Relay-based Network Architectures for Collaborative Virtual Reality Applications

Currently deployed NAT devices are designed primarily around the client/server paradigm, in which relatively anonymous client machines inside a private network initiate connections to public servers with stable IP addresses and DNS names. Thus, the asymmetric addressing and connectivity regimes established by NAT devices have created unique problems for Peer-to-Peer (P2P) applications and protocols. Multiple NAT-traversal techniques have been developed to overcome these shortcomings, each offering a different set of pros and cons. In the context of a P2P collaborative virtual reality (CVR) system, the difficulty of selecting a convenient and effective NAT-traversal technique increases exponentially because of the added constraints related to CVR. In this view, this article discusses the trade-offs of different NAT-traversal techniques and the CVR challenges that need to be taken into account when choosing a NAT-traversal technique. Finally, it presents a relay-based approach that leverages container migration to mitigate the drawbacks that come with this solution and accentuate its advantages.