HTC VIVE partnered with The Bavarian State Criminal Police Office (Bayerisches Landeskriminalamt, BLKA) to launch the ‘Holodeck’ VR platform that will ‘revolutionise’ forensic investigations.
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The Holodeck can be used to create a photorealistic reproduction of crime scenes for police officers, legal experts, and others to explore and even interact with these environments without disturbing the real-world environment. It can also be a valuable tool for law enforcement training.
The Taiwanese technology manufacturer, HTC, contributed various technologies to make up the Holodeck, including its VIVE Focus 3 VR headset, VIVE Location-Based Software Suite (LBSS), and VIVE Focus 3 Eye and Face Trackers.
Ralf Breker, Head of the Forensic Media Technology Department, BLKA, outlined the purpose and benefits of the Holodeck: “Due to their conception and the integration of suitable real-time features and tools, the Holodeck and its software are much more than just an application for visualising VR content.
“Rather, the Holodeck represents an innovative, virtual working environment for investigators, experts, and prosecutors.
“The Holodeck is a basis for a virtual criminal platform that offers possibilities for continuous, modular construction.
“This platform is by no means limited to investigation-supporting, forensic use, but could be expanded at any time to other areas of application, for example, police operational training for the Bavarian Police.”
Project Challenges
The BLKA reportedly faced a number of challenges to getting the Holodeck up and running.
It needed to find a way of integrating multiple users into an application, which also allowed them freedom of movement, but hardware limitations hampered the early stages of development.
The complexity of synchronising the coordinate origins of multiple headsets was also a struggle, yet it was crucial to achieve this in order to gain an accurate representation of the real-world environment.
Solution and Features
HTC said that the project’s ‘turning point’ came when it released the VIVE Focus 3, as it met the wireless capability and software support requirements to solve data transmission challenges.
The VR specialists’ LBSS LBE mode enabled coordination across headsets, matching virtual and physical spaces and streamlining avatar integrations.
HTC VIVE’s responsive support provided solutions and continuous progress throughout the technical challenges.
Other features which make up the Holodeck are a 70-square-metre room, divided into two areas: one area for spectators and the other for active users to move around in.
Up to 100 users can take part in the Holodeck at the same time, allowing for the necessary personnel to collaborate together.
The platform uses photogrammetry and motion capture to create the avatars using a full-body scanner comprising seventy cameras.
A further 16 cameras are used to detect user hand foot, back, and head movements.
VIVE Focus 3 Eye and Face Trackers have been implemented to replicate eye movements and facial expressions on avatars.
Breker also spoke about some of the positives of collaborating with HTC: “The support for development has always helped us immediately with our questions, and they try to be as close as possible to their customers.
“VIVE offers a good amount of official documentation of their products regarding Unreal Engine and Unity development.
“The VIVE forum is well visited, and questions and answers of the community are widely spread on the internet.
“And most importantly, the Focus 3 is reliable and resilient and offers a variety of additional tools like the VIVE LBSS’s LBE and VO modes for free-roam multi-user experiences.”
HTC VIVE’s XR technology is also utilised in the education sector, which was demonstrated back in February when it deployed 300 VR headsets in schools in North Dakota.
