Wireless VR integration into current systems by MIT

WolRamAlpha12 · November 23, 2016

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The MIT prototype system, called MoVR, is relatively small. It uses existing technology, and works with VR headsets that are currently in the market. It relays super-fast data from your PC to your headset, wirelessly, and it does it with no need for a direct line of sight.

With the recent annoucement of an HTC Vive accessory that would allow it to go wireless, researchers at MIT-CSAIL, have figured out a way to do that for every kind of headset.

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First off, to achieve those wireless speeds MoVR uses millimeter wave (mm wave) technology, a large band of spectrum whose potential has gone largely untapped

There are limitations

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While mm wave can be fast and powerful, its high frequency means it has narrow wavelengths, which in turn makes it susceptible to blockage. Even something as seemingly innocuous as high humidity levels can weaken a mm wave signal—you can imagine what walls do. Not only that, but mm wave has relatively short range. In extreme cases, you’re lucky if it makes it from one room to another.

It's not theoretical. They have tested it out on a HTC Vive.

Next steps for the team and price:

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“Right now our prototype is the size of one or two smartphones. The next stage is to make them not just smaller but also more flat, so you can just stick it on the wall,” says Abari. “We also want to reduce the power consumption as much as possible, so that it can run on a battery much longer.”

There’s also the matter of cost, if this or something like it ever does get to market. Like all emerging technologies, mm wave components don’t come cheap.

https://www.wired.com/2016/11/mit-figured-way-make-vr-go-wireless/

Still a prototype!!