Construction industry technologists are increasingly exploring the use of wearable devices. This post on the Construction Equipment Guide blog describes the benefits of sensors for context-specific and hands-free wearable displays. Although the example scenario is one using Google Glass, the post points out that smart watches could also play a role in streamlining business processes.

The post continues by describing the role for thermal imaging technologies, new protective equipment, such as the DAQRI Smart Helmet, drones and phablets. According to the post, deployment of smart helmets on the job may improve “productivity, safety and efficiency by allowing project data to be streamed and work instructions to be seen all in the context of the job being done. Sensors can alert a worker to impending danger.”

In this new post on Digi-Capital’s blog, the company announced that has completed the first technical benchmarking of AR/VR head-mounted displays.

There are 26 benchmarks across seven success factors, including:
– Mobility<br/ > – Vision<br/ > – Immersion
– Usability
– Flexibility
– Wearability
– Affordability

The infographic provides suggested targets for each of these factors. It is unclear from the blog post if the company has actually purchased all the models of hardware or if this is purely a desk exercise. More details are available for customers who purchase the company’s 3rd quarter report.

The level of hype surrounding HoloLens just took another boost into the stratosphere. In an article on ZDnet, Mary Jo Foley reports that Microsoft put its new transparent holographic head-worn display in its own glass display case in the company’s first New York City flagship store, which opened on October 30.

Like Apple stores, Microsoft stores permit the general public to try out hardware that they may wish to purchase. The new store features the XBox One and a wide range of laptops for personal use.

Maybe there’s more to Microsoft’s store strategy than meets the eye? The fact that the store also has a Surface Hub, a system clearly aiming corporate customers, prompted ars technica’s Peter Bright to speculate in this article about the store’s opening, that the company’s future plans for stores may include greater emphasis on permitting corporate buyers to try out enterprise solutions, including the HoloLens.

Urban development is a heavily regulated process. Regulations about what can be built, materials for building and the infrastructure to support new construction or renovations protect businesses and consumers from a variety of risks to life and property. But regulations can also be highly complex and difficult to visualize in the urban landscape.

This article in the Wall Street Journal describes the use of a mobile Augmented Reality system to help architects, elected officials and others visualize the possible future scenarios in Jersey City, New Jersey. Residential development is booming in Jersey City. There are 8,000 apartments under construction and 18,000 approved projects on the way. However, commercial projects have an additional layer of complexity that is difficult for potential project partners to understand. Using mobile technology is making it easier for stakeholders to understand and engage in productive dialog.

Rokitt, a custom application development company focusing on emerging technologies, issued a press release describing its application, called ‘Jersey City ROARs,’ and demonstrated it at the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat Conference in New York.

University faculty and students are increasingly studying Augmented Reality-related research topics. Although the scope of what might be included as AR-related research could be the topic of its own dissertation, most recognize that Augmented Reality is a new mode of human computer interaction.

In his doctoral thesis published recently by University of Deusto (Bilbao, Spain), Dr. Mikel Salazar proposes a novel HCI model that takes advantage of the new capabilities of Augmented Reality systems to facilitate the construction of user interfaces embedded into the real world. The paradigm Salazar proposes in his thesis allows both developers and end users to create—and share—user experiences beyond those offered with a traditional two dimensional paradigm. Traditionally, the user selects either by pointing directly towards the desired item (in the case of touch-screens and 3D scanners) or by defining a selection box/cursor over it (using a mouse or keyboard).

The new 3D HCI Salazar proposes defines a new basic pointing mechanism. By selecting two points in three-dimensional space (either with a gaze/hand tracking system or, indirectly, with a 3D mouse), the user generates a virtual ray that, once projected onto the virtual scene, determines which objects are to be selected (based on the collision points between the ray and the objects).

Getting good and unbiased information about Augmented Reality in front of large audiences can be challenging. When Fast Company picked up and published a new infographic of the landscape of technology providers offering Augmented Reality it was shared quickly and went viral.

Originally published earlier this month in a blog post by Manatt Digital Media, a professional services provider in this market, the infographic shows interesting data and a landscape depicted as a Venn diagram.

Although not focusing on enterprise uses or technology providers the infographic shows players in the three essential elements of Augmented Reality: content, hardware and software.

Mobile network providers are beginning to experiment with 5G technology. One of the benefits of 5G is network slicing. According to an article published on Total Telecom web site, “network slicing makes use of software-defined networking (SDN) and network functions virtualisation (NFV) to partition a single physical network into multiple virtual networks with capacity and coverage tailored to meet the individual requirements of a diverse range of use cases. With network slicing, a mobile operator can provide networks on an as-a-service basis, for example using one slice to meet the needs of low-capacity, massive machine-to-machine (M2M) communication services, and another to cater to bandwidth-hungry, low latency services such as automated driving.” The benefit is that data packets traversing one slice do not adversely affect the operation of other services using the same network.

In a collaborative project publicized in the Total Telecom editorial, SK Telecom and Ericsson report that they have demonstrated their ability to create different virtual network slices optimized for Augmented Reality services.

Lockheed Martin continues to develop its Augmented Reality programs. In this post on the Washington Post website, the company is promoting its research on the benefits of training military personnel using the technology. The short editorial features several projects in the past and mentions that researchers at Lockheed Martin’s Human Immersive Lab continue to invest in new features to reduce time to train and improve pilot performance.

The post also quotes James Oliver, director of the Virtual Reality Applications Center at Iowa State University, which conducts Augmented Reality effectiveness and impact studies for industry leaders (such as AREA sponsor member Boeing).

UI Labs, a Chicago-based research and commercialization collaborative organization, bringing universities, industry and government together, is turning its attention to Augmented Reality. At the Digital Manufacturing Design Innovation Institute (DMDII), a manufacturing research laboratory within UI Labs, researchers are studying how Augmented Reality can support and improve heavy equipment design and service.

In an editorial on Equipment World blog, Wayne Grayson, online editor, describes what he was shown during a recent DMDII tour. He reports that Caterpillar is actively researching the use of Augmented Reality to train service technicians. A video published in conjunction with the release of the editorial illustrates the use cases and shows performance. Grayson was able to see virtual objects on screen in order to isolate the part of the machine in need of service, then to see an outline of parts for which the service technician is looking. Once located, a list of steps assist the technician with the workflow.

The tech media is ablaze with the announcement that Amazon has been awarded a patent by the US Patent Office for a novel hands-free display system. This post on Recode.net is among those which points out that, unlike many other hands-free displays, the proposed Amazon system, described at the time of filing in 2013, relies on a tablet or another companion computing device.

Amazon’s patent also covers the ability for the display to switch between transparent and opaque properties upon the user’s request. When the display is opaque, the system produces a fully immersive experience. This can be either for looking at still images, watching video content or interacting in a VR world. When transparent, the system supports Augmented Reality experience delivery.

Of course, there remains significant investment between a patent and the introduction of a commercial hardware product. Getting hardware to commercial success is also a long term, expensive journey and the competition in this product class is steep.