AMD Jumps Into The VR Game With “Spatially Aware” Solon Q

AMD has announced today that it will be entering the emerging VR field via a partnership with Sulon Technologies which will develop a “spatially aware” head-mounted display designed to merge augmented and virtual reality.

Named the Sulon Q, AMD describes it as the “first and only all-in-one, tether-free, ‘wear and play’ spatially aware headset for VR and AR.” The above video offers an overview of the device’s capabilities, though it seems that the Solun Q is attempting to achieve a similar effect to Microsoft’s HoloLens..

“When you experience augmented reality the Sulon way, your physical world is not replaced, its enhanced,” a line from its description states. “Everywhere you look your full field of view is the physical world you know, seamlessly augmented with new realities. It s the best of both worlds, literally.”

As with HoloLens, the Sulon Q aims to offer users a “completely untethered experience.”All of the device’s computational requirements are conducted with the headset, allowing you to walk about freely as the physical space surrounding you morphs into what Solun calls a “dynamic augmented environment.”

According to a since-deleted statement on the Sulon Q website, Sulon Technologies CEO Dhan Balachand claimed the device will boast “console-quality graphics” as well as “powerful processing.”

The Solun Q uses an AMD FX-8800P processor, complete with Radeon R7 graphics which take advantage of AMD’s Graphics Core Next architecture.

“The full performance of 4 compute cores and 8 GPU cores are unlocked through a revolutionary Heterogeneous System Architecture (HSA), enabling the cores to share memory to work together for dramatic performance and efficiency,” Balachand commented in the removed statement. “The result is a solution that is optimized for modern workloads and media formats, capable of driving the latest graphics APIs including DirectX 12 and Vulkan, and able to render stunning video game console-quality visuals on a beautiful 2560×1440 OLED display.”

We may learn more about the Solun Q at GDC this week, as Balachand’s comment references the event.