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"Air Bridge" USB WiFi dongle found in Quest 2 PC drivers
Butcher79
Code found in Oculus PC drivers reveals the existence of a "VR Air Bridge", a special USB Wi-Fi adapter for the Quest created by D-Link.
Code related to the unannounced "D-Link DWA-F18 VR Air Bridge" was discovered in Oculus PC drivers by itsKaitlyn03 software engineer. The code suggests that it is likely based on the DWA-X1850, an existing Wi-Fi 6 USB 3.0 adapter.
DownloadVR was able to verify this discovery by decompiling the same driver. The code is only present in the Oculus PC software public test channel, suggesting this is a recent addition. In the process, I also found a new line referring to the "VR Air Bridge Setup" interface.
existing air communication is a Quest feature that allows the device to work as a wireless PC VR headset over a Wi-Fi network. It was shipped as a software update in early 2021, but third-party alternatives like Virtual Desktop and ALVR have been available since the original Quest headset was released in mid-2019.
However, using your home Wi-Fi network instead of a dedicated dongle causes a few problems. The signal may degrade due to distance from the router or obstacles such as solid walls, and frames may be dropped or delivered late if too many other devices congest the network.
In late 2019, before Air Link was even announced, "Consulting CTO" John Carmack pitched the idea of a USB Wi-Fi dongle with custom firmware for wireless VR. The headset will connect directly to it instead of your home network, offering a dedicated connection nearby.
In a conversation with Meta's CTO in April 2021, just after the launch of Air Link, Carmack remarked: "Perhaps in the future we will make an additional Wi-Fi dongle. or have some kind of partnership with different firmware for something that might allow us to improve performance under overload conditions".
Code discovery suggests that Meta is learning just that. Many households have basic ISP-supplied routers that don't fit Air Link, often located in rooms away from their gaming PCs, and Wi-Fi 6 routers have only recently become relatively affordable. If Air Bridge eventually comes along, it could bring wireless VR to PCs to far more people than it is today.
However, we must caution that tech companies often explore product and partnership ideas that never materialize - Meta may decide to abandon this Air Bridge concept or take a different approach.
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