Mixed Reality: Survey

Book chapter, 2009

This chapter presents an overview of the Mixed Reality (MR) paradigm, which proposes to overlay our real-world environment with digital, computer-generated objects. It presents example applications and outlines limitations and solutions for their technical implementation. In MR systems, users perceive both the physical environment around them and digital elements presented through, for example, the use of semitransparent displays. By its very nature, MR is a highly interdisciplinary field engaging signal processing, computer vision, computer graphics, user interfaces, human factors, wearable computing, mobile computing, information visualization, and the design of displays and sensors. This chapter presents potential MR applications, technical challenges in realizing MR systems, as well as issues related to usability and collaboration in MR. It separately presents a section offering a selection of MR projects which have either been partly or fully undertaken at Swiss universities and rounds off with a section on current challenges and trends.