The SDK gives developers access to VR features and Qualcomm says it will allow them to simplify development and attain improved performance and power efficiency with Qualcomm's Snapdragon 820 processor.

The development kit offers digital signal processing (DSP) sensor fusion, which allows devs to use the "full breadth" of technologies built into the Snapdragon 820 chip to create more responsive and immersive experiences.

It also allows developers combine high-frequency inertial data from gyroscopes and accelerometers, and "predictive head position processing." Qualcomm's Symphony System Manager provides easier access to power and performance management for more stable frame.

Another function is “fast motion to photon” which offers single buffer rendering to reduce latency by half. There is also stereoscopic rendering with lens correction for 3D binocular vision with colour correction and barrel distortion for improved visual quality of graphics and video.

There is also VR layering to spruce up overlays in a virtual world to reduce distortion.

David Durnil, senior director of engineering at Qualcomm, said: "We're providing advanced tools and technologies to help developers significantly improve the virtual reality experience for applications like games, 360 degree VR videos and a variety of interactive education and entertainment applications.
"VR represents a new paradigm for how we interact with the world, and we're excited to help mobile VR developers more efficiently deliver compelling and high-quality experiences on upcoming Snapdragon 820 VR-capable Android smartphones and headsets."

 

The Snapdragon VR SDK will be available to developers in the second quarter through the Qualcomm Developer Network.