WHY PROJECT SOLI IS KEEPING GOOGLE PIXEL 4 OUT OF INDIA

BACK IN 2015, GOOGLE FIRST SHOWCASED SOLI — A PROJECT DRIVEN BY GOOGLE’S ADVANCED TECHNOLOGY AND PROJECTS (ATAP) TEAM THAT WOULD USE A RADAR CHIP TO DETECT HAND MOVEMENTS AND GESTURES TO CARRY OUT THE RIGHT COMMANDS

● The Soli radar chip emits electromagnetic waves in a broad beam and when a human hand interacts with this, some of these waves are reflected back to the antenna. The ML-model quickly interprets the properties of the reflected signal to carry out the required command.

● Google Pixel 4 will use a radar-based Soli chip to introduce Motion Sense, a feature that provides similar touchless gesture-based controls. Soli also enables a Face Unlock feature on the Pixel 4.

● Currently, the Motion Sense feature is functional in the US, Canada, Singapore, Taiwan and most European countries for now.

● The Soli radar chip works on the 60 GHz spectrum frequency as it has the least interference for the kind of minute movements Google wants to track.

● However, the 60 GHz spectrum is not commercially usable in India.

● The 60 GHz band is also known as V-band or WiGig band (Wi-Fi at 60

GHz) using IEEE 802.11ad protocol.

● In a consultation paper, TRAI wrote that “most countries have already delicensed the 60 GHz band and this band has a good device ecosystem.”

● The TRAI also recommends that the “….V-band (57-64 GHz) may be explored for allocation to the telecom service providers.”

● With Motion Sense being Pixel 4’s USP, it doesn’t really make sense if the feature doen’t work in the country.

● Moreover, Google would have to get approval to enable the radar-based function in every country where it wants to sell the Pixel 4, according to The Verge.