The Role of Frontier Technologies in the Future of AR

In a piece for the VR/AR Association, Alexander Belugin, CPO of XPANCEO, shares our approach to overcoming the challenges of display technology, power consumption, battery life, and connectivity barriers in current AR devices. He explores how these issues could be mitigated through breakthroughs in engineering and the use of novel materials.

The smart lens as a form factor brings radical improvements in data usage and energy consumption. We firmly believe that the future of AR and XR hinges on surpassing today's industry standards and instead focusing on the latest advancements in engineering and science.

There was a remarkable interview with Display expert Karl Guttag about technical hurdles in developing AR-glasses suitable for the masses.

We'd like to delve further into this topic and examine it from a different perspective. Suppose AR glasses are merely an intermediate product. How might advancements in engineering and science  aid in the miniaturization of AR devices? Such progress could potentially transform these devices into everyday gadgets, serving as indispensable assistants much like today's smartphones

In this article we will examine the several  major technological  barriers of AR glasses and explore possible pathways for solutions.

Display Technology:

One of the main challenges is the development of a compact display that can superimpose digital images onto the real world without reducing the quality of what the user is seeing. Current AR technologies often struggle to find a balance between creating high-resolution images and keeping the device small and lightweight. Another considerable challenge is a limited FOV.

Solution

Many of these issues could be resolved simply by changing the form factor. For AR contact lenses, field of view (FOV) is not a problem. In fact, they can always provide a 100% FOV, as the display is located on the central axis of the eye and follows it wherever we look.

In large headsets, a see-through system based on cameras is implemented, which in itself is bulky, or regular glasses cannot handle bright light, resulting in issues with brightness and contrast. On smart lenses, the image is positioned "in front of" the external light and, with a touch of polarization effect that protects an image from discoloring.

If the screen is placed on a contact lens, a high pixel density is needed only in the very center, in a zone about 2x2 degrees, because our eyes distinguish details only in this area. Traditional headsets attempt to leverage this aspect of our vision by reducing the rendering quality in areas of the screen where the user isn't looking. In the case of a contact lens, there simply won't be any superfluous pixels, which will also decrease power consumption and computational load.

Interestingly, it's possible to eliminate approximately 90% of pixels, given how poorly our eyes distinguish details and shades outside the main field of view.  Hiding  90% of pixels will drive significant improvements in data usage and energy consumption.

Another important aspect is the waveguide. Improvements in waveguide technologies can significantly enhance the display and overall performance of AR devices, playing a critical role in form factor, miniaturization, power efficiency, and battery life. Frontier physics has made it possible to create waveguides from graphene-like 2D and low-dimensional materials. This advancement allows for the construction of a waveguide that is up to 100 times smaller than traditional waveguides (1.7mm) used in current AR devices.

Power Consumption & Battery Life:

AR glasses require a significant amount of power to run, particularly if they include features such as 3D tracking, gesture recognition, or complex visual overlays. Reducing the size of smart glasses will make it even harder to equip it with a suitable battery.

Solution

It is possible to reduce power consumption by a factor of 100 by positioning the screen directly in front of the user's eye. This cuts the pixel brightness requirements several times over, and it's only necessary to maintain pixel density at the center, as mentioned earlier. The entire smart lens consumes less than 0.1 Watt in active mode, while traditional glasses consume between 3 to 10 Watts.

The combination of low power consumption and the need for fast connectivity brings us closer to fulfilling the dream of creating a device that is entirely powered by 5G and 6G networks. Research projects already exist that conceptualize a wireless power grid running on 5G's mm-wave frequencies.

Another extremely prospective solution is equipping an AR device with a tiny solar battery made from a new class of materials – perovskites. Perovskites offer significant potential for solar energy harvesting and outperform silicon in terms of production cost. Moreover, perovskite solar cells can be made flexible, which opens up a multitude of possibilities for their use. This includes incorporation into wearable technology or deployment on uneven surfaces.

Connectivity

Let me begin with latency, as it's a critical aspect of all AR and VR systems. Since the human visual system is extremely sensitive to lag, 5 milliseconds of latency or less is required in optical see-through  systems in order to remain unnoticed by the user.

Achieving 2-5 millisecond lag for a seamless AR experience is extremely challenging. To transmit two images with 4K resolution, a stable and wide communication channel is necessary. Traditional connectivity protocols like Bluetooth, Wi-Fi, and UWB, as well as their appropriate chipsets, are not suitable for further miniaturization of glasses. This is because these protocols were not designed for low lag, small data sizes, and ultra-low power consumption. However, using these protocols can result in lag and other issues that diminish the AR experience. On the other hand, standalone AR glasses require more power and larger processors, which makes miniaturization more challenging.

Solution

To address the challenge of miniaturization, reducing power consumption, and achieving a lag of 2-5 milliseconds required for augmented reality operation, the industry will need to adopt a new protocol.

Another challenge is the size of the antenna, which is quite significant in size. A potential solution is to develop transparent antennas made of atomically thin gold or copper, with sizes around 5-20 nanometers. These materials maintain high conductivity, while the antenna becomes invisible to the human eye. Additionally, the reduced pixel count allows for a 10-fold reduction in data transmission channel bandwidth requirements.

In a nutshell, we observe how the progress of AR devices simultaneously depends on and drives the most advanced engineering and scientific directions. Yes, it will be a long journey, but that makes it all the more interesting. Right before our eyes, a completely new class of devices is emerging, which will change the usual ways we live and work. It's wonderful to witness this development.

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