Haptic Network Protocols: A Comprehensive Review and Directions for Next-Gen Metaverse Applications

This paper presents a systematic review of haptic network protocols, in the context of the Metaverse. With the increasing integration of haptic technologies into applications like remote collaboration and robotic surgery, the need for reliable, low-latency data transmission has intensified. This work provides a comprehensive analysis of existing haptic protocols and frameworks, focusing on their development, implementation, and the methods employed to optimize Quality of Service (QoS) parameters such as latency, delay, packet loss, jitter, throughput, and bandwidth. By examining the strengths and limitations of these protocols in real-time applications, this paper identifies critical areas for improvement and suggests future directions, including the potential for incorporating machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) to enable next-generation haptic communication suited for high-demand environments like the Metaverse.