The scope of this activity was to study the utility of using the MetaVision augmented reality (AR) device to support the target users. 

 

The goal of the HIRT effort was to conduct a focused, short-duration exploration effort consistent with the principles and accepted practices of agile development. The intent is to explore and better understand the potentially broad problem space (with respect to user and technical environments) presented at the project kickoff and to map likely solution paths through that space, as a precursor to entering full-scale iterative, incremental product development. 

 

At the time of the project, the AR industry was young, but technology changes very rapidly and our recommendation was to keep monitoring the industry with new devices and platforms. It is widely accepted that AR will be a huge area in the near future, so technology companies are highly motivated to solve the limitations called out in this paper. The first company to solve all the issues stands to dominate the emerging market. 

 

The security requirements may drive a need for custom hardware development. It will be important to form and maintain good relationships with the various technology vendors. 

 

Another area worthy of additional study is to provide shielding or cancelling technology and other precautions to make it possible to bring non-tethered devices (Wi-Fi and Bluetooth) into controlled facilities. While this seems like a big stretch, the technology companies are pulling away from tethers. Relying on custom-built hardware, it is unlikely that hardware will be upgraded at the same rate as the commercial hardware, and it will not be able to take advantage of any improvements in field of view, tracking stability, resolution, and image quality that are certain to occur over the course of the next few years. Having the flexibility to adapt to new hardware quickly will have a number of advantages.