, so that people in the real world can live in the virtual world through digital forms.

The origin of the meta universe

The concept of "meta universe" first appeared in Neil Stephenson's 1992 science fiction novel "Avalanche". In the novel, the author depicts a parallel digital world that is separated from the physical world. People can be in this digital world in the form of virtual characters. Life. Wikipedia’s interpretation of the meta-universe is: through virtual augmented physical reality, presenting the characteristics of convergence and physical persistence, based on the future Internet, a 3D virtual space with the characteristics of link perception and sharing.

The concept of meta universe also often appears in film and television works, such as "The Matrix", "Number One Player", and the recently released "Out of Control Player". In the current context, the connotation of "meta universe" has surpassed the concept of "meta universe" involved in the novel.

When we look back at the history of the development of the Internet, from the local area network to the mobile Internet, when users use the Internet, their sense of immersion and participation also increase. The development of science and technology is breaking the boundary between virtual and reality. And Metaverse will make users' immersion and participation reach their peak, which can be called the "ultimate form" of the Internet.

Metaverse and XR

"The first entrance of the meta universe is the AR/VR terminal. This is because the current mobile phones and computers are unable to achieve the immersive experience required by the meta universe. Judging from the current existing technology, if you want to create a meta universe, VR and AR are indispensable. Only with the support of XR technology can characters, props and virtual reality scenes be able to achieve perfect interaction and combination.

According to Haitong Securities’ statistics and forecasts, VR headset shipments will exceed the 10 million mark in 2021, with a compound growth rate of 40% in shipment volume and 31% in the VR market from 2021-2023. The compound growth rate of AR glasses shipments will reach 52%, and the compound growth rate of AR market size will reach 39%. The overall scale of the VR/AR market will reach a compound growth rate of 32% from 2021 to 2023. It can be seen that the VR and AR industries will enter a period of rapid development in the future, and equipment shipments and market scale are expected to achieve rapid growth.

In addition to XR technology, the development of Metaverse is also inseparable from the support of new technologies such as 5G, cloud computing, and AI. From the perspective of 5G communication technology, the maturity of 5G can not only enhance the existing virtual experience, but also expand new application scenarios. With the continuous breakthrough of 5G technology, the information infrastructure related to the VR/AR industry will gradually be improved. The low-latency characteristics of 5G can solve the communication delay problem from the base station to the device, and truly realize real-time interaction of cloud games.