Testing and evaluation of a wearable augmented reality system for natural outdoor environments

David Roberts, Alberico Menozzi, James Cook, Todd Sherrill, Stephen Snarski, Pat Russler, Brian Clipp, Robert Karl, Eric Wenger, Matthew Bennett, Jennifer Mauger, William Church, Herman Towles, Stephen MacCabe, Jeff Webb, Jasper Lupo, Jan Michael Frahm, Enrique Dunn, Christoper Leslie, Greg Welch

Research output: Chapter in Book/Report/Conference proceedingConference contributionpeer-review

14 Scopus citations

Abstract

This paper describes performance evaluation of a wearable augmented reality system for natural outdoor environments. Applied Research Associates (ARA), as prime integrator on the DARPA ULTRA-Vis (Urban Leader Tactical, Response, Awareness, and Visualization) program, is developing a soldier-worn system to provide intuitive 'heads-up' visualization of tactically-relevant geo-registered icons. Our system combines a novel pose estimation capability, a helmet-mounted see-through display, and a wearable processing unit to accurately overlay geo-registered iconography (e.g., navigation waypoints, sensor points of interest, blue forces, aircraft) on the soldier's view of reality. We achieve accurate pose estimation through fusion of inertial, magnetic, GPS, terrain data, and computer-vision inputs. We leverage a helmet-mounted camera and custom computer vision algorithms to provide terrain-based measurements of absolute orientation (i.e., orientation of the helmet with respect to the earth). These orientation measurements, which leverage mountainous terrain horizon geometry and mission planning landmarks, enable our system to operate robustly in the presence of external and body-worn magnetic disturbances. Current field testing activities across a variety of mountainous environments indicate that we can achieve high icon geo-registration accuracy (<10mrad) using these vision-based methods.

Original languageEnglish
Title of host publicationHead- and Helmet-Mounted Displays XVIII
Subtitle of host publicationDesign and Applications
DOIs
StatePublished - 2013
EventHead- and Helmet-Mounted Displays XVIII: Design and Applications - Baltimore, MD, United States
Duration: 1 May 20131 May 2013

Publication series

NameProceedings of SPIE - The International Society for Optical Engineering
Volume8735
ISSN (Print)0277-786X
ISSN (Electronic)1996-756X

Conference

ConferenceHead- and Helmet-Mounted Displays XVIII: Design and Applications
Country/TerritoryUnited States
CityBaltimore, MD
Period1/05/131/05/13

Keywords

  • Augmented reality
  • Geo-registered icons
  • Head tracking
  • Pose estimation
  • See-through display
  • Soldier-worn

Fingerprint

Dive into the research topics of 'Testing and evaluation of a wearable augmented reality system for natural outdoor environments'. Together they form a unique fingerprint.

Cite this