Over the last couple of years the field of Augmented Reality has transformed from something mainly seen in academic researchinto several examples of big commercially successful products, and the widespread use of highly capable mobile devices has greatly helped accelerate this trend. The powerful sensors in modern handsets enable designers to bring Augmented Reality implementations to the hands ofthe users.This thesis examines how Augmented Reality can be implemented onmobile platforms, mainly the iPhone 4, and surveys existing implementationsand solutions for developers. It presents a number of design guidelinesfor user interactions in AR on mobile devices that can be used fordesigners as a reference when designing user-centered mobile AR applications.

Thesis (Ph. D.)--University of Canterbury, 2008. / Typescript (photocopy). Includes bibliographical references (p. 169-183). Also available via the World Wide Web.

This thesis looks at Augmented Reality (AR) and Expert Systems (ES) and how concepts from these techniques can be used to make instructions simpler for workers in the manufacturing industry. The experiment performed is based on a case study of “Block 9-11” at Volvo GTO in Skövde. A comparative study between the developed AR-system and the currently used instruction format has been made. For practical reasons the tasks and instructions were modified from the original. The results showed a similar time usage for the two systems but with a large amount of steps missed in the control group as well as a lower subjective usability-score from the testers, showing an advantage for the AR-system. In future work the plan is to further develop the adaptability-aspect, an aspect that didn’t give clear results in this study. / YOU2

The purpose of this thesis work is to create a prototype for an augmented reality application that isaimed to support service technician when performing service and maintenance of machines andengines. The prototype will be used for investigating what technical limitations there is and toestablish basic usability for the user interface. The method that is used is user studies and analysis toevaluate use cases and user stories. An iterative work process is then applied for design and theprototype is continuously user tested.The resulting prototype uses a Samsung Galaxy Tab 2 running on Android operating system. Theframework used for augmented reality is NyARToolkit which handles marker recognition andconnections to Android. NyARToolkit uses OpenGL to visualize 3D models. The 3D models used isin the metasequoia fileformat. The application that implements the framework gets reasonableperformance on Galaxy Tab 2 and the visualization of 3D model is accomplished. A stabile markerrecognition is not attained.The usability has not been studied thoroughly, but it is designed based on the unofficial standard fordesign on mobile devices and for 3D manipulation on mobile devices. The graphical design is aimingfor an open workspace with as few interrupting objects as possible. Clear descriptions of objects are apart that has resulted from usertesting.Judging by the functionality that the prototype indicates it could be assumed that an application of thistype is possible in the given field, which is worked performed by a service technician. The testingequipment that has been used is not of the latest generation of mobile devices which can mean thatnewer models perform better than the ones used for testing. What seems to be limiting the use of themarker recognition is the quality of the video input. The device’s processing power affects howadvanced the 3D environment can be, which in turn can reduce performance when more complex 3Dmodels are used. Since there are several frameworks for the Android platform there is also severalsolutions to making a prototype with the sane functionality. Since I have only explored oneframework there is a possibility that another framework could have produced a more stabile prototypeThe user testing that has been performed points out that a distinct design is needed. Clearly describingtexts for different objects should be used to make the user less confused. An unofficial user designthat is generally used has to be implemented so that the users fell at home when handling theapplication on mobile devices.

Depending upon their nature, Outdoor AR applications can be deployed on head mounted displays (HMD) like Google glass or handheld Displays (HHD) like smartphones. This master’s thesis investigates novel gesture-based interaction techniques and applications for a HMD-HHD hybrid system that account for advantages presented by each platform. Prior research in HMD-HHD hybrid systems and gestures used in VR and surface computing were taken into account while designing the applications and interaction techniques. A prototype system combining a HMD and HHD was developed and four applications were created for the system. For evaluating the gestures, an application that compared four of the proposed gestures for selection tasks was developed. The results showed a significant difference between the different gestures and that the choice of gesture for selection tasks using a hybrid system depended upon application requirements like speed and accuracy.

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This thesis presents the development of a set of novel graphical tools Known as 'virtual primitives' that allow the user of a stereoscopic telepresence system to actively and intuitively model features in a remote environment. The virtual primitives provide visual feedback during the model creating process in the form of a dynamic wireframe of the primitive overlaid and registered with the real object. The operator can immediately see the effect of his decisions and if necessary make minor corrections to improve the fit of the primitive during its generation. Virtual primitives are a generic augmented reality (AR) tool and their applications extend past the modelling of a workspace for telerobot operation to other remote tasks such as visual inspection, surveying and collaborative design. An AR system has been developed and integrated with the existing Surrey Telepresence System. The graphical overlays are generated using virtual reality software and combined with the video images. To achieve a one-to-one correspondence between the real and virtual worlds the AR system is calibrated using a simple pinhole camera model and standard calibration algorithm. An average RMS registration error between the video and graphical images of less than one framegrabber pixel is achieved. An assessment of a virtual pointer confirms that this level of accuracy is acceptable for use with the virtual primitives. The concept of the virtual primitives has been evaluated in an experiment to model three test objects. The results show that using a virtual primitive was superior in accuracy and task completion time to using a pointer alone. Finally, a case study on the remote inspection of sewers demonstrates the advantages of virtual primitives in a real application. It confirms that the use of virtual primitives significantly reduces the subjective nature of the task, offers an increase in precision by an order of magnitude over conventional inspection methods, and provides additional useful data on the characteristics of the sewer features not previously available.

The focus of this research was to examine how effectively augmented reality (AR) displays, generated with a wearable computer, could be used for aiding an operator performing a manufacturing assembly task. The research concentrated on comparing two technologies for generating augmented reality displays (opaque vs. see-through), with two current types of assembly instructions (a traditional assembly instruction manual vs. computer aided instruction). The study was used to evaluate the effectiveness of the wearable based augmented reality compared to traditional instruction methods, and was also used to compare two types of AR displays in the context of an assembly task. For the experiment, 15 subjects were asked to assemble a computer motherboard using the four types of instruction: paper manual, computer aided, an opaque AR display, and a see-through AR display. The study was run as a within subjects design, where subjects were randomly assigned the order of instruction media. For the AR conditions, the augmented environments were generated with a wearable computer, and viewed through two types of monocular, head-mounted displays (HMD). The first type of HMD was a monocular opaque HMD, and the second was a monocular see-though HMD. Prior to the experiment, all subjects performed a brief training session teaching them how to insert the various components of the motherboard in their respective slots. The time of assembly and assembly errors were measured for each type of media, and a questionnaire was administered to each subject at the end of each condition, and at the end of the experiment to determine the usability of the four instructional media. The results of the experiment indicated that both augmented reality conditions were more effective instructional aids for the assembly task than either the paper instruction manual or the computer aided instruction. The see-through HMD resulted in the fastest assembly times followed by the opaque HMD, the computer aided instruction, and the paper instructions respectively. In addition, subjects made fewer errors using the AR conditions compared to the other two types of instructional media. However, while the two AR conditions were a more effective instructional media when time was the response measure, there were still some important usability issues associated with the AR technology that were not present in the non-AR conditions. Many of the subjects indicated that both types of HMDs were uncomfortable, and over half expressed concerns about poor image contrast with the see-through HMDs. Finally, this thesis discusses the results of this study as well as implications for the design and use of AR and wearable computers for manufacturing assembly tasks. / Master of Science

The augmented phase portrait, introduced by Sabrina Streipert and Gail Wolkowicz, is used to analyze second order rational discrete maps of the form \begin{align*} x_{n+1} = \frac{\alpha + \beta x_n + \gamma x_{n-1}}{A + Bx_n + C x_{n-1}}, \text{ for } n \in \mathbb{N}_0 =\{0,1,2,\dots, \} \end{align*} with parameters $\alpha, \, \beta, \, \gamma, \, A, \, B, \, C \geq 0$, and initial conditions, $x_{0}, \, x_{-1} > 0$. First we study the special case, \begin{align*} x_{n+1} = \frac{\alpha + \gamma x_{n-1}}{A + Bx_n}, \end{align*} with $\alpha, \, \gamma, \, B > 0$ and $A \geq 0$. Applying the change of variables, $y_n = x_{n-1}$, this equation can be rewritten as a planar system. We provide a new proof to show that oscillatory solutions have semicycles of length one, except possibly the first cycle, and that nonoscillatory solutions must converge monotonically to the equilibrium. This was originally done by Gibbons, Kulenovic, and Ladas. We also show that when the unique positive equilibrium is a saddle point, there exist nontrivial positive solutions that increase and decrease monotonically to the equilibrium, proving Conjecture 5.4.6 from the monograph by Kulenovic and Ladas. In particular, Theorem 1.2 from this monograph defines the tangent vector to the stable manifold at the equilibrium. We show that specific regions defined by the augmented phase portrait have solutions that increase and decrease monotonically to the equilibrium along the stable manifold. While Conjecture 5.4.6 was previously proven in a paper by Hoag and a paper by Sun and Xi, our proof provides a more intuitive and elementary solution. We then consider the case, \begin{equation*} x_{n+1} = \frac{\alpha + \beta (x_n + x_{n-1})}{A + B(x_n + x_{n-1})}, \end{equation*} with $\alpha, \beta, A, B > 0$. Again, using $y_n = x_{n-1}$, this system can be written as a planar system. Thus, applying the augmented phase plane, we prove global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium for some cases. In other cases, we show this using other theorems from the monograph by Kulenovic and Ladas as was previously done by Atawna, et al. / Thesis / Master of Science (MSc) / The augmented phase portrait, introduced by Sabrina Streipert and Gail Wolkowicz, is used to analyze second order rational discrete maps with nonnegative parameters and positive initial conditions. Using a change of variable to transform the second order rational discrete maps into planar maps, various properties of solutions were analyzed for various cases. For one case, we provide a new proof to show that oscillatory solutions have semicycles of length one, except possibly the first cycle, and that nonoscillatory solutions must converge monotonically to the equilibrium. This was originally done by Gibbons, Kulenovic, and Ladas. We also prove Conjecture 5.4.6 from the monograph by Kulenovic and Ladas, showing the existence of solutions that increase and decrease monotonically to the equilibrium. While Conjecture 5.4.6 was previously proved in a paper by Hoag and a paper by Sun and Xi, our proof provides a more intuitive and elementary solution. Finally, for another case we prove global asymptotic stability of the positive equilibrium using the augmented phase portrait. Sometimes, we show this using other theorems from the monograph by Kulenovic and Ladas as was previously done by Atawna, et al.

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