Future of Augmented Reality #3 - AR Display Devices
Sauli Kiviranta
CEO & Founder at Delta Cygni Labs | Inventor of XRTC, POINTR & AstroVAR
In our previous article we learned that the ingredients of Augmented Reality are display devices, tracking systems, interaction metaphors and augmented solutions. We also learned that this division to individual technological groups guides us on how to select AR systems that serve our business needs. For this purpose we will start to go through the technological groups starting from the Display Devices. This premise leads us to the next question:
What are the characteristics defining Display Devices?
The purpose of display devices is characterized by how we see our AR content. Display devices like diffractive wave-guides and retinal screens, or more generally devices such as smart-glasses or mobile phones, are the first and most recognizable feature of Augmented Reality. Displays devices are the tangible thing that we encounter when we see examples of AR content. Example content could be AR based 3D model viewer with a sales agent demonstrating a virtual product through smart-glasses or a technician holding a tablet when troubleshooting equipment failure on a collaborative AR session.
Now we know that behind the display device group is a technology that attempts to visualize information to our user. In the case of various smart-glasses it is a display device that is worn very close to users eyes, with various optical characteristics to superimpose users field of view with the informational content. Alternatively if we have a smartphone or tablet, it is just a question of screen size and resolution acting as a handheld window to the augmented world. These various technologies we can further split into following four display device sub-categories.
The four display device sub-categories are:
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These four areas are present in different configurations on any modern AR system.
The display device sub-categories are defined by following characteristics: hand-held video see-through, hands-free video see-through, wearable optical see-through and wearable video see-through displays as we now know. When we look beyond the technological fascination for AR displays, we realize that we are just trying to find an optical display arrangement, handheld or wearable, that allows us to visualize information on top of our view to the real world. This we need to achieve while minimizing interference from our AR technology to the users other operations, specifically within the constraint of our business case. In respect to the smart-glasses, often requirement is simply having a hands-free display. For example in the above mentioned context of technician needing both hands to service high complexity machinery while requiring additional AR guidance during the task execution.
Display devices have the ability to visualize information to the end user needs, hands-free for the smart-glasses or always in the pocket for standard mobile devices.
In the next episode of this series we will be going through the first ingredient of Augmented Reality, the display devices and its first subcategory Hand-held video see-through displays. With the understanding of Display Devices group under our belt, we can start diving deeper into each of the display device categories areas and see what is the defining characteristic of that specific sub-category. We will also do a reality-check with the expectations for each sub-category. We will then be able to make knowledgeable decisions when adopting smart-glasses and standard mobile devices with AR capabilities for our business needs.