Holoportation™

Frequently asked questions

• Did you really get Holoportation to work in a moving vehicle?

  Yes!  The bandwidth required by Holoportation has been reduced to 30-50 Mbps.  This allows us to use Holoportation in a moving vehicle, as long as we are within WiFi range. We will be moving to cellular data soon!

  Importantly, this technology is to be used by a passenger in the back seat of a moving vehicle, with no interaction with the driver.

• Why did you choose this scenario?

  We chose this scenario for two reasons. First, the automobile is viewed more and more as a technology platform rather than simply a means of transportation.  Second, this is a very challenging scenario. It requires solving many of the engineering hurdles encountered in building a volume consumer product.

• How many cameras does your system require?

  The system only requires two cameras capable of capturing depth information to create a 3D representation of an object. However, the more cameras we have, the better the quality of the 3D model.

• What problems did you have to solve to make it mobile?

  The greatest challenge was bandwidth, which we reduced by 97% using an innovative approach to compression. Other challenges included changing lighting and background, vibration, and reducing the compute footprint to fit in a vehicle.

• How do I view remote participants in the Holoportation system?

  Using a HMD (head mounted display) like the Hololens or HTC Vive, users can see, hear, and interact with their holoported counterparts in real-time.

For questions, please contact us at holoportation@microsoft.com.