Development kit delivers superior depth sensing

Based on Intel’s RealSense technology, the kit features the SR300 webcam, which integrates an audio subsystem together with the SR300 Intel RealSense front-facing camera.

The camera has a short-range coded-light imaging system to deliver depth information in a variety of imaging applications. It also offers 1080p full-HD video image quality at up to 30 frames per second (FPS), or 720p HD video image quality at up to 60FPS.

The audio subsystem integrates a dual microphone array that provides audio input to the client system to improve the voice module robustness in noisy environments. Use of Intel’s Depth Camera Manager (DCM) software for Windows also enables users to realise all the capabilities of the kit.

Key potential applications include dynamic background segmentation, in which user backgrounds are masked out and replaced with alternative backgrounds for video conferencing, for example.

The SR300’s improved colour quality in low-light conditions also enables 3D scanning applications with an increased range for image capture at only 70cm at 50 FPS.

In addition, hand-gesture recognition can be enabled using three primary tracking modes, which includes ‘cursor mode’, ‘extremities’ and ‘full-hand’ mode.

The kit also supports legacy applications and RGB data based on the Intel RealSense F200 camera.

Compared to the F200, the SR300 provides an increased depth range of 1.5m, dynamic motion capture with higher quality depth data, lower power consumption, and increased middleware quality and robustness.

It also provides improved support for Skype video communications.

The SR300 camera weighs only 9.4g and has dimensions of approximately 110 x 12.6 x 3.8–4.1mm, which allows it to be easily clipped onto a mobile platform lid or desktop monitor, while also providing stable video output.