Introduction
The Intel® RealSense™ camera SR300 is the latest front-facing camera in our product lineup. Intel has added a number of new features and significant improvements to the SR300 over the first-generation Intel® RealSense™ camera F200. The SR300 improves the depth range of the camera to 1.5 meters and provides dynamic motion capture with higher-quality depth data, decreased power consumption, and increased middleware quality and robustness. With 1080p full HD video image quality at up to 30 frames per second (FPS), or 720p HD video image quality at up to 60 FPS, the SR300 model provides improved Skype* support. The SR300 supports legacy Intel® RealSense™ camera F200 applications and RGB usage. The Intel® RealSense™ SDK has added a new 3D Cursor mode, improved background segmentation, and 3D object scanning for the SR300 camera. The article A Comparison of Intel® RealSense™ Front-Facing Camera SR300 and F200 shows the differences between the SR300 and F200 models, and motivations to move to SR300.
Figure 1:SR300 camera model.
The dimensions of the SR300 camera are approximately 110 mm x 12.6 mm x 3.8–4.1 mm, and its weight is 9.4 grams. Its size and weight allow it to be clipped onto a mobile platform lid or desktop monitor and provide stable video output. The SR300 will be built into multiple form factors in 2016, including PCs, all-in-ones, notebooks, and 2-in-1s. The SR300 camera can use the Intel RealSense SDK for Windows* or librealsense software. The SDK version that added support for SR300 is 2016 R1 or later.
New Feature and Improvements
New Features- Cursor mode
- Person tracking
- Increased range and lateral speed
- Improved color quality under low-light capture and improved RGB texture for 3D scan
- Improved color and depth stream synchronization
- Decreased power consumption
Visit A Comparison of Intel® RealSense™ Front-Facing Camera SR300 and F200 to learn more about fast VGA and more new features and improvements.
Additional Intel® RealSense™ SDK Features Planned for the SR300 Camera
Future releases of the Intel® RealSense™ SDK will include great new updates and features: Auto-range, High Dynamic Range (HDR) mode, and Confidence Map.
Planned for Second Half of 2016
Auto-Range
Auto-range improves the image quality, especially at close range. It controls laser gain in proximity and exposure in the long range.
High Dynamic Range (HDR) Mode
High Dynamic Range (HDR) is a technique used to add more dynamic range to the image. The dynamic range is the ratio of light to dark in the image. With HDR mode enabled, the images will be reproduced with more detail. HDR mode is useful in low-light or backlit conditions and allows an application with tolerant frame rate variation.
With HDR mode enabled, images reveal more details of regular and highlighted hair:
Figure 2: Reveal more hair details.
Figure 3: Improve highlighted hair.
HDR mode will resolve confusing scenarios such as a black foreground over a black background, providing a significant improvement in background segmentation (BGS). HDR will be available only for BGS and initially may not be used at the same time as any other middleware. More information will be available in a future Intel RealSense SDK at release.
Figure 4: Black hair over a black background.
Confidence Map
The Confidence map feature will provide a confidence value associated with the depth map in the range of 0–15. The low range of 0–4 will provide more depth accuracy while the full range will be helpful for blob segmentation, edge detection, and edge gap-fills.
SR300 Targeted Usages
- Full-hand skeletal tracking and gesture recognition
- Cursor mode
- Head tracking
- 3D segmentation and background removal
- Depth-enhanced augmented reality
- Voice command and control
- 3D scanning: face and small object
- Facial recognition
Camera Applications
Dynamic BSG
The User Segmentation module masks out the background when a user is in front of the camera so you can place the user’s face in a new background. This module is being integrated into video conferencing applications. With the HDR mode enabled, the SR300 model provides high-quality masking and significant improved color quality in low-light conditions.
3D Scanning
The SR300 model provides significantly improved color quality in low-light conditions, resulting in improved RGB texture that can be applied to the mesh to create a more appealing visualization than the F200 model. Either front-facing camera can scan the user’s face or a small object. However, with the SR300, the range for the capture increases to 70 cm at 50 FPS while achieving more details compared to the F200 model. You can use the Intel RealSense SDK to create a 3D scan and then use Sketchfab* to share it on Facebook*. For more information on Sketchfab, visit Implementing Sketchfab Login in your app and Sketchfab Integration. The 3D scan module is being integrated into AAA games in order to capture and use end-user face scans on in-game characters.
Hand Gesture Recognition – Cursor Mode Only Available in SR300
There are three main tracking modes supported by the hand module: cursor mode, extremities and full-hand mode. Cursor mode is a new feature that is only available with the SR300 camera. This mode returns a single point on the hand, allowing accurate and responsive tracking and gestures. Cursor mode is used when faster, lighter weight, more accurate hand tracking combined with a few highly robust gestures are sufficient. Cursor mode includes hand tracking movement and a click gesture. It provides twice the range and speed with no latency and low power consumption compared with full-hand mode.
Figure 1: Cursor Mode.
Dual-Array Microphones
The Intel RealSense camera SR300 has a microphone array consisting of two microphones that provide audio input to the client system. Using the two microphones improves the voice module robustness in noisy environments.
Intel® RealSense™ Camera SR300 Details
| SR300 Camera | |
|---|---|
| Range** | 0.2 meters to 1.2 meters, indoors and indirect sunlight; |
| Depth/IR | 640x480 resolution at 60 FPS |
| Color camera** | Up to 1080p at 30 FPS, 720p at 60 FPS |
| Depth Camera** | Up to 640x480 60 FPS (Fast VGA, VGA), HVGA 110 FPS |
| IR Camera** | Up to 640x480 200 FPS |
| Motherboard interfaces | USB 3.0, 5V, GND |
| Developer Kit Dimensions** | 110 mm x 12.6 mm x 3.8–4.1 mm |
| Weight** | 9.4 grams |
| Required OS | Microsoft Windows* 10 64-bit RTM |
| Language | C++, C#, Visual Basic*, Java*, JavaScript* |
DCM Driver
The Intel® RealSense™ Depth Camera Manager (DCM) 3.x is required for the SR300 camera. As of this writing, the gold DCM version for the SR300 is DCM 3.0.24.59748, and updates will be provided in the Windows 10 Update. Visit the Intel RealSense SDK download page to download the latest DCM. For more information on the DCM, go to Intel RealSense Cameras and DCM Overview.
Firmware Updates
The Intel RealSense camera supports firmware updates provided by the DCM driver. If a firmware update is required, the DCM driver will prompt the user and the user must accept before proceeding.
Hardware Requirements
To support the bandwidth needed by the Intel RealSense camera, a powered USB 3.0 port is required on the client system. The SR300 camera requires Windows 10 and a 6th generation Intel® Core™ processor or later. For details on system requirements and supported operating systems for SR300 and F200, visit the page Buy a Dev Kit.
Summary
This document summarized the new features of the front-facing Intel RealSense camera SR300 as provided by current and future versions of the Intel RealSense SDK. Go here to download the latest Intel RealSense SDK. You can order the new camera at http://click.intel.com/intel-realsense-developer-kit.html
Helpful References
Here is a collection of useful references for the Intel RealSense DCM and SDK, including release notes and instructions for how to download and update the software.
- Intel® Developer Zone:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/realsense/home
https://software.intel.com/en-us/forums/realsense - Intel RealSense SDK:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/intel-realsense-sdk/download - Intel RealSense camera SR300 versus F200:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/a-comparison-of-intel-realsensetm-front-facing-camera-sr300-and-f200 - Intel RealSense camera R200:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/articles/realsense-r200-camera - Intel RealSense Depth Camera Manager:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2015/10/18/intel-realsense-depth-camera-manager-dcm-overview?wapkw=DCM%20overview - Intel RealSense SDK:
https://software.intel.com/en-us/blogs/2016/01/28/new-realsense-v8 - Intel® RealSense™ applications:
https://appshowcase.intel.com/en-us/realsense
About the Author
Nancy Le is a software engineer at Intel Corporation in the Software and Services Group working on Intel® Atom™ processor scale-enabling projects.
**Distances are approximate.