LG Display, Sogang University Jointly Develops AI-Based VR

LG Display and a Sogang University team have jointly developed the world's first artificial intelligence (AI)-based content creation technology and measurement equipment.

The Sogang University team was led by Kang Seok-ju, a professor of the Department of Electronics Engineering.

Head mounted displays (HMDs) generally used in virtual reality (VR) offer users a high degree of immersion but can make them feel dizzy and motion sickness due to motion to photon latency and motion blur. Particularly, the higher a display resolution is, the more computing an HMD needs to generate VR content, making the problem worse.

The core of the the newly developed technology is an algorithm that can generate ultra-high resolution images from low-resolution ones in real time. Deep learning technology makes this conversion possible without using external memory devices.

The new technology boosts power efficiency and optimizes the algorithm,  realizing high resolutions on mobile products. It cuts motion to photon latency and motion blurs to one fifth or less the current level by slashing system loads when operating displays for VR.

In addition, LG Display and Sogang University agreed to develop an instrument to measure the motion to photon latency and motion blurs of VR devices by applying a platform loaded with a precision motor that can simulate human neck movements and an optical system based on the human visual system through this industry-academy cooperation.

"This study by LG Display and Sogang University is quite meaningful in that this study developed a semiconductor which accelerates with low power realized through AI without an expensive GPU in a VR device," said professor Kang who has carried out this study since 2015.

Meanwhile, market research firm IDC predicted that the VR market would more than decuple from 10 million units in 2016 to 109 million units in 2021.