Last month, Vavle opened the third-party Lighthouse tracking technology, as long as HTC's authorization, developers can develop Vive compatible peripherals and a variety of hardware. In the past month, Lighthouse captured a large number of fans. Now, this opening has been extended to the chip level, the first to eat crabs is the United States chip company Triad Semiconductor.
Triad Semiconductor announced that it will sell a Vavle-certified Lighthouse sensor chip later this month. Reid Wender, Triad's vice president of marketing, said the chip is Valve-certified to convert the photodiode input signal into useful data for the SteamVR tracking algorithm.
The chip, called the TS3633, integrates the sensors needed for SteamVR and is a small "light-to-digital" integrated circuit. It receives incoming signals from the photodiode (as small sensors are distributed over the HTC Vive) and transforms them into useful data that can be used by the SteamVR tracking algorithm.
This is Valve's idea, and we define the chip's function together with Valve. Valve has a superb team of algorithms that not only envision some fantastic ideas, but also bring them to life. Valve hopes to track a wide range of applications, from VR to robot control can be used.
Reid Wender said.
It is understood that this chip is priced at 0.92 US dollars, if the order reaches 1,000, the unit price is reduced to 0.49 US dollars. Because Lighthouse helmets not only need sensors, but also photodiodes and some other components. That's why Triad manufactures the TS3633-CM1, which integrates the TS3633, photodiodes and resistors, and will be available by the end of this month.
What kind of structure does Lighthouse technology tracked?
1. Multiple light to digital sensors (photodiode + TS3633). Normally, there are 20 to 32 sensors. The small number of sensors can be used in "lightweight" tracking applications.
2. A digital function block for aggregating the envelope signal of each TS3633. The current system uses an FPGA that can support up to 32 sensor inputs.
3. An inertial measurement unit (IMU) whose positioning information can be integrated with the light-to-digital angle information.
4. A microprocessor that takes data from FGPA and inertial measurement units to form a packet. Then sent to the host processor (currently a Windows or Linux computer) via a USB or Proprietary 2.4GHz connection.
5. The main processor runs SteamVR as a "positioning engine", which calculates the position and direction of the chased object.
It can be predicted, with the introduction of third-party sensor program, there will be a big wave of Vavle helmet on the market.
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