Hardware manufacturer Hillcrest Labs have announced the launch of new high-performance sensor technology which allows for high accuracy at a reasonable consumer price point and is also able to function at low power. The FSM300 sensor technology is being aimed at virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), fitness tracking, industrial monitoring and robotic navigation. The company claims that the high level of tracking accuracy and low latency can help in reducing the motion sickness issues suffered by some VR users.
Some product manufacturers, including ZUtA Labs and Grey Technology Ltd have already begun to use the FSM300 sensor technology to improve product performance. Hillcrest Labs say that the FSM300 module has a small form factor, is pre-calibrated and boasts a latency of 2 milliseconds, an orientation accuracy of 1.0 degrees and sampling rates of up to 1KHz.
“Hillcrest Labs’ FSM300 delivers superior heading accuracy and maintains its calibration much better when compared to other IMUs we have worked with,” said Ophir Chernin, VP R&D, ZUtA Labs. “Using this product also enabled us to complete our product design faster because we did not have a long list of quality issues to address.”
“The ease of integration enabled by the FSM300 and the excellent support provided by Hillcrest Labs were both extremely valuable to our development team,” said Stephen Roberts, R&D Engineer, Grey Technology Limited. “The module’s motion sensing accuracy has consistently exceeded our expectations and has enabled us to focus our product development time on other areas.”
“Advances in motion sensing technology are the bedrock of contextual computing innovation across consumer products, Internet of Things and industrial applications,” said Ryan Martin, Principal Analyst, ABI Research. “We expect motion sensing to be an area where we will see increased focus and attention to enable developers and integrators to remain competitive, particularly in AR/VR, 3D Audio, Robotics, Wearable, and mHealth technologies, which are poised for double-digit growth over the next five years.”
Hillcrest Labs are already accepting orders for the FSM300 via their website. Documentation and evaluation tools are also available.
VRFocus will continue to report on advances in VR and AR technology.
via Mint VR