Qualcomm has high hopes for Augmented Reality Gaming

Qualcomm is showing a series of augmented reality games for Android-based Smartphones at the Mobile World Congress. The games were developed using the software development kit SDK AR.

Augmented reality refers to the way in which computer-generated content are superimposed on a camera view live in the real world, "increase" the vista with additional information. Augmented reality platform of Qualcomm is detection of images based on vision, using computers to identify the elements of the view that may increase. Other systems may use a telephone receiver GPS, compass and accelerometer to determine where they are and in which direction you are facing in order to add location information.

Qualcomm has demonstrated a basketball game played with a print of a basketball backboard fixed to the wall. The software identifies the backboard in images and draw on a verge virtuale and the ball: the aim of the game is to score. As players move their phones around, you can shoot from different angles. Allowing players to move around in the real world, with adapting to those movements, augmented reality is what adds experience to mobile gaming, Qualcomm business development manager Roy Lawrence Ashok Inigo said.

Qualcomm announced the winners of its 2010 Augmented Reality Developer Challenge at Mobile World Congress. The competition began in July, when the company first publicized its plans for an augmented reality platform and SDK.

Developers have been using the beta version of Qualcomm SDK, released in October of last year. Were about 50 questions, which is good for such a short period of time, said Inigo. This shows that there is an interest among developers for augmented reality, he said.

The winner of the challenge is a game called Paparazzi, where the player becomes a paparazzo. Second place went to inch high Stunt guy, where the player organizes various obstacles to allow a stuntman jump successfully his motorcycle through a circle. Danger Copter won third prize in a game where the player becomes a pilot of helicopter maneuvers a chopper water-blow on a virtual city to extinguish fire and rescue of people.

Besides games, Qualcomm provides the technology used to improve the listings, product packages and education.

The 1.0 version of the SDK should arrive at the beginning of the second quarter, according to Inigo.

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Voice Over LTE inches closer to reality

Mobile network operators and their equipment providers are working hard to make mobile telephony networks to LTE (Long Term Evolution) data-oriented a reality, with the number of demos at Mobile World Congress, a sign that you are getting closer.

The GSM Association (GSMA), a body of industry, is conducting a demonstration with U.S. Verizon operator using a network from Alcatel-Lucent and LG Electronics ' smartphone revolution. Verizon is also involved in a second demo that uses a smartphone from Samsung and a network from Ericsson.

So far, Verizon Wireless was the most vocal on the need of telephony in its LTE network and said it expects to launch commercial voice over LTE services in 2012.

Demonstrating Voice over LTE--that is fully IP-based and uses the Session Initiation Protocol (SIP) to set the call--is pretty boring because it works just like a normal phone call, but the industry is an important step, according to Dan Warren, senior director of technology at the GSMA. The availability of standardized LTE voice will help you take off quickly, he said.

The voice quality in GSMA-LG demo-Alcatel-Lucent has seemed an improvement on current mobile networks, despite the circumstances, less-than-perfect. Smartphone LG HD Voice codecs contained a, which uses more bandwidth than the regular voice codecs for better voice quality. HD Voice is already available in some networks, 3 G, but going all IP-will be making technology easier to implement, said Warren. Low latency, LTE network, compared to 3 G, will also improve the voice quality when calling long distance, Warren said.

In November 2009, a group of 12 mobile operators and manufacturers formed the group with one voice to ensure widespread adoption of a common standard for voice over LTE and avoid fragmentation on technical matters. The project has attracted more members and changed its name to GSMA on LTE initiative where, under the guidance of the GSMA, working on voice over LTE (VoLTE) specification has been progressing steadily.

Most of the work has been finalized. In March, the roaming part of the specification will also be ready, according to Warren. In September, a phone number and network of suppliers will get together under the banner of MultiService Forum interoperability testing to do. A laboratory of Vodafone in Düsseldorf and a Mobile China research lab in Beijing will be used to conduct the tests.

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