3DVN: A Mixed Reality Platform for Mobile Navigation Assistance

Report, 2006

We present 3DVN, a Mixed Reality platform for navigation assistance in indoor environments. Built on top of a PC-based wearable computer running the Windows operating system, the platform provides a multimodal user interface for navigating in existing physical buildings, including wireless networking, data glove gestural input, voice communication, head-mounted display, and a 3DOF head tracker. Local positioning is performed using a software-only positioning engine making use of WLAN features for accurately pinpointing the mobile device in three dimensions. The 3DVN system has been implemented as a proof-of-concept of a navigation guidance support device for visitors, and has been field-tested with human subjects in the student center of our university. Informal evaluation of subject ratings indicate a strong interest for the new system, both for guests as well as people familiar with the campus and the building.