Feature: Displays


Empowering the third dimension


with time-of-flight technologies By Eoin English, Senior Principal Engineer at the Consumer System Applications Team, European Research and Development Centre, Analog Devices, Ireland


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ost of us have used Microsoſt Teams, Zoom and Google Meet for remote meetings. However, a truly immersive,


lifelike 3D experience promises to make those experiences even better. Yet, despite the hype around the


Metaverse and augmented reality (AR)/virtual reality (VR) and even “Holoportation ” – high-quality 3D models of a person, reconstructed and transmitted anywhere in the world in real time – we are still a long way away from the ultimate, extended-reality headset. Transforming 2D interactions into


immersive 3D ones is quite difficult and requires many technologies be fused together. Whilst 3D displays and spatial audio content have existed in isolation for some time, they’ve really only been static, requiring fixed viewing and listening


positions. 3D time-of-flight technology goes to the next level in bridging the physical and digital worlds by transforming such interactions into contextually-aware, immersive experiences, which dynamically adjust to the user and machine context in all environments – human to remote- human, human to machine, or machine to machine.


Smart devices advancements Worldwide shipments of smart home devices like Amazon Alexa and Google Home grew nearly 12% in 2021, state IDC analysts, and the same study predicts double-digit growth to 2026. Consumers now expect everything to be smart and touchless, including lighting, home appliances, televisions, cars and many more systems. As the smart home has evolved over the


past decade, so has the definition of what it means to be smart. Basic smart devices


34 February 2024 www.electronicsworld.co.uk


are typically straightforward: Internet- connected and -controlled or -monitored, like home heating, for example. More advanced smart devices are context-aware: for instance, by being GPS-enabled, they will know when the owner comes within a certain distance to automatically turn on the home heating. Even-smarter devices add a level of


personalisation, by listening to the human voice and understanding speech. For example, a smart speaker can also double up as a house manager, to, say, prepare the home for bedtime by lowering blinds, dimming lights, adjusting temperature and playing soſt music. Looking ahead, the next shiſt in the


smart revolution will add another human sense to our devices – vision. Such devices will examine and analyse the world around us, and make decisions based on gathered information. Here we will see depth sensing, with time-of-flight being the key enabler.


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