Kinect Sensor
The Kinect Sensor is a horizontal bar connected to a small base with a motorized pivot that is designed to be positioned lengthwise below the video display. What gives this device the needed gusto is a “RBG” camera, depth sensor and multi-array microphone running proprietary software. This software provides full-body 3D motion capture, facial recognition, and voice recognition.
The technology does not stop here however. The Kinect sensor's microphone array enables the Kinect for Xbox 360 to conduct acoustic source localization and ambient noise suppression, a for headset-free party chat over Xbox LIVE.
Nothing was left to chance with the interactive experience that you will be having. The Kinect Sensor has depth sensor which consists of an infrared projector combined with a monochrome CMOS sensor, that allows the Kinect sensor to see in 3D under any ambient light conditions.
The range of sensing is adjustable. Using the Kinect's automatically calibration software, the sensor based on gameplay, physical environment, and placement of furniture, it will adjust itself.
The technology itself is based on software developed internally by Microsoft and range camera technology by Israeli developer PrimeSense. This software interprets 3D scene information from a continuously-projected infrared pattern.
Kinect Sensor Technical Information
The Kinect Sensor and software combine to allow for advanced gesture recognition, facial recognition, and voice recognition. This marvel of technology is said to be able to detect up to six people simultaneously, including two active players from motion analysis with a feature extraction of 20 joints per player.
Now for the real technical stuff. According to information supplied to retailers, the Kinect sensor outputs video at a frame rate of 30 Hz, with the RGB video stream at 32-bit color VGA resolution (640×480 pixels), and the monochrome video stream used for depth sensing at 16-bit QVGA resolution (320×240 pixels with 65,536 levels of sensitivity).
The Kinect sensor has a practical ranging limit of 1.2–3.5 metres (3.9–11 ft) distance. The sensor has an angular field of view of 57° horizontally and a 43° vertically, while the motorized pivot is capable of tilting the sensor as much as 27° either up or down. The microphone array features four microphone capsules,and operates with each channel processing 16-bit audio at a sampling rate of 16 kHz.
Because the Kinect sensor's motorized tilt mechanism requires more power than can be supplied via the Xbox 360's USB ports, the Kinect sensor features a special connector combining USB communication with additional power. Redesigned "Xbox 360 S" models include special AUX ports for accommodating the connector, whereas older models require a special power supply cable (included with the sensor) which splits the connection into separate USB and power connections, with the USB connecting to the console and the power being supplied from the mains by way of an AC adapter.
