Mobile augmented reality-based visualization framework for lifecycle O&M support of urban underground pipe networks

Abstract

The structural deterioration of urban underground pipe networks is the accumulated combined effects of physical, environmental and operational factors during the whole lifecycle. Accurate on-site locating and mapping of pipes and their conditions has been a great challenge for construction, maintenance and emergency response in a dynamic manner. Existing approaches, mostly based on design-centric and static visualization, are unsuitable for implementation within the operation and maintenance (O&M) phase because they are performed in a completely virtual environment and are unable to interact with buried assets on site. An integrated hyperrealistic visualization framework based on mobile augmented reality (MAR) is developed to support various real-life project tasks for O&M support of urban underground pipe networks. The proposed approach consists of three parts: a cloud-based data management platform, a 3D visualization development platform, and a location-based registration method for MAR. A cloud–edge–mobile layer is proposed to manage, analyze, process and visualize multisource data, especially for dynamic data. Field experiments on a real-life urban gas pipe network were carried out to investigate the feasibility of the proposed framework to achieve informed O&M support. The results demonstrate that (1) a smartphone linked to a Lite RTK device allows for both accurate locating and easy operation; (2) both the 3D virtual digital model and the multisource data visually superimpose onto the realistic environment, enabling on-site human–machine interaction in a hyperrealistic manner; and (3) MAR-based immersive visualization contributes to avoiding excavation damage, improving O&M efficiency and assisting emergency responders to make timely and better–informed decisions based on multisource information fusion.