Google gets permission from FCC to roll out Project Soli

Google has received permission from the American FCC to roll out Project Soli. Project Soli is technology for radar motion detection. With permission, Google may use its Soli sensors at higher energy levels than previously allowed. The technology can also be used on an airplane. That’s what Silicon Angle reports.

Project Soli uses radar technology to capture movements in a three-dimensional space. The idea is to make it possible to control devices without touching them. This may be of interest to users with movement or speech impairments.

The sensors allow a user, for example, to press an “invisible” button between their thumb and forefinger, or to turn a “virtual” button by pressing a thumb against a finger. The sensors can be installed in smartphones, personal computers, portable devices and vehicles. The sensors also provide haptic feedback, so that users feel a reaction when they use the sensors.

The sensors can also be used to detect objects in a similar way as with image recognition technology. However, the sensors do not “see” objects, but detect them via radar and use this input to determine what the object is. This makes it possible to detect objects in the dark and to determine which material they are made of.

Disturbances

The technology could not be used on a large scale so far, because Facebook had concerns about Project Soli. Facebook was afraid that it might interfere with the communication between existing transmitters and receivers for short distances in laptops and small devices.

The problem was that Google wanted the sensors to work in the 57 to 64 GHz frequency with energy levels that correspond to the European Telecommunications Standards Institute standard. Facebook is working on its own technology that should work on 60 GHz.

The two companies later decided that the sensors would operate at higher energy levels than those allowed today, but lower than those initially proposed by Google. The FCC has now given its consent.