WiGig – Augmented & Virtual Reality Confabulation

February 20, 2019

WiGig Chip Company Peraso Technologies Closes $42M Financing Round

Peraso Technologies, a fabless semiconductor company creating mmWave technology and Wireless Gigabit (WiGig) chipsets, announced that it has raised an additional $42 million in its Series D financing round.

Peraso produces WiGig chip solutions for Fixed Wireless Access, a method of wirelessly delivering data between two or more fixed points, in addition to its work in wireless networking and 4K wireless video distribution. Moreover, much like HTC’s Vive Wireless Adapter, which uses a 60 GHz Intel WiGig chipset, Peraso is also focusing on virtual reality using its ‘W’ series 60Ghz WiGig chip.

The latest funding round was co-led by two unspecified “strategic investors” and existing investor Roadmap Capital, bringing Peraso’s total funding to $79.3 million. Its Series D more than doubled its penultimate Series C at $20 million from April 2016, which included investors Roadmap Capital, iNovia Capital, Integrated Device Technology.

“This latest round of funding reaffirms our investors’ confidence in the progress that the company is making and the future for both Peraso and the quickly expanding market for mmWave technology-based products,” said Bill McLean, president and CEO of Peraso. “Raising this capital allows us to take our sales to the next level, especially as an increasing number of consumer electronic and wireless infrastructure manufacturers choose to incorporate multi-gigabit wireless connectivity into their products.”

Peraso’s chipsets are among the first to achieve the Wi-Fi Alliance’s new ‘WiGig Certified’ designation.

“The multi-gigabit speed of WiGig 60 GHz chips allow us to completely rethink technologies still tethered to wires, such as virtual reality, media streaming, wireless back-up and video monitoring,” the company says on their website.

The post WiGig Chip Company Peraso Technologies Closes $42M Financing Round appeared first on Road to VR.

August 21, 2018

HTC’s new wireless adapter for the Vive arrives in September for $300

Sick of tripping over the HTC Vive’s cord when moving blindly across physical space? HTC’s new wireless adapter is here to help. But it costs $300 and requires you to install an add-in card. That is bad news for laptop owners.

The post HTC’s new wireless adapter for the Vive arrives in September for $300 appeared first on Digital Trends.

January 12, 2018

TPCast Aims to Bring up to 8K Resolution with New 2.0 Wireless VR Solution

Following reveals of TPCast Plus and TPCast for Windows Mixed Reality, the wireless VR specialists TPCast have also announced their “next-generation” technologies, called TPCast 2.0. The company claims their improved system can ‘easily adapt’ to VR headsets as high as 8K resolution, while reducing the latency to 1ms.

Despite HTC’s announcement of an official Vive Wireless Adaptor that supports both Vive and Vive Pro systems, TPCast refuse to have their CES thunder stolen, announcing a “next-generation” wireless VR solution adaptable for “any headset” up to 8K resolution. No launch window or pricing estimates were provided.

According to the press release, TPCast 2.0 employs a “new generation ultra-low latency codec technology and an upgraded TPCast real-time data control protocol.” The new codec is capable of a 50:1 compression ratio, which “significantly reduces the bandwidth required for video data transmission while bounding the latency to 1ms.”

TPCast 2.0 is said to benefit from scalability, “making it easy to adapt to any headset including 3K, 4K, and 8K video resolution,” and has the capability to “preserve the user experience compared to a wired connection.” The statement also claims TPCast’s proprietary technology can deliver a “commercial-grade VR experience.”

“The new TPCast 2.0 announcement is another milestone for TPCast’s innovation,” said TPCast CEO, Michael Liu. “As a leader in the Global Wireless VR space, TPCast is committed to moving the industry forward with its technological advancements. TPCast 2.0 has the highest performance, the broadest scalability, and the most mature product capabilities. (Its) support for a full range of mainstream headsets in various deployment ranges allows TPCast to continue with its vision of unleashing the VR world.”

With the recent announcement of 5G cloud VR rendering technology, combined with the new TPCast 2.0 technologies, the company claims to be the first wireless VR provider to support “short, mid and long range VR demands in multi-user environments,” through the use of WiGig or 802.11ay for short range, Wi-Fi or 802.11ax for mid range, and 5G / 4.5G / FTTH for long distance.

The post TPCast Aims to Bring up to 8K Resolution with New 2.0 Wireless VR Solution appeared first on Road to VR.

January 9, 2018

HTC’s Vive Wireless Adaptor to Support Both Vive and Vive Pro at Launch

During HTC’s pre-CES event where the new flagship Vive Pro headset was revealed, the company also announced an official Wireless Adaptor for Vive. The optional accessory will allow for a tether-free VR experience, and will support both the Vive and Vive Pro systems when it launches in the summer.

As mentioned during our liveblog, the Vive Wireless Adaptor uses Intel’s WiGig technology and is “optimised for low latency.” Much like the third-party solutions we’ve seen from DisplayLink and TPCast, the official adapter operates in the 60GHz band in order to handle the significant data throughput requirements. Unfortunately, no battery estimates or pricing was announced.

According to the press release, the Vive Wireless Adaptor will be “the first to market with a truly wireless VR headset integration for both Vive and Vive Pro.” The technology could be using the DisplayLink XR codec that was demonstrated at Computex last year as a collaboration between HTC and Intel, but that hasn’t been made clear in the latest communication.

It is also unclear whether the TPCast Plus solution also announced at CES will support the Vive Pro.

“Wireless VR has been on nearly every VR user’s wishlist since the technology was unveiled,” said Frank Soqui, General Manager Virtual Reality Group at Intel Corporation. “By collaborating with HTC to commercialize Intel’s WiGig technology, we will guarantee that wireless VR meets the most discerning quality bar for home users and business VR customers.”

We have feet on the ground at this year’s CES, so make sure to check back soon, as we’ll be bringing you a detailed hands-on of the Vive Wireless Adaptor along with all things virtual and augmented to come from the show.

The post HTC’s Vive Wireless Adaptor to Support Both Vive and Vive Pro at Launch appeared first on Road to VR.

December 25, 2017January 1, 2018

2018 Is The Year Virtual Reality Goes Wireless

There was lots of promise earlier this year that we would have a bevy of wireless VR attachments and accessories, but by the looks of it, all we’ve got is TPCast for the HTC Vive and Oculus Rift. Keep in mind that the TPCast solution doesn’t even utilize WiGig which means it’s a wholly proprietary solution and wouldn’t allow for any interoperability between any devices. In the short term, that makes sense because there are so few headsets, receivers, and emitters but in the long term, we need as much cross-platform compatibility as possible. VR is starting to pick up some steam, but the reality is that nobody disagrees that VR would be a lot more successful if it were wireless, too.

Wireless companies like AMD, Intel, Peraso, and Qualcomm have been developing WiGig chips specifically for the use of wireless VR solutions, but none of them have yet to come to market. Initially, the expectation was that many of them would come to market in Q4 of this year, but it seems that many of them got delayed into 2018. That means we could see solutions based on the four companies’ chipsets in wireless VR headsets and wireless adapters relatively soon. By the second half of 2018, we could see most of the VR industry transition to wireless solutions, which is a big deal for the industry because it overcomes one of the big hurdles for VR. I own a Rift, Vive, and PSVR and I absolutely would love to have all of them be wireless, even if it means needing a battery pack.

While no company has given concrete dates on when they will ship their chips in consumer products, yet, I expect that we’ll be getting a lot more details at CES 2018 in January. Offering wireless helps to solve one of the big pain points for VR, and it also utilizes current technology that can be up to the challenge. Raising the resolution of the displays is another pain point that needs resolving for VR, but one of the problems with that is that it makes wireless more difficult with current 60 GHz and WiGig solutions. There simply isn’t enough bandwidth or low enough latency in the 802.11AD standard to make 4K per eye wireless VR possible, even with foveated rendering. That’s why we will have to wait for the successor to WiGig or 802.11AD, which is 802.11AY.

802.11AY will have peak data rates of 20-40 Gbit/s or at least four times the bandwidth of 802.11AD and WiGig using the same 60 GHz spectrum. However, based on current timeframes we probably won’t see 802.11AY until 2019 at the very earliest based on current IEEE standards timeframes. However, draft 1.0 of the standard was set to complete in November of this year, and final approvals are due in 2019. I genuinely believe that 802.11AY will be the future of wireless VR because of its bandwidth capabilities and 802.11AD solutions will probably last us about two years.

My firm, Moor Insights & Strategy, like all research and analyst firms, provides or has provided research, analysis, advising, and/or consulting to many high-tech companies in the industry including AMD, Intel, Peraso and Qualcomm, cited or related to this article. I do not hold any equity positions with any companies cited in this column.

Tagged with: 802.11AD, 802.11AY, amd, Intel, Peraso, qualcomm, WiGig, wireless vr

December 22, 2017

Peraso Set to Demonstrate Cordless VR at CES 2018

There is currently a great deal of interest in getting wireless virtual reality (VR) technology into the mass market. The appeal of cord-free VR experiences is clear, especially for location-based VR centres. One company working on this technology is Peraso, who has today announced it intends to demonstrate wireless VR at CES 2018.

CES, or the Consumer Electronics Show, is one of the biggest tech events of the year, with many companies, both new and established, looking to show off the products that will hopefully soon be in the hands on consumers. Peraso has been working with wireless gigabit, or WiGig chipsets for a range of uses, including VR and videogames. The company is intending to demonstrate a variety of applications for its technology at CES in January next year.

The Following demos are planned to be available at the Peraso booth:

Wireless VR – An immersive videogame experience using a high-bandwidth, low latency connection
Wireless Gaming – A videogame mirrored wirelessly from a laptop to a high-definition TV
Outdoor Fixed Wireless – Point-to-point outdoor access point with 1km range on the 60 Ghz band.
802.11ad vs 802.11ac – A showcase of the advantages of the 60 GHz band over the 5 GHz band
Wireless Hard Drive – Showing the speed of file transfer when used to access and back-up using real-time connectivity
802.11ad Interop – A demonstration of multi-vendor 802.11ad access point interoperability.

“Delivering multi-gigabit performance, near-zero latency and low interference not possible with traditional Wi-Fi to short-range, in-room and outdoor applications like VR/AR, smartphone-to-HDTV streaming, mobile cloud sync, super-fast public hotspots and 5G fixed wireless broadband, the market potential for WiGig and the 60 GHz band has always been clear and very compelling,” said Ron Glibbery, President and CEO at Peraso. “As we continue to be actively engaged with VR, consumer electronics and gaming companies around the world, we anticipate this CES to kickoff a breakthrough year for WiGig-enabled products and services.”

CES attendees will be able to find Peraso at the Tech East section of Westgate Hospitality Suite 1010. VRFocus will continue to bring you the latest news on what to expect from CES 2018.

October 25, 2017

VR Headsets to see Mass Adoption of WiGig for Wireless Solution

Virtual reality (VR) has been steadily growing over the past few years, with the consumer head-mounted displays (HMDs) becoming available and new technologies pushing the boundaries of the experiences coming to the medium. However, one of the major hurdles to mainstream adoption remains the cables high-end devices have connected to either a PC or PlayStation 4 console. This may well change soon thanks to the likes of TPCast and DisplayLink, and a new report suggests that future HMDs will likely adopt WiGig technology for wireless narrowcast.

HTC Vive TPCAST

Wireless connectivity is increasingly important for VR users to have better experience, and ABI Research forecasts that almost 84% of tethered VR HMDs will have wireless connectivity using WiGig in 2022. A wired connection between the HMD and PC’s or consoles can restrict the freedom of movement for users, and while mobile and standalone devices run without the need of a cable connection, processing power is limited compared to tethered VR devices. In addition to TPCast and DisplayLink, chipset developers such as Intel, Qualcomm and Peraso are working together with hardware manufacturers to add wireless connectivity using WiGig in tethered VR devices.

Development of Cloud VR applications are expected to be another driver of wireless connectivity in VR HMDs, with the recent announcement of HTC partnering with Dalian Television and Beijing Cyber Cloud to test cloud VR service highlighting a potential future. Much like Cloudgine’s physics engine technology, rendering is done in cloud servers which allows users to access VR applications from anywhere without the requirement of a high-end PC.

“A high data rate and low latency connectivity are required for Cloud VR applications. WiGig which can provide up to 7 Gbps connectivity will play important role to support high bandwidth applications for indoor use,” stated Khin Sandi Lynn, industry analyst at ABI Research. “High capacity, low latency 5G networks will be essential for deployment of Cloud VR applications for mobile and standalone VR devices.”

ABI Research forecasts that 5G connectivity will be available in VR HMD starting from 2020 and over 2.6 million VR HMDs will support 5G connectivity in 2022. These findings are from ABI Research’s Connectivity in VR report.

Of course, the standalone HMDs in question are Oculus VR’s Santa Cruz, expected to launch late in 2018, and Google & Vive’s forthcoming device currently believed to be known as ‘HTC Vive Focus’. This collaboration was originally stated to be releasing in 2017 at Google I/O back in May of this year, however there has been little information concerning the HMD since. VRFocus will of course keep you updated with any further details on Santa Cruz, the HTC Vive Focus and other wireless VR HMD technologies.

June 20, 2017

Hands-on with Intel’s WiGig Wireless VR Technology

There are many things you could call the holy-grail of virtual reality (VR) technology. A bigger field-of-view (FoV), AAA rated content, 4k/8k+ screens for stunning visuals, or how about inside-out tracking. While all of these are important, what’s likely to interest consumers the most is wireless tech, untethering high-end head-mounted displays (HMDs) from their PC’s. This is becoming a reality with companies such as TPCast already releasing devices – first in China then worldwide – onto the market. It’s not just startups trying to push the boundaries either, Intel and HTC Vive have collaborated on one of their own.

While mobile VR headsets don’t have a wire issue, they do have one of power and quality, unable to produce the same graphical experience’s their PC counterparts can provide. The issue headsets such as HTC Vive and Oculus Rift have is the problem of transmitting the massive amount of data needed to produce a smooth, non-jarring experience wirelessly. It all comes down to latency and HTC Vive and Intel – using the latter’s WiGig technology – along with DisplayLink, have come up with a device that certainly achieves that goal.

Intel HTC Vive WiGig Intel took WiGig to the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017 this week, showcasing the wireless device behind closed doors. In a fairly confined space the company had a HTC Vive setup, running I-Illusions’ Space Pirate Trainer, a choice of title that certainly works in its favour. The videogame is good – offering one of the earliest shooting experiences on the headset – keeping things simple with a 180-degree arc of attack, that does mean however that the need to move isn’t as great as say Raw Data.

If you’ve played Space Pirate Trainer you’ll know that it’s still a fast, frantic title with robotic droids whizzing about and darting all over the place. All of which is handled beautifully. Intel’s WiGig device may only be a prototype but the performance certainly didn’t feel like it. The videogame ran just like it does using a cable, you really would be hard pressed to notice any latency. Gunfire felt quick and snappy, with no real lag to speak of. It was a joy to play with completely unrestricted movement – not that the cable was ever too intrusive but it certainly helps not being there.

Intel HTC Vive WiGig

So the actual wireless aspect was very good, designed to work in normal roomscale sized areas. The only issue really at this stage was the weight and location. Intel has the device attached to the top strap of the headset and because the unit is quite a bulky item, when moving from side to side it would also move somewhat. Not so much that it felt unsecured, just enough that you would notice this lump wobbling about on the top of your head. That really is a minor grievance – it was a prototype after all – as its main purpose, providing wireless freedom for VR headsets, worked perfectly well.

DisplayLink also had a stand at the event with a unit almost identical to the one Intel had. There was one big difference though and that was placement, as its wireless unit was located on the very back of the head strap. This gave the fit a far more solid and robust feel to it when playing some of the demos – DisplayLink had several titles on hand including an archery and boxing title. Why Intel decided to choose a different position wasn’t made clear when asked – although the protruding cables could’ve been one reason – but it certainly meant the demonstration wasn’t as good as DisplayLink’s in terms of comfort.

It’s too early to tell when Intel and HTC Vive’s new wireless device will come to market, with DisplayLink previously stating its reference technology should be available to enterprise later this year. But with more companies developing decent low latency devices, hopefully consumers will see more wireless choices sooner rather than later.

June 16, 2017

E3 2017: Wireless VR With DisplayLink and Intel Is What We’ve Been Waiting For

Companies developing VR headsets are racing toward wireless six degrees of freedom. This means you can move in any way and your experience in VR matches what you would expect. Headset freedom seems to be virtually solved either using external sensors like Rift and Vive, or using inside-out tracking pursued by Google, Microsoft, Intel and Facebook.

These inside-out solutions are a great step forward for ease of use. It is much easier to get in and out of VR because there’s no setup involved, making it quick to move from one room to another. While Microsoft is shipping inside-out headsets that still tether to a PC for high-end rendering, this type of tracking is also a pathway to standalone systems that put everything needed for VR into the headset itself.

There’s a major limitation to these inside-out solutions though — controllers and input. We have yet to use compelling controllers that offer six degrees of freedom for your hands with an inside-out headset. Microsoft is planning a promising solution with a pair of light-up controllers that can be accurately tracked as long as they are in the view of the sensors on the front of the headset. This could be a sweet spot for Microsoft, but we are skeptical inverse kinematics and the sensors inside the controllers themselves can be used to provide experiences as compelling as what’s available with the HTC Vive or Rift with three sensors.

Which brings me to the most impressive and compelling VR experience I’ve ever had.

Here at E3 2017 I tried a pair of wireless VR prototype add-ons that worked with the HTC Vive. My favorite was the DisplayLink prototype wireless add-on which sat at the back of my head. This balanced the weight of the unit in such a way that I didn’t notice it. Also, unlike TPCAST, this position would move it out of the way of headphones. Another wireless unit I tried with Vive in Intel’s booth at E3 (in the video above) positioned it on the top of the head like TPCAST, and its loose fitting meant that even slight movements right or left would swing the unit from one side to the other on top on my head. This was very distracting.

But the DisplayLink prototype disappeared snugly on the back of the head. The moment I realized there was no noticeable lag, and I had the freedom to walk around a large room, I suddenly lost myself in a virtual world in a way I’d never before experienced. It might seem slight, but the wire between a Vive or Rift and the PC rendering a world at 90 frames per second is a huge impediment. When it is gone, you are never going to go back.

“I think once you’ve tried it without a wire, there’s no way you’d ever want to use it with a wire. The wire is like there’s a dog barking in the background. You can kind of tune it out but it’s still there. And when it stops barking you go ‘suddenly I’m here’,” said Graham O’Keeffe, CEO and Chairman of DisplayLink. “I think it is going to 100 percent attach rate. I don’t see why you would even consider having a wired VR system anymore.”

DisplayLink set up Longbow, one of my favorite games, and I found a grin stretching across my face the moment I realized there was no noticeable lag and I could walk around a large space with complete freedom. After a year and a half of fighting with wires every time I wanted to move around a virtual world, I was free from that nagging reminder. No more remembering to step over it, or to turn in a way that doesn’t tangle up my body.

I loosed arrows with complete freedom for the first time in my life and lit them on fire behind me without even looking at the flames. I moved with speed and ease from wall to wall, not worrying whether I was tangled up. I nocked the arrows on my bow and fired them into the incoming stick-men one after another after another. It was the best I’ve ever felt in VR and a joy to experience.

O’Keeffe might be selling some of the silicon chips that make this experience possible, but I have to agree with him. Everyone is going to be going wireless as soon as they can. No specific timeline has been provided, but I’m hoping by CES 2018 we’ll get consumer-facing announcements from a variety of companies providing this tech.

Tagged with: DisplayLink, Intel, WiGig

May 30, 2017

HTC Vive and Intel to Bring WiGig Wireless VR Solution to the Headset

Computex Taipei 2017 has started in Taiwan today, a tech tradeshow focusing on 5 main themes: AI & Robotics, IoT Applications, Innovations & Startups, Business Solutions, and Gaming and virtual reality (VR). Taking the stage, HTC Vive and Intel have announced a partnership to bring Intel’s WiGig wireless VR solution to the HTC Vive.

HTC will manufacture the WiGig wireless VR accessory, based on 802.11ad standard, which works solely in the interference- free 60GHz band. This enables high throughput and low latency in both directions, so video quality has <7ms latency in any environment, whilst supporting multiple users sharing the same space.

HTC Vive mixed image

Few other details have been revealed but Intel will have a proof of concept on display at their booth during the Electronic Entertainment Expo (E3) 2017, in Los Angeles, California next month.

Expect to see far more wireless VR news as the year goes on, with companies making concentrated efforts to untether users from their PC’s. Earlier this month VRFocus reported on VR UniBlock revealing its low latency wireless video transmission technology that works without ever compressing or decompressing data.

Then there was Canadian chipset developer Peraso Technologies, Inc., which is also at Computex 2017, showcasing its wireless gaming solution powered by WiGig (802.11ad and 802.11ay) wi-fi technology. You’ve also got Bulgarian company, Quark, working on a wireless VR solution, DisplayLink and its concept for wireless VR, and lastly TPCast which is probably one of the most well known companies developing a solution, because it’s part of the Vive X global virtual reality (VR) accelerator program.

VRFocus will be bringing you all the latest announcements from Computex 2017, so say here for further updates.