Ohrid, North Macedonia, 27-29 June 2019
Modifying a Kinect v2 sensor to be able to connect to a
Windows PC without the use of a Microsoft OEM adapter
Ivaylo Vladimirov1, Desislava Nikolova2 and Zornitsa Terneva3
Abstract – This document gives the steps and procedure for
modifying a Kinect v2 sensor in order to connect to a USB port II. THE PROBLEM
on a Windows Personal Computer without using the official
Microsoft OEM adapter. For this adaptation, the following items The usage of the Kinect sensor has progressed way beyond
have been used: Kinect v2, Power supply adapter, F144 DC conventional methods when it was only used to make
chassis jack, USB 3.0 cable type A-B, single conductor cable and applications and games solely for the Xbox console. The
a soldering iron. The idea behind this alteration is to find an introduction of the Kinect to the PC platform by Microsoft in
alternative form to conjoin Kinect and PC after the not so recent
announcement that Microsoft has discontinued the
2011 and the release of the software development kit (SDK),
manufacturing of Kinect v2 adapters. paved the way for developers to start thinking out of the box
Keywords – Kinect v2 Sensor, Modification, Microsoft OEM to create more interesting, innovative and ground-breaking
adapter, USB 3.0 cable type A-B, Power supply adapter, F144 DC ways to use the sensor [1].
chassis jack. Today, many businesses and education institutions have
taken on the challenge of experimenting and implementing
Kinect driven systems into their business processes, projects
I.INTRODUCTION and work, in order to overcome certain barriers and pave the
way for new developments, innovations and inventions [6].
The Kinect device is a motion-sensing sensor made by The adapter (fig.1) consists of two main components: the
Microsoft as an accessory for the Xbox gaming console, but it USB adapter itself and the power supply. The USB adapter is
also works with PCs. The various cameras and sensors that the a 1.0 by 1.6 by 3.4 inch black block. It has a Kinect port on
Kinect has, enable it to sense movement just as well in the one end and an USB 3.0 type B and power ports on the other.
dark as to when it is well lit. It’s due to the 3 constantly The Kinect plugs into the Kinect port, and the USB port
illuminating infra-red projectors emitting over the observed connects via the included USB 3.0 B-to-A cable to the PC or
scene [1] [2]. Xbox One S. The separate 1.0 by 2.0 by 3.4 inch power supply
The first sensor is an RGB camera that is able to capture full plugs into the power connector with its own attached cable,
HD quality images up to resolutions of 1920 x 1080 p [1]. and the included power cable connects that to any power
The second one is an infrared depth camera that unlike the outlet [7].
color camera sees information in the 3-Dimensional plane, It But in April 2015 Microsoft decided to stop manufacturing
has a resolution of 512 × 424 pixels and can sense high Kinects v2 sensors [8] and respectively in October 2017 - their
fidelity depth information using infrared sensors and recreate a adapters. The Kinect adaptor is already out of stock at almost
3-D view of what the Kinect senses [1]. The Kinect uses this every major retailer, leaving users still hoping to use a Kinect
information to perform body tracking from the depth data that at the mercy of the second-hand market, where the adapter
it captures. It is smart enough to track up to six people with 25 runs for between $150 to $300, making it an incredibly
joints on each person [3]. This information can then be used in expensive proposition for anyone hoping to pick up a Kinect
applications that require human body interactions for example for their Xbox One or ever make use of one currently
in healthcare applications for physical therapy, or in collecting dust in a closet [9].
interactive games [4].
The third and last sensor is a microphone array consisting of
four microphones. If a person wants to interact with the
device, using his voice the array detects the direction of the
sound source and amplifies the sound from one direction while
suppressing the noise coming from other directions. Another
use of these microphones is to find the location of a person
and estimate his/her coordinates [5].
1
Ivaylo Vladimirov is with the Faculty of Telecommunications at
Technical University of Sofia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, Sofia 1000,
Fig.1 Diagram showing how to connect the adapter.
Bulgaria, E-mail: i_vladimirov@mail.bg.
2
Desislava Nikolova is with the Faculty of Telecommunications at
Technical University of Sofia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, Sofia 1000, And so, with Microsoft’s official confirmation on stopping
Bulgaria. E-mail: desislava.v.nikolova@gmail.com the production of Kinect Adaptors, it seems that it’s time to
2
Zornitsa Terneva is with the Faculty of Telecommunications at close the book on the motion gaming era once and for all - at
Technical University of Sofia, 8 Kl. Ohridski Blvd, Sofia 1000, least until someone tries to resurrect the idea [9].
Bulgaria. E-mail: z.terneva@abv.bg
173
Ohrid, North Macedonia, 27-29 June 2019
III. THE SOLUTION IV. CONCLUSION
The decision of Microsoft Corporation resulted in us trying The given solution is not only time effective but it also
to find a way to connect a Kinect device to a PC without an saves money, the prices of the used parts in dollars are: USB
original OEM adapter. After an initial research [10] [11] [12] 3.0 cable - 9$, power supply adapter - 10$, F144 jack - 1$.
we decided to modify the Kinect sensor using a USB 3.0 Type When comparing the total price with the price of an OEM
A-B cable, where the Type A connector is for the attachment adaptor (20$ to about 100$), we can see that the reduction of
to the PC and the Type B is for the Kinect and a DC power the cost is about 80%. The device is tested and no problems
supply adapter 12V/3A with a F138N DC PLUG 2.5x5.5. See have been found.
figure 2 for a general scheme of the modification.
Fig.5 The final result of the modification
ACKNOWLEDGEMENT
Fig.2 Diagram showing our solution.
The authors would like to thank the professors at the
The power supply was needed to be soldered via a soldering Faculty of Telecommunication, TU – Sofia. In particular
iron to two pins on the printed circuit board – the ground Prof. V. Poulkov, K. Tonchev, N. Dandanov and A. Ivanov
(GND) and the +12V pin. Figure 3 presents the theoretical from the Teleinfrastructure Research Lab at TU-Sofia for
approach on the left and the practically realized one on the letting us compare the modified Kinect sensor and the
right. combination of the Kinect and OEM devices.
REFERENCES
[1] Kinect for Windows. Available online:
https://microsoft.com/en-us/kinectforwindows/ default.aspx
[2] E. Lachat, H. Macher, T. Landes, P. Grussenmeyer,“Assessment
and Calibration of a RGB-D Camera (Kinect v2 Sensor)
Fig.3 Connection schemes for the power supply. Towards a Potential Use for Close-Range 3D Modeling”,2015
[3] E. Lachat, H. Macher, M.-A. Mittet, T. Landes, P.
Grussenmeyer, “First experiences with Kinect v2 sensor for
Another adaptation that needs to be made is the addition of close range modelling”. INSA Strasbourg 25-27 Febuary 2015
an F144 DC chassis jack. This jack gives the power supply the [4] PALIYAWAN Pujana, “Intelligent Middleware for Healthy
capability to be easily removed or plugged in and also makes Motion Gaming”, Doctoral Dissertation, September 2018
the Kinect sensor more mobile in case of a need for a repair or [5] Ling Pei1, Liang Chen, Robert Guinness, Jingbin Liu, Heidi
just to be moved. The position of the F144 connector is secure, Kuusniemi, Yuwei Chen, Ruizhi Chen, Stefan Söderholm,
safe and it doesn’t touch the protective screen. Figure 3 shows: “Sound positioning using a small-scale linear microphone
on the left – the F144 jack before installation; in the middle – array”, IPIN Conference, 28-31 October 2013
a view of the connector from the inside-out; on the right – the [6] S. Abolhoseini, A. Sadeqi-Niaraki and O. R. Abbasi, "Overview
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jack after its installation on the Kinect chassis.
[7] Will Greenwald, “Microsoft Kinect Adapter for Windows”,
https://www.pcmag.com, August, 2016
[8] EMIL PROTALINSKI, ”Microsoft stops producing Kinect for
Windows v2 sensor, will focus on Kinect for Xbox One and
Windows apps”, https://venturebeat.com, April, 2015
[9] Chaim Gartenberg, “Microsoft has discontinued the Kinect
Adapter for newer Xbox One consoles”,
https://www.theverge.com, January, 2018
[10] “How to Hack Xbox One Kinect to Work on Windows 10 PC”
Fig.4 The F144 DC chassis jack available online: https://youtube.com/watch?v=l0rWWT24TNE
[11] “Connect Xbox One Kinect to PC Tutorial” available online:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KZunnyw_RKQ
The result of the whole process is presented on figure 4. [12] “DIY Kinect Adapter with Disassembly for Xbox One S, X and
PC” available online: https://youtube.com/watch?v=7lQ93qzggo
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