Augmented reality for next generation infrastructure inspections

Abstract

This article introduces the use of emerging augmented reality technology to enable the next generation of structural infrastructure inspection and awareness. This work is driven by the prevalence of visual structural inspection. It is known that current visual inspection techniques have multiple sources of variance that should be reduced in order to achieve less ambiguous visual inspections. Emerging augmented reality tools feature a variety of sensors, computation, and communication resources that can enable relevant structural inspection data to be collected at very high resolution in an unambiguous manner. This work shows how emerging augmented reality tools can be used to greatly enhance our ability to capture comprehensive, high-resolution, three-dimensional measurements of critical infrastructure. This work also provides detailed information on the software architecture for augmented reality structural inspection applications that helps meet the goals of the framework. The fact that the framework is designed to accommodate the considerations associated with high-consequence infrastructure implies that it is also comprehensive enough to be applied to less hazardous but still high-value infrastructure such as bridges, dams, and tunnels. Augmented reality has great potential to enable the next generation of smart infrastructure, and this work focuses on addressing how augmented reality can be leveraged to enable the next generation of structural awareness for high-consequence, long-lifespan structures.

Machine learning and structural health monitoring overview with emerging technology and high-dimensional data source highlights

“…A proof of concept of application of AR in bridge monitoring presented by Yuan et al 350 An AR framework was presented by Athanasiou et al 351 It was shown that with the holographic reinforcement visualization, overall inspection time could be reduced, improving the efficiency in collecting and managing data. The enhancement to the visual inspection brought by AR and its integration with ML and DL is a promising technology for infrastructure inspection based on the review by Mascareñas et al 352 The enhancements brought by VR and AR can offer effective additions to other next-generation SHM applications, in particular, UAVs and smartphone-based systems, for both visualization and deployment measures. Human computer interaction can benefit from multisensory and interconnected media which can deploy SHM data for the operators, as well as users.…”

“…A proof of concept of application of AR in bridge monitoring presented by Yuan et al 350 An AR framework was presented by Athanasiou et al 351 It was shown that with the holographic reinforcement visualization, overall inspection time could be reduced, improving the efficiency in collecting and managing data. The enhancement to the visual inspection brought by AR and its integration with ML and DL is a promising technology for infrastructure inspection based on the review by Mascareñas et al 352…”

The Application of Advanced Information Technologies in Civil Infrastructure Construction and Maintenance

“…(Data collection [83,142], visual inspection [7,38,84,86,[143][144][145][146], SHM [25,[147][148][149], safety inspection [8,45,150], road extraction [151] and pipeline positioning [152]) 9. 3D printing (Road repair [153]) 10.…”

Reducing gaze distraction for real‐time vibration monitoring using augmented reality

“…These include the headset's sensing platform, system, display and interface, and general properties including weight, durability, battery life, price, and availability. Mascareñas et al 27 gives an overview of these considerations used to make the device selection for this project. It was also important to consider the device manufacturer because development of AR applications varies depending on the platform.…”