Virtual and augmented reality technologies could soon be finding their way into a lot more business and consumer offerings as vendors continue to advance the technology and make it more attractive. The latest step forward has come from chip-maker Qualcomm, in the form of the Snapdragon® AR2 Gen 1 system ‘on a chip’ which – the company says – will enable the development of sleeker and more capable smart glasses.
► Paves the way for sleeker, slighter AR glasses
► Will enable low-power designs that can be used for extended periods
The Snapdragon AR2 has been built from the ground up for use in premium head-worn glasses that can be used for augmented reality. The aim is to enable production of the thinnest possible, high-performance AR glass. A multi-chip distributed processing architecture has been used, so that the main processor/s take up a 40% smaller area while delivering overall 2.5x better AI performance and consuming 50% less power. AR2-based glasses will consume less than 1W, allowing them to be used and worn comfortably for extended periods.
To better balance the weight and decrease the arm width, three processors – two for AR and one for connectivity – are located on the front and on either arm of the glasses. Anything these chips can’t process can be offloaded to a smartphone, PC or other compatible host device. Wi-Fi 7 technology is used to make the connections ultra-fast. AI-driven eye tracking optimises input from where the user is looking, helping to speed up processing and reduce power consumption.
