HOW THE TECHNOLOGY WORKS
Applying pre-defined light signatures and digital signal processing to achieve optical positioning, identification and communication of states
Why build your AR game with the Vizar Engine?
- Makes your game more accessible to more gamers through one technology for all your platforms (iOS, Android) with our SDK.
- More immersive and lasting gameplay due to high energy efficiency of the engine.
- Smooth game play experience due to high accuracy and refresh rate of detection in multiplayer games.
State of the art identification and positioning of other users in augmented reality
The current AR implementations mainly offer visual augmentation of the scenes surrounding the users. Users view their environment through an interface, such as a smartphone or a headset, and visual digital content is overlaid on top of the real-world view, providing informational and interactive features to an experience. In multi-user experiences, visual information that is relevant to each individual is displayed, and the users are free to interact in the added digital layer. For this to be possible, the device must be able to identify and position other users in its field of view. In AR games, this enables multiplayer features, while in industrial AR, it provides situation-specific and task-specific assistance to workers, enhancing efficiency.
The most common approach is to provide identification and positioning through a combination of:
- Visual Positioning System (VPS), applying AI-powered algorithms to recognize the environment, based on the image stream from the camera. VPS is the workhorse that provides the accuracy needed to enable high quality AR experiences, including multi-user.
- Global navigation satellite system (GNSS), such as GPS, Galileo, BDS and GLONASS. This approach is mainly supportive, working better the larger the distance to the object is.
- Inertial sensors on the device, including accelerometers, gyrometers and magnetometers. These sensors enable the positioning of the observer and provides useful data to compensate for their movements.
Augmented reality apps
In AR, digital content is added to the real world to create or to enhance an experience. In order for such digital elements to be placed correctly and timely, the device is required to interpret its surroundings through machine vision methods. With the emergence of increasingly powerful hardware and software in smartphones, AR is becoming increasingly common in marketing and gaming apps. For AR apps, the Vizar Engine introduces novel social and multiplayer functionalities by enabling the visual localization and identification of other players’ devices.