Augmented Reality - Principles, Technologies and Applications

Augmented reality (AR) is a paradigm for making digital information available to complement the real point of view.

The ever-increasing evolution of digital technology in terms of power and compactness is helping to facilitate the adoption of wearable technology by users. Users are spending more and more time communicating digitally, even when they're on the move in their physical world. Yet there is no link between interactions in the virtual world and those in the real world. The use of augmented reality can bridge the gap between these two worlds.

AR is made possible by a system capable of spatially and temporally coexisting a virtual environment with the real world. The aim of this coexistence is to enrich the user's perception of his real environment through visual, sound or haptic augmentations. The environment can be indoor or outdoor. The user can be present in the real environment, or perceive it from a distance.

This article complements a previous version by providing the reader with an overview of current augmented reality technologies applied primarily to the user's visual sense, functional aspects and applications of an augmented reality system. . The evolution of research activities over the last decade will also be summarized. .

A glossary is included at the end of the article.