At the 146th MPEG meeting, MPEG Technical Requirements (WG 2) issued a Call for Proposals (CfP) focusing on AI-based point cloud coding technologies. This initiative stems from ongoing explorations by MPEG into potential use cases, requirements, and the capabilities of AI-driven point cloud encoding, particularly for dynamic point clouds.
With recent significant progress in AI-based point cloud compression technologies, MPEG is keen on studying and adopting AI methodologies. MPEG is specifically looking for learning-based codecs capable of handling a broad spectrum of dynamic point clouds, which are crucial for applications ranging from immersive experiences to autonomous driving and navigation.
As the field evolves rapidly, MPEG expects to receive multiple innovative proposals. These may include a unified codec, capable of addressing multiple types of point clouds, or specialized codecs tailored to meet specific requirements, contingent upon demonstrating clear advantages. MPEG has therefore publicly called for submissions of AI-based point cloud codecs, aimed at deepening the understanding of the various options available and their respective impacts. Submissions that meet the requirements outlined in the call will be invited to provide source code for further analysis, potentially laying the groundwork for a new standard in AI-based point cloud coding. MPEG welcomes all relevant contributions and looks forward to evaluating the responses.
Interested parties are requested to contact the MPEG WG 2 Convenor Igor Curcio (igor.curcio@nokia.com) and MPEG WG 7 Convenor Marius Preda (marius.preda@it-sudparis.eu) to register their participation to the CfP and to submit responses for review at the 148th MPEG meeting in November 2024. Further details are given in the CfP, issued as WG 2 document N 365 and available from https://www.mpeg.org/meetings/mpeg-146/.