Meta Innovates in Data Processing for AR Glasses

Meta innovates in data processing for their Orion AR glasses and provide information on progress toward full AR capability including specialized SoC.

Meta's Orion AR glasses are a development kit that includes the glasses, a compute puck connected wirelessly to the glasses, and an electromyography (EMG) wristband for control. A key system requirement is that the power available in the glasses is about an order of magnitude less than the power used by the silicon in a smartphone. Meta presented a paper at the Hot Chips conference on processor design for augmented reality (AR) glasses, providing more details about the company's progress toward full AR capability in its Orion project. The paper discussed a specialized SoC enabling low-power ‘World Lock Rendering’ (WLR) for AR devices. WLR is the technology that renders augmented objects and blends them into the real-world scene, ensuring they remain positionally locked in place. The talk detailed the specialized silicon implemented in the Orion AR glasses.