The IEEE 'Tactile Internet' (TI) Standards working group (WG), designated the numbering IEEE 1918.1, undertakes pioneering work on the development of standards for the TI. This paper describes the WG, its intentions, and its developing baseline standard and the associated reasoning behind that and touches on a further standard already initiated under its scope: IEEE 1918.1.1 on 'Haptic Codecs for the TI.' IEEE 1918.1 and its baseline standard aim to set the framework and act as the foundations for the TI, thereby also serving as a basis for further standards developed on TI within the WG. This paper discusses the aspects of the framework such as its created TI architecture, including the elements, functions, interfaces, and other considerations therein, as well as the novel aspects and differentiating factors compared with, e.g., 5G Ultra-Reliable Low-Latency Communication, where it is noted that the TI will likely operate as an overlay on other networks or combinations of networks. Key foundations of the WG and its baseline standard are also highlighted, including the intended use cases and associated requirements that the standard must serve, and the TI's fundamental definition and assumptions as understood by the WG, among other aspects. ... Read more

Recently, the IEEE P1918.1 standardization activity has been initiated for defining a framework for the Tactile Internet. Within this activity, IEEE P1918.1.1 is a task group for the standardization of Haptic Codecs for the Tactile Internet. Primary goal of the task group is to define/develop codecs for both closed-loop (kinesthetic information exchange) and open-loop (tactile information exchange) communications. In this paper, we propose a reference hardware and software setup for the evaluation of kinesthetic codecs. The setup defines a typical teleoperation scenario in a virtual environment for the realization of closed-loop kinesthetic interactions. For the installation and testing of the setup, we provide detailed guidelines in the paper. The paper also provides sample data traces for both static and dynamic kinesthetic interactions. These data traces may be used for preliminary testing of kinesthetic codecs. The paper also provides links for the download of both the reference setup and the data traces. ... Read more