Challenges in Embedded Vision for Augmented Reality - Advances in Embedded Computer Vision - page 157

Chapter 7
Challenges in Embedded Vision for Augmented
Reality

Rajesh Narasimha, Norbert Stöffler, Darko Stanimirovic, Peter Meier
and Markus Tremmel

Abstract Augmented Reality (AR) applications hold great promise for mobile users
in the near future, but mobile devices cannot yet deliver on this promise. Even the
quite substantial processing capabilities of modern mobile devices are not at the
level needed for running the latest object recognition, tracking, or rendering meth-
ods. Furthermore, the resultant power consumption drains the battery fast. To ensure
a great user experience, AR algorithms have to cope with real-world conditions like
illumination, jitter, scale, rotation, and noise. The fusion of different optimized AR
technologies like 2D or 3D feature tracking, edge detection, gravity awareness, or
SLAM should be able to handle these issues to the satisfaction of the end-user but
current mobile devices cannot handle these complex algorithms running in real-time
and in an “always on-always Augmented mode”. With the “always on-always Aug-
mented” scenario, AR applications need to work on various devices such as smart-
phones, tablets, PC, etc., and at different form factors such as wearables and head
mounted displays. Additionally, technology enablers such as dedicated hardware to
accelerate feature tracking and matching that keep the power consumption to an
acceptable level, along with easy-to-use software tools and user interfaces designed
for non-experts would be the key to provide a low-cost and high volume AR solu-
tion. The “always on-always Augmented” scenario also needs considerable cloud
support to offload computations and provide a seamless AR experience. To imple-
ment these technologies, hardware (HW) architectures have to evolve in parallel to
provide efficient resources that can keep power consumption at an acceptable level.

( B ) · P. Me i e r · N. Stöffler · D. Stanimirovic · M. Tremmel
Metaio GmbH, Hackerbrücke 6, 80335 Munich, Germany
e-mail: [e-mail]
P. Me i e r
e-mail: [e-mail]
N. Stöffler
e-mail: [e-mail]
D. Stanimirovic
e-mail: [e-mail]
M. Tremmel
e-mail: [e-mail]

R. Narasimha