Enabling Context-Aware Indoor Augmented Reality via Smartphone Sensing and Vision Tracking

Abstract

Augmented reality (AR) aims to render the world that users see and overlay information that reflects the real physical dynamics. The digital view could be potentially projected near the Point-of-Interest (POI) in a way that makes the virtual view attached to the POI even when the camera moves. Achieving smooth support for movements is a subject of extensive studies. One of the key problems is where the augmented information should be added to the field of vision in real time. Existing solutions either leverage GPS location for rendering outdoor AR views (hundreds of kilometers away) or rely on image markers for small-scale presentation (only for the marker region). To realize AR applications under various scales and dynamics, we propose a suite of algorithms for fine-grained AR view tracking to improve the accuracy of attitude and displacement estimation, reduce the drift, eliminate the marker, and lower the computation cost. Instead of requiring extremely high, accurate, absolute locations, we propose multimodal solutions according to mobility levels without additional hardware requirement. Experimental results demonstrate significantly less error in projecting and tracking the AR view. These results are expected to make users excited to explore their surroundings with enriched content.

A Survey of the State of Research on Augmented Reality from a Business Perspective using Porter’s Value Chain

“…To date, AR has been deployed primarily via head-mounted displays (HMDs) or smartphones, with smartphones having the advantage of being convenient, ubiquitous, easily accessible, and affordable [8], [13], [20]. Explicitly, this cost-effectiveness provides the opportunity to deploy such systems in the enterprise environment, usually focusing on a value creation process.…”

“…AR extends the user's perception with additional computergenerated [5], [6], contextualized information [5]- [8], or directs the user's focus to relevant objects in the real world [5]. This serves to improve the user experience [7]- [10].…”

Augmented-Reality Survey: from Concept to Application

“…The Layar functionalities include postcards with interactive content such as video messages, Web and social links, and photo shows. mixare, the mix Augmented Reality Engine [77], is an open-source (GPLv3) AR engine for mobile devices that works as an autonomous application for the development of mobile applications. Catchoom [78] is an iOS and Android SDK that renders AR experiences with plugins for the Cordova and Unity 3D engines.…”

A fast image matching technique for the panoramic-based localization

“…To overcome this drawback, the recent researches attempt to integrate in-build sensors, such as an accelerometer, digital compass, gyroscope, etc., with vision tracking technique to improve the efficiency and accuracy of localization process. [4] Nevertheless, a large database of environmental images for positioning still will require significant amount of time to match with the live-image captured by the mobile device. Therefore, the recent researches begin to explore panoramic images as environment maps for indoor positioning due to its 360 degrees-of-view properties.…”