Stefan Mileschin

Futuremark and OptoFidelity partner to showcase VR latency testing platform at Mobile World Congress and GDC

HELSINKI, FINLAND – February 22, 2017 – Futuremark, the UL-owned developer of industry standard benchmarking software, and OptoFidelity, a globally recognized pioneer in robot-assisted testing and quality assurance, today revealed a comprehensive VR latency testing platform for manufacturers and other VR industry participants.

The system, which combines Futuremark's expertise in benchmarking software with OptoFidelity's expertise in robotics, measurement technology, automation, and hardware, will be on display at Mobile World Congress from February 27 to March 2 on stand 5C43 in Hall 5 and at GDC from March 1 to March 3 on stand 142.

In virtual reality, low latency is essential for user comfort. Poor performance affects the quality of the VR experience. It can even cause motion sickness and nausea.

The VR latency testing platform developed by Futuremark and OptoFidelity offers end-to-end testing of VR equipment. It measures key VR performance indicators such as motion-to-photon latency, pixel persistence, and frame jitter. The universal design of the platform means it works with PCs and mobile devices and can be applied to both virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) systems.

The platform pairs VRMark, the virtual reality benchmarking suite from Futuremark, with OptoFidelity's VR Multimeter HMD solution. One of the key test cases measures motion-to-photon latency in a 3D rendering scenario. The test exerts full control over the VR pipeline to quantify the impact of CPU and GPU performance for VR applications. The benchmark analyses each frame to reveal the sources of latency, showing time spent in the 3D engine, the VR API, and the GPU. With detailed reporting, you can study late frames and the effects of timewarp. Configurable settings help you evaluate latency under different CPU and GPU load conditions.


The test platform uses OptoFidelity's VR Multimeter HMD solution. It is an end-to-end, non-intrusive solution that measures the true performance of VR headsets and hardware. With the OptoFidelity VR Multimeter HMD, you can objectively analyze key indicators of VR performance such as motion-to-photon latency, display persistence, and frame jitter. You can even measure audio to video synchronization and motion-to-audio-latency.


The solution offers two hardware designs, one for full HMD testing, and another for mobile device VR testing. With additional modules, the platform can also test AR solutions. The platform hardware features high-accuracy mechanics that allow precise motion control and a high level of repeatability in testing. Test sequences can be fully automated for continuous integration testing.

Why VR latency matters
A key strength of the test platform is the ability to make true end-to-end performance measurements of the motion-to-photon latency of VR equipment. Motion-to-photon latency is the time needed for movement of a VR headset to be fully perceived on the headset's display.

Low motion-to-photon latency (< 20ms) is necessary to create the feeling of presence, the feeling that you are actually in the virtual world. High motion-to-photon latency results in a poor virtual reality experience. When the screen lags behind the user's movement, it can result in disorientation, motion sickness, and nausea.

To provide the best VR experience for the user, every component in the motion-to-photon pipeline needs to be optimized. That's why measuring motion-to-photon latency is superior to testing application-to-photon latency, which misses the important effects of delays caused by the tracker/gyroscope and issues in communication between the tracker/gyroscope and the VR application.

Comprehensive measurements and reporting

The solution enables end-to-end measurements of key VR performance indicators.
Motion-to-photon latency
Pixel persistence
Frame Jerkiness and jitter
Dropped and duplicated frames
Left versus right eye frame delay
Audio/Video synchronization
Motion-to-Audio Latency
Frame time breakdown identifying key pipeline events
Study late frames and the effects of timewarp
Evaluate latency under different load conditions
Combining Futuremark's benchmarking knowledge with OptoFidelity's hardware knowhow, the VR latency testing platform is the perfect tool for R&D design verification and certification, test laboratory use, and competitor analysis. It produces reliable and repeatable results quickly and with minimal setup time. You can transfer all measurement data into your own test software and design database for complete analysis, or save and download results to your computer. Testing is easily automated with an API option, which enables the platform to be used as part of a continuous integration process.

Jani Joki, Director of Engineering at Futuremark, said,

"By combining our strengths, Futuremark and OptoFidelity have created a VR latency testing platform that is a superior solution for a challenging problem. I invite press and VR industry members alike to visit our stands at MWC and GDC to see it in action."

Kimmo Jokinen, Chief Technology Officer at OptoFidelity said,

"The partnership between OptoFidelity and Futuremark shows how a shared belief in innovation and collaboration is helping to establish Finland as a world leader in virtual reality. We're pioneering new ways to help VR manufacturers meet and exceed user expectations and I couldn't be more proud to showcase the results of our cooperation at MWC and GDC."

See it at Mobile World Congress and GDC
Companies and organizations interested in VR latency testing are invited to see the solution in action at Mobile World Congress on stand 5C43 in Hall 5 from February 27 to March 2 and at GDC on stand 142 from March 1-3. Those unable to attend either show are welcome to contact Futuremark and OptoFidelity directly.

About Futuremark, a UL company
Futuremark creates the world's most popular benchmarks and performance tests. Futuremark's industry standard 3DMark®, PCMark®, and VRMark® benchmark tests have helped millions of people measure, compare and improve the performance of their hardware and devices. http://www.futuremark.com Building on 17 years of home-grown success, Futuremark became part of UL in 2014. UL is a global safety science organization with more than a century of expertise and innovation in the fields of product safety testing, inspection and verification services. http://www.UL.com

About OptoFidelity
OptoFidelity is a globally recognized pioneer in robot-assisted testing and quality assurance. Our customers are leading manufacturers of smartphones, tablets, laptops, automotive infotainment and industrial smart machinery. At OptoFidelity we thrive for the ultimate user experience by simulating and testing user interactions for smart devices. We unify our customer's testing process and speed up time-to-market. Eight out of ten largest mobile phone companies rely on our engineering competence and innovative thinking. http://www.optofidelity.com