EE3001 - Project Interactive 3-D Modeling and Simulation Device
EE3001 - Project Interactive 3-D Modeling and Simulation Device
EE3001 - Project Interactive 3-D Modeling and Simulation Device
Sensor device
An approximately nine-inch (23 cm) wide horizontal bar connected to a small circular base with a ball
joint pivot, the Project Natal sensor is designed to be positioned lengthwise above or below the video
display. The device features an "RGB camera, depth sensor, multi-array microphone, and custom
processor running proprietary software", which provides full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition,
and voice recognition capabilities. The Project Natal sensor's microphone array enables the Xbox 360 to
conduct acoustic source localization and ambient noise suppression, allowing for things such as headset-
free party chat over Xbox Live.
The depth sensor consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, and
allows the Project Natal sensor to see in 3D under any lighting conditions. Project Natal is reportedly
based on software technology developed internally by Microsoft (gesture recognition, skeletal mapping,
facial recognition, voice recognition) and hardware technology acquired by time-of-flight camera
developer 3DV Systems. Before agreeing to sell all its assets in March 2009, 3DV had been preparing a
similar device, known as the ZCam."
Interesting stuff.
This means that there is a custom processor doing all the hard work which leaves the core to get on with
the games based stuff. With this in mind it may actually work as well as Microsoft and Lionhead say.
An active-pixel sensor (APS), also commonly written active pixel sensor, is an image sensor consisting of
an integrated circuit containing an array of pixel sensors, each pixel containing a photodetector and an
active amplifier. There are many types of active pixel sensors including the CMOS APS used most
commonly in cell phone cameras, web cameras and in some DSLRs. Such an image sensor is produced by
a CMOS process (and is hence also known as a CMOS sensor), and has emerged as an alternative to
charge-coupled device (CCD) imager sensors.