Simulating Disturbances in Tactile Internet to Study Desynchronization

Abstract

As technology evolves, transmission speeds become faster. Tactile Internet requires ultra-low-latency (ULL) communications to further immerse humans in a remote environment by transmitting movement and force feedback, allowing them to interact with that environment in real-time. However, no transmission speed can be fast enough to support the "1 ms challenge" over long distances due to light speed limitations. A system with over 1ms of delay will feel unnatural to the user and cause "cyber-sickness". A novelty solution solves this by simulating the remote environment locally using point clouds. The system is then able to compute the force feedback immediately. This paper focuses on the desynchronization between simulation and reality that can build up due to disturbances. A framework for testing and observing desync caused by controlled disturbances is built for this purpose. The framework can also be used to test possible solutions to this issue. 1-dimensional simulations show that divergence happens slowly for friction and mass mismatches, providing a time frame during which it can be corrected. 2-dimensional simulations presented non-deterministic results, limiting the observations.