The Tactile Internet

7Haptic Data: Compression and Transmission Protocols

Wrya MONNET

Department of Computer Science and Engineering, University of Kurdistan Hewlêr, Erbil, Iraq

7.1. Introduction

The architecture and the mathematical model of a remote-controlled robot were presented in Chapter 6. The primary returned signal used to control the remote robot was the force signal. This signal is, in fact, a haptic, and more specifically, a kinesthetic signal, which contains information about the remote environment for a better control command by the human operator. Tactile signals can also be returned to the human operator to improve the perception of the manipulated objects. The haptic signals then enhance the compliance of the remote robot with the environment and things.

The transmission of the haptic signals from the slave side to the master through the communication channel should have an acceptable quality. In this chapter, haptic signal characteristics are presented along with their perception by machines and humans. Understanding the perception by humans helps to find a way to reduce redundancy and compress them for an efficient transmission bandwidth use.

Haptic interface devices, which are force-reflecting interfaces, are the control tool used in telerobotics for a dexterous hand manipulation of the remote environment and objects. The working principles of some commercial haptic interface devices and some haptic sensors and actuators are presented.

Finally, some communication protocols ...