Abstract
Data and services are available anywhere at any time thanks to the Internet and mobile devices. Nowadays, there are new ways of representing data through trendy technologies such as augmented reality (AR), which extends our perception of reality through the addition of a virtual layer on top of real-time images. The great potential of unmanned aerial vehicles (UAVs) for carrying out routine and professional tasks has encouraged their use in the creation of several services, such as package delivery or industrial maintenance. Unfortunately, drone piloting is difficult to learn and requires specific training. Since regular training is performed with virtual simulations, we decided to propose a multiplatform cloud-hosted solution based in Web AR for drone training and usability testing. This solution defines a configurable trajectory through virtual elements represented over barcode markers placed on a real environment. The main goal is to provide an inclusive and accessible training solution which could be used by anyone who wants to learn how to pilot or test research related to UAV control. For this paper, we reviewed drones, AR, and human–drone interaction (HDI) to propose an architecture and implement a prototype, which was built using a Raspberry Pi 3, a camera, and barcode markers. The validation was conducted using several test scenarios. The results show that a real-time AR experience for drone pilot training and usability testing is achievable through web technologies. Some of the advantages of this approach, compared to traditional methods, are its high availability by using the web and other ubiquitous devices; the minimization of technophobia related to crashes; and the development of cost-effective alternatives to train pilots and make the testing phase easier for drone researchers and developers through trendy technologies.
Highlights
The great advantage of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) usage includes the exploration of locations that are difficult to access and data gathering from an aerial perspective, which makes it useful in different areas and scenarios
The control of a real UAV is not included in the developed prototype, since the focus of this work is the development of a solution complementary to the control, based on the enhancement of real-world images captured in real time with virtual elements
This study resulted in the proposal of a solution that enables a novel augmented reality (AR) application for UAV pilot training and assessment, considering the remote control of the vehicle from a non immersive exocentric point of view
Summary
The great advantage of unmanned aerial vehicle (UAV) usage includes the exploration of locations that are difficult to access and data gathering from an aerial perspective, which makes it useful in different areas and scenarios. To the best of our knowledge, there are no proposals considering the development of a Web AR solution that takes advantage of visual markers to create virtual obstacle courses and integrate a UAV test framework or a dynamic hintbased circuit to train UAV piloting skills. These contributions show the feasibility of combining HDI and AR to build a costeffective training solution using visual markers, which opens many possibilities for future applications that can help boost multimedia experiences from an aerial perspective. The document’s structure is as follows: Section 2 presents an overview about drones and AR, as well as the related work about the relationship between UAVs and the emergent reality technologies, focusing on training and assessment research; Section 3 describes the solution and its architecture; Section 4 presents the development and evaluation of the functional prototype; and Section 5 presents the conclusions and prospects for future work
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