Introducing Arm Accuracy Super Resolution

Arm Accuracy Super Resolution (Arm ASR), a cutting-edge open-source solution designed for upscaling on mobile devices. In this article, we’ll delve into our approach and invite you to join us on this exciting journey.

The Power of Graphics in Mobile Games

Great games take players on emotional journeys. Within the game developer toolkit, various elements contribute to this experience: evocative music, imaginative control schemes, and, of course, stunning graphics. Mobile games have come a long way, boasting sophisticated visuals rendered on screens with millions of pixels refreshed at high rates. It’s truly staggering.

However, pushing the envelope with complex lighting, shaders, and ambitious visual effects comes at a cost—taxing GPUs and drawing significant power. Even on high-end PCs, there’s a delicate balance. Enter upscaling techniques.

Arm ASR: Upscaling Excellence

Arm ASR leverages a sophisticated upscaling technique that analyzes multiple video frames to generate higher-resolution images with exceptional detail and accuracy. Let’s explore the key aspects:

Upscaling Workflow: Arm ASR renders certain frame stages at lower resolution and then applies the upscaling technique to achieve higher resolution. While not suitable for every rendering step, it significantly enhances anti-aliasing earlier in the pipeline.
Post-Processing Techniques: We integrate upscaling into the frame, considering techniques like lighting-based and image-based post-processing. These include screenspace reflections, film grain, ambient occlusion, and more.
Spatial vs. Temporal Upscalers: Spatial upscalers work frame-by-frame, while temporal upscalers combine information from multiple frames. Temporal upscalers generally produce higher-quality results but require additional input (e.g., depth and motion vector information).

Moving to Temporal Upscaling

Our decision to focus on temporal upscaling addressed common graphical performance challenges while benefiting mobile game developers. Starting with AMD’s FSR2 upscaler, we derived our solution, ensuring familiarity with the API and configuration options.

As part of our investigation, we tested Arm ASR on a well-known bistro scene, enhancing realism by adding local lights and attenuation. The results were impressive, demonstrating significant GPU performance improvements.

Performance and Power Efficiency

Arm ASR’s success lies in highly efficient shader code, reducing both GPU load and bandwidth requirements. These improvements translate into power savings, extending battery life—an essential benefit for everyday use.

Collaborating with MediaTek, we validated these assertions using a Dimensity 9300 handset. The stable, low-temperature rendering experience ensures optimal user engagement.

Applying Arm ASR: The “Mori” Demo

Our Arm game content team developed an Unreal Engine demo to challenge future mobile GPUs. Naturally, we couldn’t resist applying Arm ASR to this content. The results, including fine details and Robust Contrast-Adaptive Sharpening (RCAS), speak for themselves.

Open-Source Sharing

We’re immensely proud of Arm ASR’s achievements and want to share them with the developer community. Under the MIT open-source license, developers can explore Arm ASR firsthand and experiment with their own projects. If you’re an early adopter, feel free to contact us!