Grant: Collaborative Research and Development Grants

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.