How Augmented Reality Works

Imagine dinosaurs are walking around you, the Marvel’s characters are fighting in front of you while crossing down the road. Science fiction, no! It is Augmented Reality (AR). We have seen how Virtual Reality has helped to replace the real world with the virtual beautifully, but AR combines the both of them without completely deleting the real world. This emerging technology, AR superimposes the computer generated videos or images or ads on to the real world. To experience the AR, you don’t have to buy any particular device; you can enjoy it with any of your smart devices whether it’s an iPhone, an iPad, an Android phone or a tab.  

The report of Markets and Markets says, “The global Augmented Reality market is expected to reach USD 117.40 Billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 75.72% during the forecast period. The global virtual reality market is expected to reach USD 33.90 Billion by 2022 at a CAGR of 57.84% during the forecast period. The use of hardware devices such as HMDs and head-up displays enabled with virtual reality technology are majorly used as they provide a fully-immersive experience and are suitable for multiple applications. The virtual reality market for the consumer vertical has been estimated to grow at the highest CAGR between 2016 and 2022. Software components for this report include software developer kits and software solutions; this market is projected to grow rapidly in the near future owing to the large application in almost all verticals. In this report, 2014 has been considered as the historical year, 2015 has been considered as the base year, and the period from 2016 to 2022 has been considered as the forecast period for the study of augmented reality and virtual reality market.” This research study illustrates how this emerging technology, AR is changing the market trend. 

Though Augmented Reality sounds very unreal but it is very simple. AR applies computer aided graphics to include an extra layer of data to portray the interaction with the physical world around you in a better way. Incepted in the early 90s, today AR has enabled many potential applications in mobile context. Here is an example to explain AR in a simple way, while watching a cricket match, you have noticed if there is any controversial opinion for LBW, TV station plays a replay with computer animation with an exact projection of the ball.

Apple CEO, Tim Cook, states, “AR will be bigger than VR because this gives the capability for both of us to sit and be very present talking to each other, but also have other things visually for both of us to see.”

Now let’s see how Augmented Reality Companies create AR Solutions:

Technically the process of AR follows two simple systems: Marker-based system and Marker-less system.

Marker-based system

The marker-based system applies physical world signs as a reference for computer graphics while superimposing. Suppose, if you point a two-dimensional image in front of a webcam, the computer will illustrate the symbol by covering the on-screen graphic, and you will feel you are actually seeing it in the physical world. 

Examples: Mini Cooper Augmented Reality car, Toyota Augmented Reality Car

Marker-less system

Marker-less system is actually being used in mobile Augmented Reality. This technology sums the few elements like electronic devices’ location data, compass, and accelerometer to understand the real position of the device in the physical world. This helps to realize on which axis it is moving and in which way it is pointing. Then the location data can be compared with the database, and hence it renders the display on the screen. 

Examples: This technology is mainly used in the education system, Google Sky.