“Networked Virtual and Augmented Reality: The New Frontier"

Location: A.V. Williams Building, Rm. 2120

Speaker:
Jacob Chakareski
Assistant Professor, Department of Electrical and Computer Engineering, University of Alabama

Abstract:
Virtual and augmented reality (VR/AR) have the potential to advance our society. Presently limited to offline operation and synthetic content, and targeting gaming and entertainment, they are expected to reach their potential when deployed online and with real remote scene content. This will require novel holistic solutions that will push the frontiers in sensing, compression, networking, and machine learning, to overcome the considerable challenges ahead. My long-term research objective is UAV-IoT-deployed ubiquitous VR/AR immersive communication that can enable virtual human teleportation to any corner of the world. Thereby, we can achieve a broad range of technological and societal advances that will enhance energy conservation, quality of life, and the global economy.

I am investigating fundamental problems at the intersection of signal acquisition and representation, communications and networking, (embedded) sensors and systems, and rigorous machine learning for stochastic control that arise in this context. I envision a future where UAV-IoT-deployed immersive communication systems will help break existing barriers in remote sensing, monitoring, localization and navigation, and scene understanding.

The presentation will outline some of my present and envisioned investigations. Interdisciplinary applications will be highlighted.

Speaker Bio:
Jacob Chakareski is an assistant professor of electrical and computer engineering at the University of Alabama, where he leads the Laboratory for VR/AR Immersive Communication (LION).

His interests span networked virtual and augmented reality systems, UAV-IoT sensing and communication, and rigorous machine learning for stochastic control.

Chakareski received the Adobe Digital Experience Faculty Research Award (2017), a best paper award at the IEEE Int’l Conf. on Communications (ICC) 2017, and the Swiss NSF Career Award Ambizione. He is the organizer of the first NSF visioning workshop on networked VR/AR communications.

Chakareski trained as a Ph.D. student at Rice and Stanford universities, held research appointments with Microsoft, HP Labs, and EPFL, and sits on the advisory board of Frame, Inc. His research is supported by the NSF, AFOSR, Adobe, NVIDIA, and Microsoft. For further info, visit www.jakov.org.