Vodafone’s HyperRealityHub to pave the way for lightweight extended reality glasses at MWC24

Vodafone today unveiled the HyperRealityHub – a powerful new solution that shifts the paradigm from many of today’s bulkier extended reality (XR) headsets to lightweight, affordable glasses that support shared immersive experiences for businesses and consumers.

The HyperRealityHub will enable a split compute solution with support for external cameras to monitor the movement and location of multiple users. This reduces the computing requirements on XR devices, lowering energy consumption and weight to allow more users to experience lightweight AR devices.

The hub, which is powered by Snapdragon® technology, uses advanced distributed architecture and allows for the computing requirements to be shared between the hub, the glasses and across the cloud. The solution has high edge AI capabilities and has Vodafone apps built on the Snapdragon Spaces™ XR Developer Platform. They are all connected by Vodafone’s fast, secure, and highly responsive networks and Intellectual Property (IP) architecture.

In addition to HyperRealityHub, Vodafone has a vision for the HyperRealityHub+ variant which can connect multiple users, enabling them to interact in a shared immersive experience using both Wi-Fi 7 and 5G. It will enhance the way people interact with technology and each other, at work and play across many areas such as telehealth, wellness and fitness, hospitality, remote-support, creative collaboration, education, and entertainment.

Visitors to Vodafone’s stand at MWC can experience the benefits of HyperRealityHub+ for the first-time using AR glasses powered by Snapdragon AR2 Gen 1 Platform. Wearing the AR glasses, the user will be guided through simple wellness exercises by a virtual agent named VEDA. By offloading tasks from the AR glasses onto the HyperRealityHub, users can still benefit from high-performance remote rendering without compromising their experience.

Visitors are encouraged to have a natural, engaging, AI powered conversation with VEDA who will guide them through a telehealth digital-twin showcase called YuMii. It is also possible to interact with VEDA as a hologram-like projection without the need for glasses. The HyperRealityHub is one of several powerful, yet compact, devices made possible through advances in XR technology that Vodafone is showing at MWC 24. By combining pervasive computing with 5G’s low latency, customers can experience rich and immersive realities at work, home or on the move.

Snapdragon is a product of Qualcomm Technologies, Inc. and/or its subsidiaries. Snapdragon is a trademark or registered trademark of Qualcomm Incorporated.

Vodafone 5G Network in a Box (see separate news story)

Vodafone is also bringing miniaturisation to the network. It is unveiling the latest upgrade to its 5G Network in a Box, which was originally introduced at MWC23, with the aim of it being made commercially available through Lime Microsystems in the first half of 2024.

Built on a credit card sized Raspberry Pi personal computer, the portable 5G network now packs more processing power, and its modular and lightweight design means in can be coupled with a small industrial drone to ‘fly’ reliable coverage to a not-spot in an emergency, whether it is up a mountain or out at sea. Alternatively, it could be used as a mobile private network (programmable with over-the-air updates) or used to extend coverage indoors. All software driven with 10 hours battery life when unplugged.

Network APIs

Vodafone is showing third-party developers, aggregators, and corporate customers a secure and simple way to create their own significant new services through APIs that give them access to the enhanced capabilities of Vodafone’s network. The focal point for these APIs is Vodafone’s Developer Marketplace https://developer.vodafone.com.

Among the new APIs Vodafone is showing include ones that help developers and enterprises tackle online fraud and protect the digital identities of employees and customers. Based on the new industry wide CAMARA standard, these apps will let banking, financial services, and online retail industries tackle identity fraud. Developer teams and partners can create new intelligent layers of customer authentication, verification, and security within mobile networks.

Note to Editors

Creating a more inclusive digital society through tech innovation and leading digital business products and services is the central theme for Vodafone at MWC. Its stand is arranged into four zones – Smarter Networks, Business, Communities, and Innovation.

Among the many highlights include essential progress being made in improving the maturity, security, and energy efficiency of Open RAN, dynamic network slicing, and digital twins – replicas of physical assets, processes, or systems. There are also network sensors designed for predicting and warning people of natural disasters, a pan-European digital skills offering from the Vodafone Foundation, and a robot that sterilises public areas and monitors the air quality.

For more information, please contact:

Media Relations
www.vodafone.com/media/contact
GroupMedia@vodafone.com

Investor Relations
Investors.vodafone.com
ir@vodafone.co.uk

Registered Office: Vodafone House, The Connection, Newbury, Berkshire RG14 2FN, England. Registered in England No. 1833679

About Vodafone

Vodafone is the largest pan-European and African telecoms company. We provide mobile and fixed services to over 300 million customers in 17 countries, partner with mobile networks in 45 more and have one of the world’s largest IoT platforms. In Africa, our financial technology businesses serve more than 76 million customers across eight countries – managing more transactions than any other provider.

Our purpose is to connect for a better future by using technology to improve lives, businesses and help progress inclusive sustainable societies. We are committed to reducing our environmental impact to reach net zero emissions by 2040.

For more information, please visit www.vodafone.com, follow us on X (formerly Twitter) at @VodafoneGroup or connect with us on LinkedIn at www.linkedin.com/company/vodafone.