Treon delivers state-of-the-art electronic design services to the world-leading virtual reality start-up, Varjo. So far, the smooth product development co-operation has resulted in three generations of the world’s most advanced Mixed Reality headsets!
Varjo is the world’s hottest company in the industry-grade virtual (VR) and mixed reality (MR) device market. Professionals in several industries such as aerospace, aviation, automotive, industrial design, and more are using Varjo’s devices to carry out their work more efficiently. Varjo’s unique Bionic Display™ technology mimics how the human eye works to solve the most demanding challenges in the virtual reality tech space.
Mixed reality applications offer huge cost savings for companies that traditionally train their staff in expensive simulators or build physical prototypes. With its first prototype, Varjo wished to create a pass-through device, which would help enterprises to perform simulations or design studies with photorealistic virtual replicas. The aim with XR-1, was to solve the ‘hard AR’ problem, which exists on optical see-through devices that always portray virtual elements as hazy and holographic without being able to display shadows or opaque content.
Virtual and mixed reality headsets are extremely demanding products technically. This combined with time pressure and the need for efficiency created a challenge for Varjo.
“We were thinking of who could help us with the prototype of the headset. We had a tight schedule, and Treon was up for taking the challenge. We could tell that they share the same passion that we have for the job. Their efficiency was also important to us”, Juha Pänkälä, Electronic Engineer at Varjo explains.
According to Treon’s Chief Engineer Jari Toivanen, designing a circuit board for such an advanced product is an immense challenge. Everything starts from mutual trust between the partners. Varjo’s and Treon’s similar working cultures and backgrounds have been a significant benefit in enabling the companies to share the workload in a very efficient way during these years of co-operation.
“We were thinking of who could help us with the prototype of the headset. We had a tight schedule, and Treon was up for taking the challenge. We could tell that they share the same passion that we have for the job. Their efficiency was also important to us”, Juha Pänkälä, Electronic Engineer at Varjo explains.
According to Treon’s Chief Engineer Jari Toivanen, designing a circuit board for such an advanced product is an immense challenge. Everything starts from mutual trust between the partners. Varjo’s and Treon’s similar working cultures and backgrounds have been a significant benefit in enabling the companies to share the workload in a very efficient way during these years of co-operation.
So-called fast design, one of Treon’s areas of expertise, is critical when developing products with such complexity as the mixed reality headset. Treon’s primary role in product development has been electronic design for the USB and MCU subsystems, power management, and circuit board layout. Additionally, Treon initially helped by providing mechanic design and broader development perspectives.
Implementation of the multiple display and camera interfaces was really a challenge both from schematics and layout implementation point of view. In addition, the development of USB-C alternate mode systems including power delivery is something new the team at Treon has learnt during the project.
”Working with Varjo has been very pleasant. It’s always a dynamic process when we are working on something new. Changes happen along the way, and everything happens fast. Good communication is the key to our success.”
– Jussi Häkkinen, Electronics Designer, Treon
Implementation of the multiple display and camera interfaces was really a challenge both from schematics and layout implementation point of view. In addition, the development of USB-C alternate mode systems including power delivery is something new the team at Treon has learnt during the project.
”Working with Varjo has been very pleasant. It’s always a dynamic process when we are working on something new. Changes happen along the way, and everything happens fast. Good communication is the key to our success.”
– Jussi Häkkinen, Electronics Designer, Treon
The ongoing collaboration, that started in 2017, has proven to be successful. The XR-1 Developer Edition was the first device on the market capable of delivering an immersive experience so accurate that users truly cannot differentiate between the real and virtual worlds. The device empowers impactful and interactive applications across industries such as architecture, engineering, construction, automotive, research and development, and aerospace and aviation, among others.
Varjo XR-1 Developer Edition also won the 2019 Lumiere Award, which recognizes distinguished international achievements in the creation of immersive storytelling using advanced visual technologies such as VR, AR, and real-time rendering.
The latest feat of the collaboration between Varjo and Treon is the recently launched third generation of the headset, XR-3, which sets a new industry standard for visual fidelity across realities. During these past years, Varjo has grown to be the leading expert of virtual and mixed reality devices. The product development co-operation between Treon and Varjo goes on, particularly in the circuit board and electronic design.
Varjo XR-1 Developer Edition also won the 2019 Lumiere Award, which recognizes distinguished international achievements in the creation of immersive storytelling using advanced visual technologies such as VR, AR, and real-time rendering.
The latest feat of the collaboration between Varjo and Treon is the recently launched third generation of the headset, XR-3, which sets a new industry standard for visual fidelity across realities. During these past years, Varjo has grown to be the leading expert of virtual and mixed reality devices. The product development co-operation between Treon and Varjo goes on, particularly in the circuit board and electronic design.
"What started as a collaboration to build the prototype for XR-1 has now developed to a long partnership that has made already the third generation of the headset, XR-3, possible."
Mika-Petteri Lundgren
Lead Electronics Engineer
