TRINITY COLLEGE will announce today that it has been chosen as the location for a research centre into the Cell Broadband Engine, the powerful computer chip at the heart of the Sony PlayStation 3.

The centre of competence, which will be located at Trinity's Graphics, Vision and Visualisation (GV2) Research Group, is being funded by Sony, Toshiba and IBM (STI) who jointly developed the cell. It also received support from Enterprise Ireland and the IDA. The total amount being invested in the centre has not been revealed.

It will be headed by Dr Steven Collins and Dr Michael Manzke, who will act as co-directors of the centre. Dr Collins was one of the founders of Havok, the creator of software tools for game developers which was acquired by Intel last year for $110 million, which was spun out of GV2. Other commercial spin-outs from GV2 include Haptica and Machine Vision Technologies.

Securing the STI Centre of Competence is a significant coup for Trinity. The only other STI-backed centre outside of Japan is at Georgia Tech in the US and the Dublin university beat off strong challenges from research institutions in Europe to get the investment.

The Cell Broadband Engine is among the most powerful processors in the world as it deploys a unique multi-core architecture. As well as powering the PlayStation 3 it is used in high-end Toshiba notebooks and a new range of blade servers from IBM.

One of the first research projects to be undertaken will look at using video cameras to control video games. The processor will decode images of game players' gestures, thereby eliminating the need for remote controls.

The centre will also have a remit to build a community of programmers and broaden industry support for the Cell Broadband Engine in Europe.