CHAPTER FIVE

Augmented reality (AR)

For freshman students

 Objective
After completing this chapter, the students will be able to:

 Explain augmented reality

 Explain the features of augmented reality
 Explain the difference between AR, VR, and MR
 Explain the architecture of augmented reality systems
 Describe the application areas of augmented reality
 Overview of Augmented Reality
 The fundamental idea of AR is to combine, or mix, the view of the real environment with
additional, virtual content that is presented through computer graphics.
 Its convincing effect is achieved by ensuring that the virtual content is aligned and registered with
the real objects. As a person moves in an environment and their perspective view of real objects
changes, the virtual content should also be presented from the same perspective.
 Augmented reality (AR) is a form of emerging technology that allows users to overlay computer-
generated content in the real world. AR refers to a live view of a physical real-world environment
whose elements are merged with augmented computer-generated images creating a mixed reality.
 The augmentation is typically done in real-time and in semantic context with
environmental elements. By using the latest AR techniques and technologies, the
information about the surrounding real world becomes interactive and digitally
usable. Through this augmented vision, a user can digitally interact with and adjust
information about their surrounding environment.

 Augmented Reality (AR) as a real-time direct or indirect view of a physical real-world

environment that has been enhanced/augmented by adding virtual computer-
generated information to it.
 Virtual reality (VR), Augmented
Reality (AR) vs Mixed reality (MR)
 With constant development in computer vision and the exponential advancement of computer
processing power, virtual reality (VR), augmented reality (AR), and mixed reality (MR) technology is
becoming more and more prominent.

Virtual Reality (VR)

VR is fully immersive, which tricks your senses into thinking you’re in a different environment or world
apart from the real world.

Using a head-mounted display (HMD) or headset, you’ll experience a computer-generated world of imagery
and sounds in which you can manipulate objects and move around using haptic controllers while tethered to
a console or PC.

It is also called a computer-simulated reality.

 It refers to computer technologies using reality headsets to generate realistic sounds,

images and other sensations that replicate a real environment or create an imaginary

world.

 Advanced VR environment will engage all five senses (taste, sight, smell, touch,

sound), but it is important to say that this is not always possible

 Using VR devices such as HTC Vive, Oculus Rift or Google Cardboard, users can be

transported into a number of real-world and imagined environments.

 The most advanced VR experiences even provide freedom of movement – users can
 Most VR headsets are connected to a computer (Oculus Rift) or a
gaming console (PlayStation VR) but there are standalone
devices (Google Cardboard is among the most popular) as well.
Most standalone VR headsets work in combination with
smartphones – you insert a smartphone, wear a headset, and
immerse in the virtual reality
 Augmented reality (AR)
 There’s a different way to experience augmented reality, though – with special AR
headsets, such as Google Glass, where digital content is displayed on a tiny screen in
front of a user’s eye.
 AR adds digital elements to a live view often by using the camera on a smartphone.
Examples of augmented reality experiences include Snapchat lenses and the game
Pokemon Go. Augmented Reality (AR) is a live, direct or indirect view of a physical,
real-world environment whose elements are augmented (or supplemented) by computer-
generated sensory input such as sound, video, graphics or GPS data
 Mixed Reality (MR)
 Mixed Reality (MR), sometimes referred to as hybrid reality, is the merging of real and virtual
worlds to produce new environments and visualizations where physical and digital objects co-exist
and interact in real-time.
 It means placing new imagery within a real space in such a way that the new imagery is able to
interact, to an extent, with what is real in the physical world we know.
 For example, with MR, you can play a virtual video game, grab your real-world water bottle, and
smack an imaginary character from the game with the bottle. Imagination and reality have never
been so intermingled.
 The key characteristic of MR is that the synthetic content and the real-world content are able to
react to each other in real-time.
 In mixed reality, you interact with and manipulate both physical and virtual items and
environments, using next-generation sensing and imaging technologies.

 MR allows you to see and immerse yourself in the world around you even as you interact
with a virtual environment using your own hands—all without ever removing your headset.
 It provides the ability to have one foot (or hand) in the real world, and the other in an
imaginary place, breaking down basic concepts between real and imaginary, offering
an experience that can change the way you game and work today.

 One of the most obvious differences among augmented reality, virtual reality, and
mixed reality is the hardware requirements and also VR is content which is 100%
digital and can be enjoyed in a fully immersive environment, AR overlays digital
content on top of the real-world. and MR is a digital overlay that allows interactive
virtual elements to integrate and interact with the real-world environment. Numerous
augmented reality apps and games can run on almost every smartphone on the
market.
 On the other hand, virtual reality programs require specialized VR headsets, noise-
canceling headphones, cameras to track room space and boundaries, and sometimes
even motion capture technology. Some of the biggest names in VR tech today are
the Oculus Rift, HTC Vive, and PlayStation VR. For the enjoyment of simple VR
videos, there are affordable makeshift VR headsets like the Google Cardboard,
which work by running a video in 360 modes on your smartphone and inserting the
phone into the headset.
 Mixed reality hardware is still emerging and hasn’t quite broken into the
mainstream consumer market, most likely due to the price. The consumer releases
of the Microsoft HoloLens and Magic Leap One retail for over $2000 USD, which
is 3 to 4 times the cost of the PlayStation VR and HTC Vive VR headsets. However,
mixed reality applications sometimes require exponentially more processing power
and thus require more powerful hardware.
The architecture of AR Systems
 The first Augmented Reality Systems (ARS) were usually designed with a basis on three main
blocks

1) Infrastructure Tracker Unit,

2) Processing Unit, and

3) Visual Unit.
 The Infrastructure Tracker Unit was responsible for collecting data from the real world,
sending them to the Processing Unit, which mixed the virtual content with the real content
and sent the result to the Video Out module of the Visual Unit. Some designs used a Video In,
to acquire required data for the Infrastructure Tracker Unit.
 The Visual Unit can be classified into two types of system, depending on the followed
visualization technology:

1. Video see-through: It uses a Head-Mounted Display (HMD) that employs a video-

mixing and displays the merged images on a closed-view HMD.
2. Optical see-through: It uses an HMD that employs optical combiners to merge the
images within an open-view HMD.
HDMS have a lot of problems
 Ergonomics
 High prices
 Relatively low mobility
 HMDs interaction with the real environment, which places virtual
interactive zones to the user, making the collision with these zones hard
due to the difficulty to interact with multiple points in different depths.
 Alternative approaches to solve HMD is the use of
monitors and tablets. Monitors are used as an option for the
indirect view since the user does not look directly into the
mixed world. Tablets are used indirect view since the user
points the camera to the scene and looks directly into the
mixed world. Both approaches still have difficulties in
getting a collision.
 Applications of AR Systems

In education:
 Affordable learning materials
 Interactive lessons
 Higher engagement
 Higher retention
 Boost intellectual curiosity
In Medicine

 Describing symptoms
 Nursing care
 Surgery
 Ultrasounds
 Diabetes management
 Education of future doctors
 Diagnostics
In Entertainment

 games
 music
 TV
 eSports
 heater
 Review Questions
 Briefly explain AR,VR, and MR?
 What is the difference between augmented, virtual and mixed reality?
 Briefly explain the architecture of AR?
 Write down the challenges of AR?
 Write down some applications of AR system in education, entertainment and
medicine?