Augmented Reality, or AR for short, the reality augmented by computer-generated content, should finally be part of our everyday lives in the coming years. But before we all walk around with normal-sized glasses that constantly show us additional information or digitally beautify the environment, technology reaches working life, for example in logistics.
RFID tags are made visible
With the X-AR, researchers at the Media Lab of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology have now shown a system that is intended to help people in a warehouse to find goods – in which they are provided with data about where they are at any time via an AR headset . The special feature: The glasses come with a kind of X-ray vision and can locate products that are provided with RFID tags – i.e. small stickers with an integrated radio transmitter. And that even works if they are in cardboard boxes, wooden or plastic crates.
To do this, the X-AR combines the evaluation of radio signals from the RFID tags with an imaging radar process (SAR, synthetic aperture radar). Using augmented reality, the user is shown precise graphic information as to where the item they are looking for is located – from the colored marking on the packaging to the actual object. The current prototype is based on the Microsoft AR glasses HoloLens. This is supplemented by a specially developed antenna, which consists of flexible electronics and is attached to the HoloLens. This allows a so-called non-line-of-sight perception, i.e. a perception of things that are not in the field of vision – in this case the objects to which the RFID tags are attached.
Operation via AR menu
In practice, the wearer of the X-AR first selects the desired item via a menu. As is typical for HoloLens, it is operated by “tapping” with your finger on a virtual menu that is projected in front of the user. Then the search process starts, in which the antenna first emits radio signals to activate the RFID tags. They then send back their identification number. Then the navigation to the selected object begins via a virtual 3D map of the room. While the user moves, the position is recorded and constantly compared with the RFID radio signals. At the current stage of development of the headset, however, the range of the antenna’s radio signals is limited to three to four meters, which means that the objects being searched for must be within this radius.
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The searched object is finally highlighted in the form of a holographic sphere as a marker for the user. It then uses the hand tracking built into the HoloLens to ensure the user is actually grabbing the right item. According to the paper, the headset wearers were guided to the correct item they were looking for more than 95 percent of the time. The researchers state the accuracy of the localization to be 9.8 centimetres.
In a next research step, the Media Lab team is considering adapting the X-AR for other radio spectrums – such as the 5G band mmWave or WLAN – in order to not only detect RFID sources.
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