Introduction

Augmented reality is a technology that works on computer vision based recognition

algorithms to augment sound, video, graphics and other sensor based inputs on real world
objects using the camera of your device. It is a good way to render real world information
and present it in an interactive way so that virtual elements become part of the real world.
Augmented reality (AR) is an interactive experience of a real-world environment where
the objects that reside in the real world are enhanced by computer-generated perceptual
information, sometimes across multiple sensory modalities, including visual, auditory,
haptic, somatosensory and olfactory. It is a system that fulfills three basic features: a
combination of real and virtual worlds, real-time interaction, and accurate 3D registration
of virtual and real objects. The overlaid sensory information can be constructive (i.e.
additive to the natural environment), or destructive (i.e. masking of the natural
environment). This experience is seamlessly interwoven with the physical world such that
it is perceived as an immersive aspect of the real environment. In this way, augmented
reality alters one's ongoing perception of a real-world environment, whereas virtual
reality completely replaces the user's real-world environment with a simulated one.
Augmented reality is related to two terms: mixed reality and computer-mediated reality.
Augmented reality displays superimpose information in your field of view and can take
you into a new world where the real and virtual worlds are tightly coupled. It is not just
limited to desktop or mobile devices. As mentioned, Google Glass, a wearable computer
with optical head-mounted display, is a perfect example. A simple augmented reality use
case is: a user captures the image of a real-world object, and the underlying platform
detects a marker, which triggers it to add a virtual object on top of the real-world image
and displays on your camera screen.
Augmented reality is used to enhance natural environments or situations and offer
perceptually enriched experiences. With the help of advanced AR technologies (e.g.
adding computer vision, incorporating AR cameras into smartphone applications
and object recognition) the information about the surrounding real world of the user
becomes interactive and digitally manipulated. Information about the environment and its
objects is overlaid on the real world. This information can be virtual or real, e.g. seeing
other real sensed or measured information such as electromagnetic radio waves overlaid
in exact alignment with where they actually are in space. Augmented reality also has a lot
of potential in the gathering and sharing of tacit knowledge. Augmentation techniques are
typically performed in real time and in semantic contexts with environmental elements.
Augmented reality has come a long way from a science-fiction concept to a science-
based reality. Until recently the costs of augmented reality were so substantial that
designers could only dream of working on design projects that involved it but today
things have changed and augmented reality is even available on the mobile handset. That
means design for augmented reality is now an option for all shapes and sizes of UX
designers.

Reasons for selecting the topic

With increasing technological advancement, it has been important for us to understand

and cope up with these technologies. Similarly, the use of AR has become more
accessible and applicable as it no longer requires specialized equipment and may easily
be used on mobile devices. Since, most of us now own mobile devices, and the use of
these devices has increased, thereby enabling greater access to AR. The applications for
mobile AR in education, business & organization are increasing rapidly, and the
feasibility of mobile AR has increased due to advances in mobile technology. Looking at
it from 2019, it seems that AR would be a major part of business and customer use. So
we felt it as an important issue to be researched about and know its impact, tends and
future possibilities.

Thus, with its higher feasibility and increasing usage in today world we thought of
choosing this topic in order to have more understanding about AR and how it can be
beneficial for our organization and day to day implication.

Major Milestone in the development of Augmented Reality

In a world full of technology people have come up with the idea to create life like visual
experiences. From panoramic paintings to immersive virtual realities we have gone a
long way towards developing this technological vector. This resulted in an impressive
new technology: Augmented reality. Augmented reality is used when it is necessary to
extend the real environment with "augmentations": 3D or 2D virtual objects, buttons,
sound. Visual objects often need a marker or real plane surface to be added on - a
tabletop, floor and so on.

Augmented reality was first achieved, to some extent, by a cinematographer called

Morton Heilig in 1957. He invented the Sensorama which delivered visuals, sounds,
vibration and smell to the viewer. Of course, it wasn’t computer controlled but it was the
first example of an attempt at adding additional data to an experience.

Then in 1968, Ivan Sutherland the American computer scientist and early Internet
influence, invented the head-mounted display as a kind of window into a virtual world.
The technology used at the time made the invention impractical for mass use. In 1975,
Myron Krueger, an American computer artist developed the first “virtual reality”
interface in the form of “Video place” which allowed its users to manipulate and interact
with virtual objects and to do so in real-time.Steve Mann, a computational photography
researcher, gave the world wearable computing in 1980.Back then these weren’t “virtual
reality” or “augmented reality” because virtual reality was coined by Jaron Lainer in
1989 and Thomas P Caudell of Boeing coined the phrase “augmented reality” in 1990.
 The first properly functioning AR system was probably the one developed at USAF
Armstrong’s Research Lab by Louis Rosenberg in 1992. This was called Virtual Fixtures
and was an incredibly complex robotic system which was designed to compensate for the
lack of high-speed 3D graphics processing power in the early 90s. It enabled the overlay
of sensory information on a workspace to improve human productivity

There were many other breakthroughs in augmented reality between here and today; the
most notable of which include:

 Bruce Thomas developing an outdoor mobile AR game called ARQuake in 2000

 ARToolkit (a design tool) being made available in Adobe Flash in 2009
 Google announcing its open beta of Google Glass (a project with mixed successes) in
2013
 Microsoft announcing augmented reality support and their augmented reality headset
HoloLens in 2015