Qualcomm launches chip for Augmented Reality

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Qualcomm Technologies, Inc., a subsidiary of Qualcomm Incorporated has debuted the Qualcomm Snapdragon XR1 Platform, the world’s first dedicated Extended Reality (XR) platform during a launch event leading up to the Augmented World Expo (AWE).

XR1 is a next-generation platform offering mainstream users high-quality XR experiences while enabling OEMs to develop mainstream devices. The XR1 platform also has special optimizations for Augmented Reality (AR) experiences with Artificial Intelligence (AI) capabilities offering better interactivity, power consumption & thermal efficiency, the company said in a press statement.

“As technology evolves & consumer demand grows, we envision XR devices playing a wider variety of roles in consumers’ and workers’ daily lives,” said Alex Katouzian, Senior Vice President & General Manager, Mobile Business Unit, Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. “By integrating powerful visuals, high-fidelity audio, & rich interactive experiences, XR1 will help create a new era of high-quality, mainstream XR devices for consumers.”

XR1 integrates Qualcomm Technologies’ heterogeneous compute architecture, including the ARM-based multicore Central Processing Unit (CPU), vector processor, Graphics Processing Unit (GPU) & Qualcomm AI Engine. Other key features include an advanced XR software service layer, Machine Learning, the Snapdragon XR Software Development Kit (SDK) & Qualcomm Technologies connectivity & security technologies.

The XR1 platform also provides an AI engine for on-device processing. This engine provides customers the ability to process AI-use cases and run high performing, power efficient machine learning based computer vision algorithms that can help with key AR use cases like better pose prediction, object classification, etc.

The XR1 platform will enable consumers to be immersed in their favorite movies, programs and sports by supporting Ultra high-definition 4K video resolution at up to 60 frames per second for high-quality VR HMDs. The XR1 platform uses Qualcomm Technologies 3D Audio Suite, Qualcomm Aqstic Audio Technologies, and Qualcomm aptX Audio for high-fidelity audio experiences and “always-on, always-listening” voice assistance as well as Bluetooth playback.

With three- and six-degrees of freedom (3DoF, 6DoF) head tracking & controller capabilities for XR devices, XR1 opens a whole new XR playground for mainstream users, letting them not only move freely in the virtual world like never before but also interact & play within it. An integrated sensor hub & optimized sensor fusion abilities allows users to experience rich interactions with motion to photon latencies well below the scientifically required 20ms.

Image Credit: Qualcomm

 

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