MIT wants to make VR headsets wireless by using ‘millimeter waves’

In addition to HTC and TPCast, MIT is now also working on a solution to make VR headsets work wirelessly. The American University Csail team is working on a system called ‘MoVR’, which uses radio waves at frequencies of 24GHz and above.

According to MIT, in its current state, the system can transfer 6.8 gigabits per second of data. That’s enough to provide the HTC Vive with data; this requires a minimum of 6Gbps. According to the men and women at MIT Csail, the latency is also good: the Vive headset refreshes the image every 10 milliseconds and with MoVR this should be ‘much faster’. Although the American researchers have used the Vive in their tests, the University states that this system should work with any headset.

The biggest challenge for the researchers was the vulnerability of a signal with such a high frequency. Although the signals are suitable for transmitting such large amounts of data, the signal is already disrupted if a user turns away from the transmitter station and breaks line of sight. The VR effect is then broken by latency. In fact, even if a user got their hand in the way, the signal would already become too weak.

To counter this, the MIT researchers use a programmable reflector that consists of a receiving antenna and a transmitting antenna. This should be able to transmit the signal to the headset within a few microseconds. One of these reflectors at the opposite angle to the transmitter station should ensure that the signal is never interrupted. The antenna must be able to direct the signal at the user with a deviation of no more than two degrees. Since the ‘beam’ has a width of about ten degrees, this deviation is negligible. The different stations of MoVR can theoretically be the same size as a smartphone.

The researchers are primarily concerned with removing the HDMI cable from the usage scenario, as it can be inconvenient when users are standing and walking in virtual reality. However, the headset also needs a power supply to function, which is now done via a USB cable. The researchers have a simpler answer to this: use a battery. The Vive uses a maximum of 1500mA of current, so a 5200mAh battery can power the headset for 4 to 5 hours.

The full investigation report is publicly available. MIT is not yet talking about putting this technique into practice, nor when it would happen. What will be put into practice is the TransVR addon for the HTC Vive. However, according to the manufacturer, it has a latency of under 15ms, which is slower than MoVR in its current state. This addon should be in the homes of users by March of next year.