What is Augmented Reality(AR)

            Augmented Reality (AR) is a new area of research extending from Virtual Reality (VR) which is a combination of virtual environment and real environment. It is a technology that adds virtual objects generated by the computer to the real world to construct the effect of the actual situation. It uses the known information in the real world to track and register, then integrates the virtual objects into the real world, displays the final image by means of display device at last. AR will make us to have a better understanding of our real world.AR has its wide application prospect in medicine, machinery manufacturing, military, education and business. Many users have PC and webcam. This meets the basic requirement for desk-top AR system. The registration based on markers has a high accuracy and requires no complex track hardware. The mark is easy to track. So the research of AR system based on markers is somewhat practical and significant.

      Augmented reality is a term for a camera enhanced view of a physical real-world environment, where virtual elements are merged with the real-life scene creating a ‘mixed reality’ of virtual elements and the real world. The ‘virtual elements’, given their nature, can consist of anything. This could be 3D models, video, web information…anything.
The point here is that your mind is the only boundary.
     Imagine pointing your smart phone’s camera down the road and in return being presented with information or data relative to nearby interest points such as shops and attractions. How about entering a department store and having instant access to a guide to all the individual contents and a personal, virtual concierge that directs you to their location. Another example might be you sitting at home in front of your webcam, trying-on augmented luxury watches. Lastly, how about bringing a brochure or other marketing document to life and putting your product in the hands of your potential client thanks to a 3D AR experience.
     All this and far more is possible with augmented reality technology.

     Until today there is no clear definition of AR. Although first AR-like systems were developed in the 1960s, Augmented Reality only separated itself from virtual reality and became a research area in its own rights in the beginning of the 1990s. Today two main definitions exist that describe Augmented Reality. Due to a lack of an official agreement on the term, both are accepted. Following the definition of Azuma  an AR system has to fulfill the three requirements:
    • Combine the real and virtual
    • Registered in the real world in 3D

    • Interactive in real time
     The first requirement is a fundamental description of AR in that it combines the real world with virtual content. The second requirement separates Augmented Reality from the more general concepts of mixed reality or mixed media by requiring that the virtual content must be registered in 3D within the real world. Finally “Interactive in real time” requires the system to react to the user and update in real time which distinguishes AR from all off-line augmentations such as the use of computer graphics in movies.

     According to the older Virtuality continuum proposed by Milgram , AR is just one possible manifestation of Mixed Reality (MR), which brings together real and virtual within a single display. The Virtuality continuum juxtaposes AR and Augmented Virtuality (AV). AR is mostly grounded in the real world, with a limited set of virtual objects mixed in. The inverse concept, AV, is conceived as a Virtual Environment with some real aspects - a recurring example for AV are video-textured avatars (showing a live video feed of real people) within a Virtual Environment. The boundary between AR and AV is not strictly defined.