Multisensory 360 videos under varying resolution levels enhance presence

Omnidirectional videos have become a leading multimedia format for Virtual Reality applications. While live 360◦ videos offer a unique immersive experience, streaming of omnidirectional content at high resolutions is not always feasible in bandwidth-limited networks. While in the case of flat videos, scaling to lower resolutions works well, 360◦ video quality is seriously degraded because of the viewing distances involved in head-mounted displays. Hence, in this paper, we investigate first how quality degradation impacts the sense of presence in immersive Virtual Reality applications. Then, we are pushing the boundaries of 360◦ technology through the enhancement with multisensory stimuli. 48 participants experimented both 360◦ scenarios (with and without multisensory content), while they were divided randomly between four conditions characterised by different encoding qualities (HD, FullHD, 2.5K, 4K). The results showed that presence is not mediated by streaming at a higher bitrate. The trend we identified revealed however that presence is positively and significantly impacted by the enhancement with multisensory content. This shows that multisensory technology is crucial in creating more immersive experiences

360° Mulsemedia: a way to improve subjective QoE in 360° videos

Previous research has shown that adding multisensory media-mulsemedia-to traditional audiovisual content has a positive effect on user Quality of Experience (QoE). However, the QoE impact of employing mulsemedia in 360° videos has remained unexplored. Accordingly, in this paper, a QoE study for watching a 360° video-with and without multisensory effects-in a full free-viewpoint VR setting is presented. The parametric space we considered to influence the QoE consists of the encoding quality and the motion level of the transmitted media. To achieve our research aim, we propose a wearable VR system that provides multisensory enhancement of 360° videos. Then, we utilise its capabilities to systematically evaluate the effects of multisensory stimulation on perceived quality degradation for videos with different motion levels and encoding qualities. Our results make a strong case for the inclusion of multisensory effects in 360° videos, as they reveal that both user-perceived quality, as well as enjoyment, are significantly higher when mulsemedia (as opposed to traditional multimedia) is employed in this context. Moreover, these observations hold true independent of the underlying 360° video encoding quality-thus QoE can be significantly enhanced with a minimal impact on networking resources

The influence of human factors on 360∘ mulsemedia QoE

Quality of Experience (QoE) is indelibly linked to the human side of the multimedia experience. Surprisingly, however, there is a paucity of research which explores the impact that human factors has in determining QoE. Whilst this is true of multimedia, it is even more starkly so as far as mulsemedia - applications that involve media engaging three or more of human senses - is concerned. Hence, in the study reported in this paper, we focus on an exciting subset of mulsemedia applications - 360∘ mulsemedia - particularly important given that the upcoming 5G technology is foreseen to be a key enabler for the proliferation of immersive Virtual Reality (VR) applications. Accordingly, we study the impact that human factors such as gender, age, prior computing experience, and smell sensitivity have on 360∘ mulsemedia QoE. Results showed insight into the potential of 360∘ mulsemedia to inspire and to enrich experiences for Generation Z - a generation empowered by rapidly advancing technology. Patterns of prior media usage and smell sensitivity play also an important role in influencing the QoE evaluation - users who have a preference for dynamic videos enjoy and find realistic the 360∘ mulsemedia experiences

Do I smell coffee? The tale of a 360º Mulsemedia experience

One of the main challenges in current multimedia networking environments is to find solutions to help accommodate the next generation of mobile application classes with stringent Quality of Service (QoS) requirements whilst enabling Quality of Experience (QoE) provisioning for users. One such application class, featured in this paper, is 360º mulsemedia—multiple sensorial media—which enriches 360º video by adding sensory effects that stimulate human senses beyond those of sight and hearing, such as the tactile and olfactory ones. In this paper, we present a conceptual framework for 360º mulsemedia delivery and a 360º mulsemedia-based prototype that enables users to experience 360º mulsemedia content. User evaluations revealed that higher video resolutions do not necessarily lead to the highest QoE levels in our experimental setup. Therefore, bandwidth savings can be leveraged with no detrimental impact on QoE

Automated Climate Monitoring System: the Case of Greenhouse Industries in Ethiopia

Technological interventions can play a significant role to keep optimal growing conditions in greenhouse industries with varying seasons and improve environmental performance by maintaining heating, cooling, and humidity levels. The research reported in this paper aims to integrate an Automated Climate Monitoring System (ACMS) for greenhouse in Ethiopia. Green- houses in Ethiopia require constant monitoring to properly maintain optimal climate conditions to grow plants all year round. To this end, they apply environment monitoring systems like timing devices, ON/OFF controllers and manual (human) monitoring which are prone to error. We propose a flexible ACMS prototype which can be applied without a user having the knowledge of how the system is made. The prototype system uses Advantech PC- cards and maintains the optimal climate condition (temperature, humidity and light intensity) of the greenhouses. Moreover, the easy to use graphical user interface provided by the system enables to combine the hardware and software functionalities for optimal manipulation of the environmental conditions. The system is centralized in that anyone can control several de- vices spread in the environment being monitored from one Computer. The performance of the system is found to be 88.89% which is “accurate and acceptable” result according to our confusion matrix. This indicates that better environmental supervision can be achieved when using the system. Moreover, the mean user acceptance (by the flower growers) of the ACMS and timing devices, ON/OFF implementations is 84.6% and 73.2%, respectively, highlighting the potential for integrating the ACMS into the greenhouse industry

The influence of human factors on 360° mulsemedia QoE

Horizon 2020 project NEWTON (ICT-688503); Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior - Brasil (CAPES) - Finance Codes 88881.187844/2018-01 and 88882.317673/2019-01; Federal Institute of Espírito Santo

Do I Smell Coffee? The Tale of a 360° Mulsemedia Experience

10.13039/501100002322-Coordenação de Aperfeiçoamento de Pessoal de Nível Superior; Federal Institute of Espírito Santo