Qualcomm was one of the first companies to see the potential of XR, or mixed reality, which is a combination of AR and VR. It took a chance, and now it’s the biggest supplier of chipsets for headsets from brands like Meta. Qualcomm is now looking at augmented reality, and it just unveiled a platform made just for AR called Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1. Follow hitsbuddy for latest news.
Since augmented reality is meant to add to the world around us instead of taking us away from it, AR devices should be as thin and portable as possible. The first AR chipset promises 2.5 times better AI performance and 50% less power use (1W) thanks to a multi-chip architecture with custom IP blocks. This will make it possible for AR glasses to have high-performance features in a sleek design.
There is an AR processor, an AR co-processor, and a connectivity platform in the multi-chip architecture. So that the AR glass can stay small, the chipset smartly sends the complex processing tasks to smartphones, PCs, or other host devices that are compatible.
Qualcomm Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1
The AR processor can handle the sensory capabilities of nine cameras at the same time. Then there’s the AR co-processor, which uses data from the camera and sensors to track your eyes and authenticate you with your iris. With a dedicated hardware acceleration engine, the processor promises to be better at tracking user motion and figuring out where the user is. Then there’s an AI accelerator for cutting down on latency for hand tracking or 6 DoF. (degrees of freedom).
There is also a Qualcomm FastConnect 7800 connectivity system on the platform. This makes it the first chipset for augmented reality glasses that works with the next-generation Wi-Fi 7 standards and has a latency of less than 2ms between the glasses and the host device.
Qualcomm is also working on building an AR ecosystem by selling not only the chipset but also a set of perception technologies and software tools. Both the Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 and Snapdragon 8 Gen 2 platforms are ready for Snapdragon Spaces. The chipmaker also talked about how closely they worked with Microsoft to improve the features and functions of Snapdragon AR2.
