SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization
Augmented Reality (AR) technology visualizes virtual objects in the real environment, offering users an immersive experience that enhances their spatial perception of virtual objects. This makes AR an important tool for visualization in engineering, education, and gaming. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicle...
| Main Authors: | , , , , |
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| Format: | Article |
| Language: | English |
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MDPI AG
2023-09-01
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| Series: | Drones |
| Subjects: | |
| Online Access: | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/9/587 |
| _version_ | 1797580512237191168 |
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| author | Junming Tan Huping Ye Chenchen Xu Hongbo He Xiaohan Liao |
| author_facet | Junming Tan Huping Ye Chenchen Xu Hongbo He Xiaohan Liao |
| author_sort | Junming Tan |
| collection | DOAJ |
| description | Augmented Reality (AR) technology visualizes virtual objects in the real environment, offering users an immersive experience that enhances their spatial perception of virtual objects. This makes AR an important tool for visualization in engineering, education, and gaming. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAVs’) low-altitude public air route (Skyroad) is a forward-looking virtual transportation infrastructure flying over complex terrain, presenting challenges for user perception due to its invisibility. In order to achieve a 3D and intuitive visualization of Skyroad, this paper proposes an AR visualization framework based on a physical sandbox. The framework consists of four processes: reconstructing and 3D-printing a sandbox model, producing virtual scenes for UAVs Skyroad, implementing a markerless registration and tracking method, and displaying Skyroad scenes on the sandbox with GPU-based occlusion handling. With the support of the framework, a mobile application called SkyroadAR was developed. System performance tests and user questionnaires were conducted on SkyroadAR; the results showed that our approachs to tracking and occlusion provided an efficient and stable AR effect for Skyroad. This intuitive visualization is recognized by both professional and non-professional users. |
| first_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:52:05Z |
| format | Article |
| id | doaj.art-5a4ab059001746809937e183f7c8e76f |
| institution | Directory Open Access Journal |
| issn | 2504-446X |
| language | English |
| last_indexed | 2024-03-10T22:52:05Z |
| publishDate | 2023-09-01 |
| publisher | MDPI AG |
| record_format | Article |
| series | Drones |
| spelling | doaj.art-5a4ab059001746809937e183f7c8e76f2023-11-19T10:17:23ZengMDPI AGDrones2504-446X2023-09-017958710.3390/drones7090587SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route VisualizationJunming Tan0Huping Ye1Chenchen Xu2Hongbo He3Xiaohan Liao4State Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaState Key Laboratory of Resources and Environment Information System, Institute of Geographic Sciences and Natural Resources Research, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing 100101, ChinaAugmented Reality (AR) technology visualizes virtual objects in the real environment, offering users an immersive experience that enhances their spatial perception of virtual objects. This makes AR an important tool for visualization in engineering, education, and gaming. The Unmanned Aerial Vehicles’ (UAVs’) low-altitude public air route (Skyroad) is a forward-looking virtual transportation infrastructure flying over complex terrain, presenting challenges for user perception due to its invisibility. In order to achieve a 3D and intuitive visualization of Skyroad, this paper proposes an AR visualization framework based on a physical sandbox. The framework consists of four processes: reconstructing and 3D-printing a sandbox model, producing virtual scenes for UAVs Skyroad, implementing a markerless registration and tracking method, and displaying Skyroad scenes on the sandbox with GPU-based occlusion handling. With the support of the framework, a mobile application called SkyroadAR was developed. System performance tests and user questionnaires were conducted on SkyroadAR; the results showed that our approachs to tracking and occlusion provided an efficient and stable AR effect for Skyroad. This intuitive visualization is recognized by both professional and non-professional users.https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/9/587augmented realitythe UAVs’ low-altitude public air routesandboxmarkerless registration and trackingGPU-based virtual-real occlusion handlingSkyroadAR |
| spellingShingle | Junming Tan Huping Ye Chenchen Xu Hongbo He Xiaohan Liao SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization Drones augmented reality the UAVs’ low-altitude public air route sandbox markerless registration and tracking GPU-based virtual-real occlusion handling SkyroadAR |
| title | SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization |
| title_full | SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization |
| title_fullStr | SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization |
| title_full_unstemmed | SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization |
| title_short | SkyroadAR: An Augmented Reality System for UAVs Low-Altitude Public Air Route Visualization |
| title_sort | skyroadar an augmented reality system for uavs low altitude public air route visualization |
| topic | augmented reality the UAVs’ low-altitude public air route sandbox markerless registration and tracking GPU-based virtual-real occlusion handling SkyroadAR |
| url | https://www.mdpi.com/2504-446X/7/9/587 |
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