Sensor Overview and Accessibility

Magic Leap 2 allows developers to access the data from a variety of sensors. A general overview of what’s on each Magic Leap 2 headset is provided in this Learn More document. This guide details the different sensors available on the Magic Leap 2, as well as how you can access them. Some sensors are available through Magic Leap’s SDK, and many can be accessed through the Android Sensor API. Eventually, the sensors will all be standardized for use through the Android Sensor API.

• Camera and Light Sensors - Headset

  • Video Camera (1)
  • Depth Camera (1)
  • World Camera (3)
  • Eye Camera (4)
  • Ambient Light Sensor (1)

• Camera Sensors - Controller

  • World Camera (2) (These cannot be accessed by you.)

• Audio Sensors

  • Microphones (4)

• Other Sensors

  • 3-axis Accelerometer
  • 3-axis Gyroscope
  • 3-axis Magnetometers (2)
  • Altimeters (2)

Sensor Accessibility Chart

This section provides a chart showing you what features are available across APIs. For more specifics please see the following content

Sensor Title	Android	Magic Leap SDK
Video Camera	Yes (Android Camera 2 API)	Yes (Depricated ML Camera API)
Depth Camera	Use Magic Leap SDK	Yes
World Cameras (headset)	Use Magic Leap SDK	Yes
World Cameras (controllers)	No	No
Eye Cameras (headset)	Use Magic Leap SDK	Yes
Ambient Light Sensor (headset)	Yes	Use Android
Headset Pressure Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Compute Pack Pressure Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Compute Pack Gyroscope Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Left Gyroscope Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Right Gyroscope Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Compute Pack Accelerometer Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Left Accelerometer Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Right Accelerometer Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Right Calibrated/Uncalibrated Magnetometer Sensor	Yes	Use Android
Headset Left Calibrated/Uncalibrated Magnetometer Sensor	Yes	Use Android

Camera and Light Sensors

The Magic Leap 2 device has eleven cameras, nine on the headset and two on the controller. There’s also one ambient light sensor.

Headset

• Video Camera (VCam, RGB Camera, or Picture Camera) - 1 camera
• Depth Camera (DCam or PMD) - 1 camera
• World Cameras (WCam) - 3 cameras
• Eye Cameras (ECam) - 4 cameras
• Ambient light sensor - 1 sensor

Controller

• World Cameras (WCam) - 2 cameras

In the center of the Magic Leap 2 device (center of your forehead), there are three cameras: one world camera, the depth camera, and the video camera. To either side, near your temples, there is an additional world camera. The eye cameras are placed with one at the left temple, left side of your nose, right side of your nose, and right temple. These look into the user’s eye to monitor eye tracking. More information is provided about each kind of camera in the following sections.

Video Camera (VCam, RGB Camera, Picture Camera)

There is one video camera on the Magic Leap 2 device. The video camera is a forward-facing video camera that can be used the same way a phone, camera, or camcorder would be. It’s a full color camera you can access through Android APIs as well as Magic Leap 2 APIs. This camera is also used with a feature called “third eye,” which allows recording of not only the real world in front of the user, but a mix of Magic Leap 2 virtual content combined with the world, giving you augmented reality, for use either in streaming or recording. This is done by creating a virtual camera device in the system which shows up as if it were another camera plugged into the system, but is actually a software stream combining the hardware VCam with the rendered scene.

Video Camera Specifications:

• Resolution: 12.59MP (4096 x 3072 px)
• Diag. FOV: 77.6D x 65.4H x 51.2V deg
• Aperture FOV: f/2.0
• Focus: Variable Focus (60cm, 2m), 0.2m - 2m (Adjustable Peak Focus)
• Streaming: 4K@30fps or 1920x1080@60fps

Depth Camera

There is one depth camera on the Magic Leap 2 device. The depth camera is used to determine the distance (depth) of points in a VR or AR scene. This is used in the World Reconstruction process. The depth camera takes an IR picture of the world to get a base-line, and then it flashes a powerful IR light, like the flash on a camera, and takes a picture with that flash. The headset can take this main image, and subtract out the baseline. Learn more about the API in the Native Depth Camera API documentation.

Depth Camera Specifications:

• Resolution: 544(cropped) x 480(interpolated) px, Native 640 x 240 px, Native Implementation 544 x 240 px, Upscaling 544 x 480 px 2x2, Binned Mode 272 x 240 px
• FoV per cam: 92.2D x 75.0H x 70.0V deg
• Short Range Operating Distance: 0.2m to 0.7m
• Long Range Operating Distance: up to 7.5m at 90% reflectivity, up to 4.5m at 18% reflectivity
• Operating Modes: SR (60Hz), LR (5Hz), SR+LR (5Hz), SR(~50+Hz) + LR(1Hz)
• Operating Wavelength: 850nm

World Camera

The Magic Leap 2 device comes with three world cameras. You can read more about Magic Leap’s World Cameras here. The world cameras are forward-facing IR cameras position at the center of the device and at your temples. Together, the overlapping views of these cameras have a broader field of view than your eyes have.

These camaras allow the system to determine the head pose at 30hz. These cameras can also alternate into a short exposure mode, which filters out the world except for sources of IR light, or IR reflectors, which makes it very easy to track objects with IR emitters, such as the controller. Learn more about the API in the Native World Camera API documentation.

World Camera Specifications:

• Resolution: 1016 x 1016 px
• FoV per cam: 113.4D x 100.0H x 100.0V deg
• FoV total across cameras: 170H x 100V deg
• Stereo overlap: 30H x 100V deg
• F#: 2.09
• EFL: vis=1.96mm ir=1.97mm
• Object Distance/DOF: 25cm to inf
• Operating Wavelength: 420-700nm

Eye Camera

The Eye Cameras look at the eyes, two cameras per eye. The cameras track where the user’s eyes are relative to the headset for rendering purposes. You have two cameras per eye, because the cameras must be at off angles to avoid obstructing the user’s world view. They determine where the user’s gaze is fixated (distance), which can be important for rendering, and can be used as an input mode based on where the user is looking. See the Native Eye Camera API for more details.

Eye Camera Specifications:

• Feature: 90 fps, 2 cameras per eye
• Resolution: 400 x 400 px, 2 per eye
• FOV per cam: 90D x 70H x 70V deg
• User detection: not wearing flag 2s after pupil not detected

Ambient Light Sensor

Ambient Light Sensor Your Magic Leap 2 device has one dedicated ambient light sensor. It is a photodetector used to sense the amount of light present within the environment.

• 1 Ambient Light Sensor

Audio and Other Sensors

Accelerometer

The Magic Leap 2 device has four 3-axis accelerometers. They are used to measure the rate of change in movement.

• 1 Headset Left Accelerometer sensor
• 1 Headset Right Accelerometer sensor
• 1 Compute Pack Accelerometer sensor
• 1 Controller Accelerometer sensor

Gyroscope

There are four 3-axis gyroscopes on the Magic Leap 2 device. They are used in rotational tracking on your device to track the rotational movements of pitch, yaw, and roll.

• 1 Headset Left Gyroscope sensor
• 1 Headset Right Gyroscope sensor
• 1 Compute Pack Gyroscope sensor
• 1 Controller Gyroscope sensor

Magnetometer

There are two 3-axis magnetometers on the Magic Leap 2 device. They measure magnetic flux density and determine the direction, strength, and variation in a magnetic field at a set location.

• 1 Headset Left Uncalibrated Magnetometer sensor
• 1 Headset Right Uncalibrated Magnetometer sensor

Microphone

There are four microphones on Magic Leap 2 devices that capture audio of your voice during video recordings, calls, meetings, and when you use Voice Commands. The microphones also collect acoustic sound from the world around you, which can be used to create realistic digital sound effects.