4. The Teleport VR Protocol

The Teleport VR Protocol is a network protocol for client-server immersive applications. Essentially this means that applications can be used remotely without downloading or installing them. The protocol is open, meaning that anyone can use it, either by writing a client program or by developing a server that uses the protocol.

Teleport is a top-level application-layer protocol. It can use various means of transport, usually based on the UDP protocol - for example, WebRTC, or the open-source libavstream software.

Table 4.1 Network Layers

Teleport VR

Real-time client-server interface of a virtual world.

WebRTC/libavstream/UDP-based transport

Any protocol that supports streams and datagrams

Network, Data Link, Physical Layer

Standard network layers

Simul provides reference implementations of both client and server. The protocol and software should be considered pre-alpha, suitable for testing, evaluation and experimentation.

The protocol operates four main connections between a client and server:

Service Connection

Two-way communication between client and server.

Video Stream

A one-way stream of video from server to client.

Geometry Stream

A one-way stream of geometry data from server to client.

Static data connection

An http/s connection for data files.

In addition, a Discovery connection is used only on connection startup, for new clients to connect to a server. The Service Connection controls the others and is the main line of information between the client and server.