Sunday, May 3, 2015
Microsoft holographic compute
Microsoft HoloLens
Windows Holographic is a computing platform by Microsoft, enabling applications in which the presentation of virtual elements (referred to as "holograms" by Microsoft) is incorporated with that of physical real-world elements such that they are perceived to exist together in a shared environment.
Microsoft announced Windows Holographic at its "Windows 10: The Next Chapter" press event on January 21, 2015. It is set to be introduced as part of the general rollout of Windows 10, and showcased in the smart glasses headset Microsoft HoloLens. The Windows 10 launch begins in summer 2015 with release of the PC version, with HoloLens to be released sometime after.
Microsoft HoloLens
Microsoft HoloLens is a smart glasses unit that is a cordless, self-contained Windows 10 computer. It uses advanced sensors, a high-definition 3D optical head-mounted display, and spatial sound to allow for augmented reality applications, with a natural user interface that the user interacts with through gaze, voice, and hand gestures. Codenamed "Project Baraboo," HoloLens had been in development for five years before its announcement in 2015, but was conceived earlier as the original pitch made in late 2007 for what would become the Kinect technology platform.
The HoloLens design is of a visor glasses unit connected to an adjustable padded inner headband. The unit can be tilted up and down, as well as adjusted forward and backward in relation to the headband. To wear the HoloLens, the user uses an adjustment wheel at the back of the headband to secure it around the crown of their head, supporting the weight of the unit. The user then tilts the visor down in front of the eyes.
In the brow of the unit is much of the sensors and related hardware, including depth sensors, photo/video camera, and holographic processing unit. The visor front is progressively tinted from darker at the top portion with the sensor hardware, to clearer at the bottom area. Enclosed in the visor piece is an transparent combiner lens, in which the projected image is displayed in the lower half.
The HoloLens must be calibrated to the interpupillary distance (IPD) of the individual user. Similar to that of many otheroptical head-mounted displays, the display projection for the HoloLens occupies a limited portion of the user's field of view, particularly in comparison to virtual reality head-mounted displays, which typically cover a much greater field of view.Among the sensor types used in HoloLens is an energy-efficient depth camera with a 120°×120° field of view, a microphone array, a photographic video camera, and aninertial measurement unit (IMU). The inertial measurement unit includes an accelerometer, gyroscope, and a magnetometer.
Hololens is quite the device. It can track the physical space around you very well, and unlike VR, there is no requirement for markers in the room or extra cameras to track movement in the room. It is completely self-contained, and that may be one of its biggest wins of all.
The holograms themselves were very good, but they were so limited in scope that I can only hope that some work can be done there before the device goes for sale. There is a tremendous opportunity here and it would be awful for it to be spoiled by poor hardware. Although I didn’t get a chance to see the January demo, I’m told by several people who did that the field of view was a lot better on those units.
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