Chapter Five
Augmented Reality (AR)
After accomplishing this chapter, 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
Augmented reality (AR)
AR is a form of emerging technology that :-
allows users to overlay computer generated content in the real world
integrates real environment with additional, virtual content that is presented through computer graphics.
ensures the virtual content is aligned and registered with the real objects
refers to a live view of a physical real-world environment whose elements are merged with augmented
computer-generated images creating a mixed 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 from sensory input such as sound,
video, graphics or GPS data
integration of digital information with the user's environment in real time. user can digitally interact with and
adjust information about their surrounding environment.
Examples of AR include the following:
Target app. The Target retail app feature called See it in Your Space enables users to take a photo of a space in their home and digitally
view an object, like a picture on the wall or a chair, to see how it will look there.
Apple Measure app. The Measure app on Apple iOS acts like a tape measure by enabling users to select two or more points in their
environment and measure the distance between them
Snapchat. Snapchat filters use AR to overlay a filter or mask over the user's Snap or picture.
Pokemon Go:- is a popular mobile AR game that uses the player's GPS to detect where Pokemon creatures appear in the user's surrounding
environment for them to catcher
Google Glass. Google Glass is Google's first commercial attempt at a glasses-based AR system. This small wearable computer enables users
to work hands-free. Companies such as DHL and DB Schenker use Google Glass and third-party software to enable frontline workers to be
more efficient when it comes to global supply chain logistics and customized shipping. Google is also working on another pair of glasses in
2022 that's designed to overlay a live transcription or translation of what another person says in text.
U.S. Army. The U.S. Army uses AR in an eyepiece called Tactical Augmented Reality (TAR). TAR mounts onto the soldier's helmet and
aids in locating another soldier's position.
Virtual Reality (VR)
It is also called a computer-simulated reality, which creates a totally artificial environment
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 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)
The most advanced VR experiences even provide freedom of movement – users can move in a
digital environment and hear sounds. Moreover, special hand controllers can be used to enhance
VR experiences
What are the devices used for Virtual Reality system?
VR headset is a wearable device that completely covers users' eyes to provide an immersive experience using high-
quality 3D graphics and visual content.
VR headsets are also called VR goggles and can work with smartphones by putting the devices into the headset.
The headset uses various technologies like an accelerometer, gyroscope, magnetometer, and proximity sensor to detect
the user's motion and enhance the overall experience.
Following are the most popular VR headset devices available in the market.
Oculus Rift - HTC VIVE
Google Cardboard - PlayStation VR
Samsung Gear VR
Cont.….d
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, interact with and manipulate both physical and virtual items and environments, using next-
generation sensing and imaging technologies. MR allows to see and immerse in the world around you even as
you interact with a virtual environment using your own hands—all without ever removing your headset.
Cont.….d
• 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.
• One of the most obvious differences among augmented reality, virtual reality,
and mixed reality is the hardware requirements and
• 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
What is the difference between Virtual Reality &
Augmented Reality?
. Reality
Virtual Augmented Reality
Virtual Reality provides a completely immersive Augmented Reality overlays the computer-generated 3D
experience. Wherein the user feels like a part of content in the real world.
another world.
The user completely gets into the new world and shut Users have the ability to interact with Augmented
down from the real world while experiencing VR. technology and the real world.
Users need VR devices like headsets & immersive AR can be experienced by Smartphones, Tablets, or AR
sound, motion controllers, etc, to experience VR. devices.
It’s called fully enclosed reality. AR is a partially enclosed reality.
Differences between AR and VR
• VR is a virtual environment created with software and presented to users in such a way that their brain suspends belief long enough to
accept a virtual world as a real environment. Virtual reality is primarily experienced through a headset with sight and sound.
• The biggest difference between AR and VR is that augmented reality uses the existing real-world environment and puts virtual
information on top of it, whereas VR completely immerses users in a virtually rendered environment. While VR puts the user in a new,
simulated environment, AR places the user in a sort of mixed reality.
• The devices used to accomplish this are different, too. VR uses VR headsets that fit over the user's head and present them with simulated
visual and audio information. AR devices are less restrictive and typically include devices like phones, glasses, projections and HUDs in
cars.
• In VR, people are placed inside a 3D environment in which they can move around and interact with the generated environment. AR,
however, keeps users grounded in the real-world environment, overlaying virtual data as a visual layer within the environment.
The architecture of AR Systems
The architecture of AR system consists three main blocks,
Infrastructure Tracker Unit,
Processing Unit, and
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:
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.
Optical see-through: It uses an HMD that employs optical combiners to merge the
images within an open-view HMD.
Applications of AR Systems
AR In education
The following reasons for using augmented reality in education:
Affordable learning materials - posters, digital illustrations, physical models, prototypes are very expensive however, using AR technology
allows for avoiding investments in physical materials. Besides, students can get access to learning materials and interact with them anytime.
Interactive lessons - when AR technology is used in classrooms, students can view models on their own smartphones and get a better idea of the
concepts they are studying. That increases engagements and reinforces the learning.
Higher engagement - when teachers integrate augmented reality into their lectures, they attract the attention of their students and make lessons
more effective. When students are interested, it is much easier to make them work more productively.
Higher retention - using the AR app, students can get access to augmented models that represent any real objects from a famous monument or
work of art to a molecule. Besides, students can get access to a website with specific information. When learning with AR technology, students use
different senses and retain more knowledge for a long time.
Boost intellectual curiosity - augmented reality makes students more excited about learning certain subjects. Modern students were born in a
digital era so they will always be excited with innovative technologies that can help them learn new ideas and develop their critical thinking skills.
In medicine, AR has the following applications:
1) Describing symptoms - It helps patients to understand their conditions and describe correctly their symptoms.
2) Nursing care - About 40% of the first intravenous injections fail, and this ratio is even higher in the case of children
and elderly patients. The AccuVein uses augmented reality to cope with this negative statistic. A handheld scanner
projects on the skin and shows the patients’ veins. It increases the successful finding of the vein from the first try in 3,5
times.
3) Surgery - Three dimensional reconstructions of organs or tumors will help surgeons become more efficient at surgery
operations. AR, can reduce the time, cut the risks and improve the results Save life. The Israeli startup Augmedics had
created an augmented reality headset for spine surgeons. This technology overlays a 3D model of the CT-scan on the
spine, so, the surgeon gets some kind of “X-ray” vision.
4) Ultrasounds - AR software companies developed handy ultrasound scanner, which with the help of smart glasses
works as a traditional one. Used in the developing countries, in military medicine (on the battlefields) and even in the
ambulance.
5) Diabetes management - In 2014, Google revealed the plans for creating a smart contact lens (Google Contact Lens),
in which the main function will be to measure the glucose levels in the tears.
Generally, AR provides the following benefits to patients and healthcare workers:
• Reduce the risks associated with minimally invasive surgery.
• Better informed decisions about the right treatment and illness prevention.
• Make procedures more tolerable.
• Better aftercare
• Medical training and education.
• Assistance in medical procedures and routine tasks.
AR In Entertainment
Augmented reality can be used in various “entertainment” industries such as music, movies, live shows, games
AR in games - for example, Pokémon.
AR in music - more about its background: the performers’ bios, the lyrics of the song, the making of the recording or the
music video. Augmented reality can do all that and much more providing complete information on the track or its
performer. Augmented reality can enhance live performances by illustrating the story told by a track or displaying the way it
was created by the band
AR on TV - One way of integrating augmented reality in television is adding supplementary information to what is going
on the TV screen – such as match scores, betting options, and the like.
AR in eSports - Augmented reality turns eSports shows into interactive experiences allowing the watchers to become
participants.
AR in the theater - in this sector, augmented reality can serve not only for entertainment purposes but also for the purposes
of accessibility. The possibility to overlay virtual objects over the real environment can be used, for example, for subtitling
in various theater shows. Now, many theaters use LED displays either to provide subtitles for translation or to assist
hearing-impaired visitors. However, LED equipment is not available in each theater and even when it is, it can distract the
viewers from the show.
