Block-based Novel Haptic Data Reduction for Time-delayed Teleoperation

This work proposes a novel haptic data reduction scheme for time-delayed teleoperation by coding information as blocks. State-of-the-art (SOTA) haptic data reduction approaches are mainly sampled-based schemes. They encode haptic signals sample by sample in order to minimize the introduced coding delay. In contrast, our proposed block-based coding approach transmits a sample block as a single unit (haptic packet). Although it introduces additional algorithmic delays that are proportional to the block length, block coding has benefits since the packet rate is easy to control, the coding approach can be lossless, and the intra-block information can be employed to improve the force feedback quality. We further develop an energy adjustment approach that uses the information in a block to mitigate force oscillations caused by the Time Domain Passivity Approach. Simulation experiments and subjective tests demonstrate that our method reduces network load and significantly increases force feedback quality compared with the SOTA sample-based coding schemes, particularly for mid- to high-latency networks and low packet rates.