Re:How Apple Almost Got Microsoft’s Kinect Game Controller
by nitrogen on Friday January 21, 2011 @04:13AM
(#2126909)
Is that 12W continuous, or just 12W when the motors are moving the head? It seems to me that it should be possible to run an audio interface and two cameras on 2.5W (theoretical max USB 2.0 power). A DSP performing acoustic echo cancellation and depth calculation and a bright IR emitter could add another few watts, but I don't think that accounts for 12W.
I've got a Kinect at my desk, and the power supply is rated for 12V at up to 1.08A, or ~13W total. My Kill-a-watt shows it drawing ~3W at idle, ~4.4W running just depth, and 4.6W running depth and RGB. Running depth, RGB, and the motor only gets me up to 5W.
The Kinect power supply lists 100V-230V at 0.3A. Using the minimum voltage, that's a peak draw of 30VA. The power supply has a measured power factor of ~0.44, which if maintained to full load means it could draw .44*30=13.2W. Somehow I doubt the power supply is actually 98% efficient at its normal operating range, so in a laptop where a 12V supply is already available, the additional power draw of a complete depth sensing system could be under 4W.
To sum up, I think you could successfully integrate depth sensing into a laptop that already has a camera and microphone array, especially considering that the sensing field will be much smaller. Please correct my estimation if I've made any errors.
I've got a Kinect at my desk, and the power supply is rated for 12V at up to 1.08A, or ~13W total. My Kill-a-watt shows it drawing ~3W at idle, ~4.4W running just depth, and 4.6W running depth and RGB. Running depth, RGB, and the motor only gets me up to 5W.
The Kinect power supply lists 100V-230V at 0.3A. Using the minimum voltage, that's a peak draw of 30VA. The power supply has a measured power factor of ~0.44, which if maintained to full load means it could draw .44*30=13.2W. Somehow I doubt the power supply is actually 98% efficient at its normal operating range, so in a laptop where a 12V supply is already available, the additional power draw of a complete depth sensing system could be under 4W.
To sum up, I think you could successfully integrate depth sensing into a laptop that already has a camera and microphone array, especially considering that the sensing field will be much smaller. Please correct my estimation if I've made any errors.