CAMPUSVIEW: OPEN-SOURCE AUGMENTED REALITY

CS480, Project Group #5Nicholas Fleming, Jeremy Keczan, Brandon Pugh, Melville StanleyApril 21, 2010

Project Background

Augmented Reality is new technology – experimentation started in the 60’s, but the term itself wasn’t coined until 1992.

Information from the virtual world is combined with the user’s view of the physical world.

Early Examples: First-down line in televised football Head-up Display in aircraft

Modern Examples: AR Browsers on mobile devices: Wikitude, Layar,

AcrossAir, Yelp

The Problem and the Opportunity People need an easy way to learn

about their surroundings on campus. Mobile devices are becoming more

powerful and ubiquitous. Maps have limited information,

harder to read, and become out of date.

No public-domain AR implementations.

Requirements

Provide an AR view of WVU Campus Open Source Free Open Architecture – Data Layers Contains information for WVU

students, faculty, staff, and visitors. Keeps the users’ position data secure

and untraceable.

Architecture Overview

3 Main System Components: Client Application

iPhone App, Objective-C Directory Server

Web service and Web application, PHP Data Servers

Web services, open implementation

Client Application

Runs on iPhone 3GS Augmented Reality view displays

data from multiple sources Depends on:

GPS receiver Digital Compass Camera Accelerometer Wireless Data Network

Data Servers

One Data Server for each Data Source.

Data Sources are represented as layers shown to the user in the Augmented Reality view.

Implemented as a web service: typically Apache/PHP/MySQL.

Can reside on separate physical servers anywhere on the Internet.

Data Server Implementations Building Information

Names and abbreviations Services available

Parking Information Lot locations Required permit or fees

Twitter Posts Nearby activity that happened recently

Configuring Data Sources

Directory Server

Provides a listing of all available Data Sources

Client Application retrieves the list when it starts up, allows users to choose which Data Sources they are interested in.

Implemented as a web service: Apache / PHP / MySQL.

Web application used for administration.

How CampusView is different Decentralized – Anyone can create

data sources. Open source – Anyone can contribute

and improve the system. Other implementations are highly

commercialized.

Test Plans

Unit Tests – Added and performed as code is written. Used to detect harmful code changes (aka regression testing).

Integration Tests – For testing the interoperability of system components: Client <-> Directory Server Client <-> Data Servers

Acceptance Tests Can we see and configure our Data Sources? Can we see building information when looking at a

building? Can we see parking information when looking at a parking

lot? Can we see Tweets when the Twitter layer is enabled?

Project Plan

Server implementations will need to be completed before the system can be fully tested.

Development of Client and Server software will overlap.

Some team members will focus on client, some on server.

Development Requirements

Macintosh workstation – XCode and iPhone SDK only run on Intel-based Macintosh machines

Apple iPhone Developer Certification – required for testing code on iPhones

iPhone 3GS Server hosting costs

Expected Outcomes

Complete implementations of Client Application and supporting servers.

Source code will be reused by others who wish to experiment with AR.

Students will have a resource for campus information.

All project source code for Client Application, Directory Server, and Data Server reference implementations is to be released under the Limited GNU Public License, allowing it to be reused in any academic or commercial project.

Conclusion

First open-source consumer-level AR system

Open client/server architecture that allows for well-distributed 3rd-party data sources