The impact of technology in the world's panorama is at an all-time high. Advanced media applications enabling immersive communication are becoming ubiquitous in our lives, and there is a global trend to adopt virtual solutions to support day-to-day business operations, social events, and general lifestyle. A subset of these innovative media applications includes Virtual Reality, Augmented Reality, and Holography, but they do not come without their share of challenges and requirements. To enable a satisfactory user experience, the requirements for the computing platform and its underlying network can be considered extreme and far from what can be attainable today. Hence, we propose a Cloud for Holography and Cross Reality (CHARITY), which is a complete framework that attempts to overcome the challenges and meet the requirements of such applications. CHARITY leverages an innovative cloud architecture that exploits edge solutions, a computing and network continuum autonomous orchestration, application-driven interfacing, mechanisms for smart, adaptive and efficient resource management, strong community involvement, and overreaching compatibility with all infrastructure vendors. This integrated framework will be put into test in a broad diversity of use cases targeted at advanced media applications, such as holographic events, virtual reality training, and mixed reality entertainment. CHARITY expects to deliver a working prototype, validated by the most demanding applications, capable of being demonstrated at dissemination events and exploited by a large community of users and companies outside the consortium, paving the way to the mass adoption of more advanced media applications in the market.

REALHOLO is a project to develop an advanced micro-mirror-based piston type spatial light modulator SLM for real holographic 3D mixed reality MR display applications, active illumination and sensing. The plan is to create a micro-mirror-array MMA, modulating the phase of visible light with optical features far superior to any liquid crystal-based alternative and to binary micro-mirror SLM. The core technology will be developed in a high bandwidth CMOS backplane design and interfaces, in MEMS mechanics and optics for very small mirrors, in semiconductor micro-mirror fabrication and packaging technologies, in real-time computation and driving of real holographic content, in projection optics. The goal is an application-specific demonstration of the MMA in automotive use in real holographic MR head-up display HUD and active head lamp projection system; enable future applications like real holographic head-mounted displays HMD. To achieve the goals REALHOLO will develop dedicated core hardware concepts and modules for integration in desired phase SLM, based on consortium partners’ selected prior design development, simulation results, practical tests of key technological and optical aspects and use case research. A further development is the corresponding high speed and high bandwidth control hardware and software for generating and driving signals for the new SLM. The developed module solutions will be integrated in a packaged optical system for further integration with validation use case in real holographic 3D image system. With REALHOLO the consortium enables a revolutionary next generation light modulating device for a variety of new and proprietary applications with unique features in natural 3D imaging, highly efficient active illumination, irradiation, sensing, etc. This will strengthen the European research, development and manufacturing in industries and institutions ranging from optical, electronics, automotive to bio/-medical, agricultural and outer space.