The MUSCADE project is a large scale integrated project funded by the Europian Union Framework Program 7. The consortium consists of a balanced mix between Academics (HHI, UNIS), Public organisations (EBU), SME's (HLGR, KUK, TRI) and Large Industries (ASTR, DRZ, RAI, SES, THO, TI) located in seven countries of the EU.

EADS Astrium, owned by EADS (the European Aeronautic Defence and Space Company) is a world leader in the design and manufacture of satellite systems. In the field of satellite telecommunication infrastructures, Astrium is well known as a system integrator and a major satellite prime contractor. Astrium has accumulated an experience of more than 25 years covering all domains of satellite systems in all space applications: Earth observation, science, telecommunication and navigation.

Through multiple projects, Astrium has acquired a wide range of skills in the area of networks, encompassing the definition of requirements, the definition of architectures and protocols, performances simulations, up to the integration and installation. Regarding high definition and 3DTV, the MUSCADE study will benefit from the experience acquired through the ESA studies "SVC experiment" and "3D scalable multiview satcom services". This technical expertise comes with strong management skills which have been demonstrated through the coordination of FP6 projects such as TWISTER, NETADDED and TANGO. Astrium will ensure the management of the overall MUSCADE project, including the different interactions with the EC all along the duration of the project.

The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft undertakes applied research of direct utility to private and public enterprise and of wide benefit to society. The Fraunhofer-Gesellschaft maintains 58 Research Institutes, at over 40 different locations throughout Germany. Fraunhofer Institute for Telecommunications - Heinrich-Hertz-Institut (Fraunhofer HHI) is located in Berlin. It is a leading research institute in the fields of Mobile Broadband Communications, Photonic Networks, and Electronic Imaging for Multimedia. The Image Processing Department of this institute has a long experience in signal, image, and video processing. About 50 researchers in about 20 research projects are working in fields related to multimedia with applications ranging from very low bit rate video for mobile services up to high quality coding and processing of Digital Cinema, HDTV, 3DTV and Immersive Tele-Presence. It covers all fields from algorithm development to chip and systems design. Fraunhofer HHI is especially renowned for its leading role in video coding standardisation within ISO/IEC MPEG, ITU-T VCEG, DVB and IETF. A selected list of finalized or ongoing EU FP6/FP7 projects the Image Processing department participates or participated: VISNET/VISNET2 (NoE), 3DTV (NoE), 3D4.YOU (STREP), 2020 3DMEDIA (IP), MOBILE 3DTV (STREP), 3D PHONE (STREP). In addition HHI is leading the German National project (PRIME), which deals with 3D production technologies for film and broadcasting.

Thomson provides technology, services and systems to help its Media & Entertainment clients - content creators, content distributors and users of its technology - realize their business goals and optimize their performance in a rapidly changing technology environment. Building upon recognized technological know-how, the Group positions itself as the world's leading supplier of solutions for the Media & entertainment industry under the Technicolor and THOMSON brand names. Thomson strategy for growth is founded upon a critical change: the new technology paradigm stemming from the transition of film and video images to digital formats. By offering complete services to content creators, from the film studio all the way to the consumer in the movie theatre or at home, Thomson aspires to leadership in a growing, changing marketplace. R&D within Thomson involves 2,400 employees spread over three continents.

I-lab is a part of Faculty of Engineering and Physical Sciences (FEPS) at the University of Surrey (UniS) that is actively involved in EU IST & ICT research and technology development programmes. FEPS have achieved the highest ranking in the UK in the last Research Assessment Exercise (2008). I-Lab is largely involved in research activities covering audio and video processing algorithms, mobile multimedia systems, context-aware and adaptive multimedia transmissions over heterogeneous networks, QoS control, security as well as usability, human factors and multi-modal interfaces. This is a high-tech Media Lab, whose main purpose is to enable research into immersive technologies, multimedia communications and their resulting effects on end-users. I-Lab is equipped with a variety of source capture devices for 3D media, high-power real-time media processing engines and simulation servers, wireless access facilities and appliances, an immersive visualisation facility with 340 speaker Wave Field Synthesis (WFS) audio, and an auto-stereoscopic display.

The Telecom Italia Group is a major Italian enterprise and a key European strategic ICT player. Driven by technological innovation and a commitment to service excellence, Group companies operate in fixed-line and mobile telecommunications, Internet & Media, Information Technologies. Most of the R&D activities of the Group are performed inside the Innovation and R&D Departments of Telecom Italia and involve around 1600 researchers and technicians with an average investment of 600 Meuro per year. Main research areas are: the evolution of mobile communication, from third generation mobile systems to a variety of overlapping wireless networks increasing access flexibility (WiFi, UWB, WiMax, MoFi); the diffusion of broadband bandwidth, studying affective techno-economic solutions to deploy optical fibers; the dissemination of identification and localization systems embedding tagging technologies within telecommunication functionality. In the Sixth Framework Programme Telecom Italia is involved in more than 40 Projects and is coordinator for the following: NOBEL: Next generation Optical network for Broadband in Europe, ENABLE: Enabling efficient and operational mobility in large heterogeneous IP networks and CASCADAS: Componentware for Autonomic, Situation-aware Communications and Dynamically Adaptable Service. In the Seventh Framework Programme Telecom Italia is at present involved in 8 Projects.

Holografika Ltd. is a private company (SME), founded in 1989 by Tibor Balogh. As an R&D company, Holografika has been focusing on real-time holography and other photonic technologies from the early 90s. Holografika, empowered by its strong connection to university research groups, follows a unique research path in 3D display technology, and was the first in realising a "real 3D" Light-field display system. In 2006, the prototype of a large-scale 3D display was presented. Along with the technologies used in the successive 3D display generations the company has started to develop related 3D technologies, like 3D acquisition, 3D compression and possible 3D formats.

SES ASTRA TechCom ("TechCom") is wholly owned by SES ASTRA S.A., one of Europe's largest satellite operators and belongs to the SES Group ("SES"). TechCom was separately incorporated from ASTRA into an independent company in 2005 due to the rapid growth in its business. TechCom is a specialist company that provides independent engineering expertise for the satellite industry on a global scale. Its personnel have many years' experience both with SES and other companies in the industry.

KUK Filmproduktion GmbH, formed in 1992, designs, plans, produces and presents high-quality media productions, special format projects, 3D films, shows and attractions for theme parks, science centres, experiential simulations, company presentations, events and world exhibitions. The KUK film production developed own 3D systems and components for real film recording, post production and presentation of stereoscopic films. The KUK 3D production techniques are suitable both for replay with 3D displays as well as for large format 3D projections. Their practical experience in 3D film making and 3D postproduction, the knowledge of requirements of filmmakers, Film and TV producers in the daily work on location and the knowledge of the actual market situation will be beneficial to the MUSCADE project. Some projects which have provided relevant background experience to MUSCADE are: "A Practical Test Of Bosch Innovations": 3D movie for the automotive engineering division of Robert Bosch GmbH, "The Third Dimension": 3D High Definition film showing visionary applications of the new broadband network of the T-Com, "Operation Highspeed": 3D High Definition film presenting usage of the new T-Com broadband network and 3D technology in the area of telehealth. 24h Race in 3D a large format 3D film for a new theme park at the Nuerburgring Race Track Germany

Trinnov Audio is a highly innovative and research-focused audio lab that specializes in the measurement, analysis and digital correction of room acoustics. Trinnov approach is to focus on the acoustic properties of audio, and to use the latest digital techniques to enhance the quality of audio recording and reproduction. Its extensive research has lead to five international patents.

RAI Radiotelevisione italiana, the Italian Public Service Broadcaster and Italy's largest radio-television broadcasting company, started broadcasting its radio programmes in 1924 and nowadays broadcasts over 32.000 hours of television programmes and 52.000 hours of radio programmes per year. The RAI-Research Centre R&D laboratory in Turin supports the Rai Group in the technological field and in the introduction of new products and services. In the recent past, it has received acknowledgements at an international level for its contributions to the study and standardisation of systems for digital coding of audio and video signals, as well as the definition of broadcasting and transmission DVB standards. Some of the research areas where the Centre is active are the evolution of technological platforms and development of new multimedia services (IPTV, MHP), the innovation in production and archiving systems and in second generation broadcasting systems (DVB-S2, DVB-T2).

The European Broadcasting Union (EBU) is a large professional association of national broadcasters with 75 active Members in 52 countries of Europe, North Africa and the Middle East, and 50 associate Members in 30 countries further afield. The EBU works in close collaboration with sister unions on other continents. Cooperation in the technical sphere is one of the EBU's major activities. The Union is at the forefront of research and development of new broadcast media, and has led or contributed to the development of many new radio and TV systems: radio data system, digital audio broadcasting, digital television (DVB), HDTV. The Technical Department maintains very close liaison with standardisation bodies including ETSI, ITU-T and ITU-R, SMPTE, DVB ISO/IEC MPEG. The EBU Technical Department has been very active EU projects at various professional conventions and it contributed over the years to a substantial number of EU projects (i.e. Savant, DTV4ALL, P2P-NEXT etc).

The Walt Disney Company is world's largest entertainment enterprise, including a diverse mixture of different business units, such as film production, parks and resorts, and consumer products. The Media Networks unit comprises a vast array of broadcast, cable, radio, publishing and Internet businesses. With that Disney is one of the world's largest producers of TV content. Although of US origin, Disney is a global company, creating significant value, revenue and work in Europe through different business units. Disney is primarily an entertainment company and strongly interested in establishing the media industry value chain together with European partners. Disney Research is a group if internal and external research laboratories within The Walt Disney Company that share the common mission of inventing new technologies for the media & entertainment. Disney Research reflects the strong focus on technology and complements other groups within the company that focus on the application of existing technologies to Disney's businesses. Disney Research Zurich (DRZ) is a newly established research laboratory associated with ETH Zurich, one of Europe's leading technical universities. Prof. Markus Gross the head of the Computer Graphics Laboratory of ETH is also director of DRZ. DRZ unifies worldwide leading researchers in the areas of computer graphics, computer vision and video processing. Formally DRZ is part of The Walt Disney Studios (Schweiz) GmbH.