A novel augmented reality framework for enriching museum exhibits

增强现实(AR)是最热门的新兴技术之一，虚拟世界和现实世界的结合可以为最终用户带来身临其境的自然体验。AR已经在医疗成像、安全、娱乐、健身等领域得到了应用。我们将与SimentIT，Inc.合作，开发将颠覆人们体验博物馆展品等的新技术。具体地说，我们将研究：1)3D对象识别，在移动设备上快速和准确地识别3D对象(例如，博物馆展出的物品)将带来快速的AR体验；2)跟踪，我们将研究新技术，通过结合对视觉数据的语义理解和从机载移动惯性传感器获得的数据的多模式融合，来改进同步定位和地图绘制(SLAM)的最先进技术；以及3)云处理，其中智能客户端-服务器工作分配和高度并行处理将进一步提高AR应用程序的处理能力。总之，建议的方法将产生一个创建移动AR应用程序的健壮框架。这项拟议的研究将有助于将加拿大定位为21世纪多媒体技术的领导者。由此产生的对加拿大工业的技术转移将增强加拿大的全球竞争力，并对加拿大经济和社会产生积极影响。

Augmented Reality (AR) is one of the hottest emerging technologies, where the combination of virtual and real worlds can result in an immersive and natural experience for the end-user. AR has found its application in fields such as medical imaging, security, enterntainment, fitness, etc. Collaborating with SimentIT, Inc., we will develop new technologies that will disrupt the way people experience museum exhibits or the like of. Specifically, we will investigate : 1) 3D object recognition, where fast and accurate recognition of 3D objects (e.g. objects on display at museums) on mobile devices will result in quick instantiation of an AR experience; 2) tracking, where we will investigate novel techniques to improve the state-of-the-art in Simultaneous Localization and Mapping (SLAM) through incorporation of semantic understanding of the visual data and multimodal fusion of data obtained from on-board mobile inertial sensors; and 3) cloud processing; where intelligent client-server work distribution and highly parallel processing will further improve the processing capabilities of an AR application. Together, the proposed methods will result in a robust framework for creating mobile AR applications. The proposed research will help to position Canada as a leader in multimedia technologies in the 21st century. The resultant technology transfer to Canadian industry will strengthen Canada's global competitiveness and create positive impacts to Canadian economy and society.