Project Soli of Google’s ATAP is all about revolutionize the way we interact with out devices be it a smartphone, smartwatch or a refrigerator. It uses miniature radars to provide touchless interaction by sensing your hand gesture in air.
A user performs a complex or simple gestures through his/her arm, body, fingers or a device like a stylus. His gestures interrupt the radar field generated by Soli chip which is then used as an input.
Here a gesture could be swipes, two-finger pinch, spread, rotate, tap, and so forth.
A user, for example, can roll his one finger over another near his smartwatch to scroll through the messages. Also, the radar chip recognizes American Sign Language (ASL) and other sign languages worldwide. It, for example, can recognize an up-and-down fist which means a “Yes”, a flat and angled hand moving up and down which means “Afternoon” easily.
Google recently has filed a patent application that discloses use of continuous wave radar system in Project Soli. This type of radars include single tone, linear frequency modulated (FM), and stepped FM types. The benefit of using these is that they have relatively longer transmit time. Also these radars consume less power.
This is important as Google wants its Project Soli chips to hit market shelves as soon as possible. Having a radar chip that consumes less power is imperative, for that matter.
Providing a little bit more details, the patent application mentions that the radar of the Project Soli can emit radiation in a 1 GHz to 300 GHz range, a 3 GHz to 100 GHz range, and narrower bands, such as 57 GHz to 63 GHz, to provide the radar field.
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Top Image Source: Google ATAP
About The Author:
Nitin Balodi is a research analyst at GreyB Services – a patent research and analytics firm based out at Singapore – that uses its unique combination of machine and human intelligence to derive hidden patent insights.
He is an aviation freak with a callsign of ‘flanker’. He loves writing about technologies that will shape future of the humanity.
