A component-based approach towards mobile distributed and collaborative PTAM

Having numerous sensors on-board, smartphones have rapidly become a very attractive platform for augmented reality applications. Although the computational resources of mobile devices grow, they still cannot match commonly available desktop hardware, which results in downscaled versions of well known computer vision techniques that sacrifice accuracy for speed. We propose a component-based approach towards mobile augmented reality applications, where components can be configured and distributed at runtime, resulting in a performance increase by offloading CPU intensive tasks to a server in the network. By sharing distributed components between multiple users, collaborative AR applications can easily be developed. In this poster, we present a component-based implementation of the Parallel Tracking And Mapping (PTAM) algorithm, enabling to distribute components to achieve a mobile, distributed version of the original PTAM algorithm, as well as a collaborative scenario

Indefinite waitings in MIRELA systems

MIRELA is a high-level language and a rapid prototyping framework dedicated to systems where virtual and digital objects coexist in the same environment and interact in real time. Its semantics is given in the form of networks of timed automata, which can be checked using symbolic methods. This paper shows how to detect various kinds of indefinite waitings in the components of such systems. The method is experimented using the PRISM model checker.Comment: In Proceedings ESSS 2015, arXiv:1506.0325

Augmented Reality Model for Pre-School Learning

Science subject is very important to create scientific knowledge among students. In Malaysia, the implementation of the Science Curriculum is normally done via conventional approach. However, this approach is not able to attract students’ interests in exploring more knowledge. In addition, the students only acquire the basic knowledge without being able to visualize the subject matters. Thus, this study is aimed to apply Augmented Reality (AR) technology in teaching and learning of the Basic Science subject to overcome the issues. AR is the augmentation of the real world through the addition of three-dimensional (3D) virtual objects. AR has been proven as an effective method in delivering lessons to the students compared to conventional method. This study applied AR in preschool Basic Science subject that focused on the internal organ of human body known as the Muscular System. This study adapted AR with Experiential Learning Model (ELM) theory to construct the requirement model of the Augmented Reality for Learning in Muscular System (ARMS). The proposed model consisted of three (3) main components; i) Requirement to Implement AR in a Classroom (R-IARC), ii) High-Level Prototyping (HLP), and iii) Experiential Learning Model (ELM). The methodology in this study involved five (5) main phases; i) theoretical study, ii) preliminary study, iii) requirement model construction, iv) ARMS development, v) model evaluation by users and experts respectively. The requirement of the proposed model was collected using multiple facts finding techniques, namely interview, observation, and document reviews. The proposed model was validated using prototyping approach. The evaluation of the prototype was done by expert reviews and end-user acceptance study. The results of the evaluation showed that the ARMS was highly effective to be implemented in the teaching and learning of Basic Science subject. This is because it assists in explaining difficult topics. In addition, it has also been proven that the integration of the AR technology in teaching and learning is able to create an enjoyable environment because it is supported by the visualization of 3D virtual objects. As a result, the students were able to understand and recognize the functions, health, and diseases of the muscular system through ARMS. The study also found that the implementation of ARMS was able to increase the students’ cognitive development and enhance the students’ learning ability

Deadlock and temporal properties analysis in mixed reality applications

International audienceMixed reality systems overlay real data with virtual information in order to assist users in their current task, they are used in many fields (surgery, maintenance, entertainment). Such systems generally combine several hardware components operating at different time scales, and software that has to cope with these timing constraints. MIRELA, for Mixed Reality Language, is a framework aimed at modelling, analysing and implementing systems composed of sensors, processing units, shared memories and rendering loops, communicating in a well-defined manner and submitted to timing constraints. The paper describes how harmful software behaviour, which may result in possible hardware deterioration or revert the system's primary goal from user assistance to user impediment, may be detected such as (global and local) deadlocks or starvation features. This also includes a study of temporal properties resulting in a finer understanding of the software timing behaviour, in order to fix it if needed

An MDE-based framework to support the development of Mixed Interactive Systems

International audienceIn the domain of Human Computer Interaction (HCI), recent advances in sensors, communication technologies, miniaturization and computing capabilities have led to new and advanced forms of interaction. Among them, Mixed Interactive Systems (MIS), form a class of interactive systems that comprises augmented reality, tangible interfaces and ambient computing; MIS aim to take advantage of physical and digital worlds to promote a more transparent integration of interactive systems with the user's environment. Due to the constant change of technologies and the multiplicity of these interaction forms, specific development approaches have been developed. As a result, numerous taxonomies, frameworks, API and models have emerged, each one covering a specific and limited aspect of the development of MIS. To support a coherent use of these multiple development resources and contribute to the increasing popularity of MIS, we have developed a framework based on Model-Driven Engineering. The goal is to take advantage of Model-Driven Engineering (MDE) standards, methodology and tools to support the manipulation of complementary Domain Specific Languages (DSL), to organize and link the use of different design and implementation resources, and to ensure a rationalized implementation based on design choices. In this paper, we first summarize existing uses of MDE in HCI before focusing on five major benefits MDE can provide in a MIS development context. We then detail which MDE tools and resources support these benefits and thus form the pillars of the success of an MDE-based MIS development approach. Based on this analysis, we introduce our framework, called Guide-Me, and illustrate its use through a case study. This framework includes two design models. Model transformations are also included to link one model to another; as a result the frameworks coverage extends from the earliest design step to a software component-based prototyping platform. A toolset based on Eclipse Modeling Framework (EMF) that supports the use of the framework is also presented. We finally assess our MDE-based development process for MIS based on the five major MDE benefits for MIS

Component-based middleware for distributed augmented reality applications

International audienceThis paper describes the design and implementation of a middleware for a framework dedicated to Augmented Reality/Mixed Reality (AR/MR) applications. The goal is to offer an environment for the development of distributed applications running on mobile devices (wearable computers and/or smartphones). The paper first presents the main needs of an AR application and introduces the necessity of distribution in this field. Then we make a quick overview of existing distributed AR frameworks. The goal of this overview is to extract main features and strengths of each framework's architecture based on a set of defined criteria. This comparison being meant as a starting point to extend our own framework (ARCS: Augmented Reality Component System), the last section is about the design and implementation of our own software infrastructure for transparent distributed Augmented Reality taking in consideration our own goals and constraints and taking profit of the strengths of the studied existing frameworks

Evaluación de aplicaciones educativas de AR con estudiantes adultos

There is a growing interest in the educational applications of Augmented Reality (AR). While most applications of these technologies have been examined in the context of children education, our knowledge about their usefulness in adult education is deficient and particularly more in the category of Location-Based Augmented Reality (LBMAR) games, so the aim of this thesis is to examine the opinions of adult learners (young, middle-aged and elderly) about one particular LBMAR game, the “Ingress”. The main problems addressed by this research comprise questions relating to the usefulness of some key technological components of AR in education (secondarily) and to aspects of training adults by using AR (primarily). As concerns the technological aspects, i.e. "which one of the three types of AR (marker-based, markerless, location-based) is more often associated with naturalistic approaches and what are their relative advantages?”, this research showed that naturalistic approaches applied to marker-based AR enhance active participation in virtual environments, motivate learners, promote personal involvement in conquering new information, offer different perspectives of the content and arouse interest for knowledge. In the case of markerless AR, naturalistic designs foster participants’ collaboration in games, enhance interactivity, offer panoramic views, visualization, and the possibility to examine the role of visual controls. Moreover, naturalistic approaches applied to location-based AR are suitable for designing multidisciplinary applications, can be used for training and have the possibility to be designed so as to account for locality and context. The fact that, as appears from the peer-reviewed literature that was examined, the location-based AR technologies are more appropriate for education and for smartphones, hints that a deeper examination of their potential usefulness for education (and for adult education in particular) might be interesting. As concerns the educational aspects, which also constitute the main focus of the thesis, these focus on the exploration of the usefulness of the LBMAR game “Ingress” in adult education, by answering two intertwined questions: a) how to assess opinions of adult learners about the LBMAR game “Ingress”? and b) what do adult learners think about this game and how do they perceive its features? Providing answers to these questions is tantamount to receiving adequate results from quantitative and qualitative empirical research which would be designed so as to explore their opinions, views and attitudes with respect to this LBMAR game. Hence, 45 adult persons from Greece, aged 20 to 62,cooperated as subjects of this research. They followed a short introductory informal training (on AR, VR, MAR and the games that are relevant to these technologies) by the researcher of this thesis and were subsequently given the instructions of how to use “Ingress” on a smartphone. The quantitative research was carried out before and after training and all trainees participated by filling 31 Likert-type closed questions before and after training. The qualitative research was based on the analysis of their responses to two different sets of open-ended questions. The first set consisted in 5 such questions to which answered 24 participants and the second set had 2 broader questions to which responded 36 participants. This research showed the advantages for adult education of integrating the ARCS model into the learning phase of an LBMAR game. Specifically, it was shown that using Keller’s widely known “ARCS model” (Attention – Relevance – Confidence - Satisfaction) enabled the classification of users’ responses with respect to their interaction with the game and is therefore useful in evaluating adult education with LBMAR games. The players’ responses did not change linearly with their age and the training has had different impact on each age group of learners. Also, statistical analyses proved that training increased the scores of the factors of ARCS model. Other results of this research showed that those over 36 years old focused more on the facts that the play of “Ingress” is primarily a geographical game and its scenario reflects interesting discussions about the evolution of humanity. Participants in the age groups 20–35 and >52 agreed that the game does not have idle phases, that it combines excitement with insecurity, and that it is pleasant to play locally a game of planetary proportions.Another age-related observation concerned the answers to the question (“How do you feel when you endow the geographical space with personal preferences?”) between age groups with age groups agreeing in pairs: the first two age groups (20–30) and (30–40) agreed more than with the last two (40–50) and (50–60). Yet, in question “Do you think that the game offers opportunities for learning and teaching geography, building on your previous geographical knowledge?” , there was an overlap in the responses of participants among age groups. As for the first question, the most critical concept was: “the users feel a kind of nostalgia”, followed by the concept “the users consider portals as personal creations”. In the case of the second question, the most critical concept was that the participants believe that the game offers entirely new opportunities for education in geography, compared with their previous experiences. This fosters an evidence of constructivist approaches to adult education and, also, relevance of some other prominent theories of adult education such as humanism. Methodologically, this research it was shown that content analysis is a valuable method for exploring opinions and attitudes of adult users towards MAR games and Jaccard indices can be used to quantitatively explore themes emerging from content analysis. Content analysis was performed on the users’ responses qualitatively in order to identify characteristic sentences expressing attitudes and opinions. For the quantitative assessment of similarities between responses for each question and subconcept, the Jaccard similarity index was calculated pair-wise for every pair of participants. In addition to the Jaccard indices and furthering the scope of new methods for content analysis, this thesis shows how to use Social Network Analysis (SNA) to model concept maps, thus opening up excellent opportunities to create visualizations of concepts and their inter-relationships. Quantitative aspects of SNA analysis (i.e. by using radial centrality and information centrality) provide mechanisms suitable to measure internal relationships in concept maps (in addition to visual inspection) that would not otherwise be visible. Using SNA enabled the classification of users’ responses with respect to their interaction with the game and therefore was a fruitful approach for education that involves MAR games. Furthermore, with this novelty, it is shown how texts derived from interviews or from responses to open questions by different individuals can be analyzed both qualitatively and quantitatively with SNA. Concluding, this research has produced novelties at both the educational and the methodological levels. As concerns adult education, it was shown that i) LBMAR games are suitable for it, ii) adult education about them can be enhanced by following Keller’s ARCS model, iii) perception and satisfaction of adult learners depends on age, and iv) certain theories of adult education (i.e. constructivism and humanism) can be relevant when adult learners use LBMAR games such as “Ingress”. As concerns methods of educational research, this research suggested entirely new methods, for first time ever, for analyzing data that are derived from trainees' responses to open questions. These new methods are content analysis of the participants’ responses with the use of Jaccard indices and methods of SNA and can have a wider applicability to educational research.Existe un creciente interés por las aplicaciones educativas de la Realidad Aumentada (RA). Mientras que la mayoría de las aplicaciones de estas tecnologías se han examinado en el contexto de la educación infantil, nuestro conocimiento sobre su utilidad en la educación de adultos es deficiente y, en particular, más en la categoría de juegos de Realidad Aumentada Basada en la Localización (LBMAR), por lo que el objetivo de esta tesis es examinar las opiniones de los estudiantes adultos (jóvenes, de mediana edad y mayores) sobre un juego LBMAR, el "Ingress". Los principales problemas que aborda esta investigación comprenden cuestiones relacionadas con la utilidad de algunos componentes tecnológicos de la RA en la educación (secundariamente) y con aspectos de la formación de adultos mediante el uso de la RA (principalmente). En cuanto a los aspectos tecnológicos, es decir "¿cuál de los tres tipos de RA (basada en marcadores, sin marcadores, basada en la localización) se asocia más a los enfoques naturalistas y cuáles son sus ventajas relativas?", esta investigación demostró que los enfoques naturalistas aplicados a la RA basada en marcadores potencian la participación activa en entornos virtuales, motivan a los alumnos, promueven la implicación personal en la conquista de nueva información, ofrecen diferentes perspectivas del contenido y despiertan el interés por el conocimiento. En el caso de la RA sin marcadores, los diseños naturalistas fomentan la colaboración de los participantes en los juegos, mejoran la interactividad, ofrecen vistas panorámicas, visualización y la posibilidad de examinar los controles visuales. Además, los enfoques naturalistas aplicados a la RA basada en la localización son adecuados para el diseño de aplicaciones multidisciplinares, pueden utilizarse para la formación y tienen la posibilidad de diseñarse teniendo en cuenta la localidad y el contexto. El hecho de que, como se desprende de la literatura revisada por pares que se examinó, las tecnologías de RA basadas en la localización son más apropiadas para la educación y para los teléfonos smartphones, sugiere que podría ser interesante un examen más profundo de su utilidad potencial para la educación (y para la educación de adultos en particular). En cuanto a los aspectos educativos, que también constituyen el foco principal de la tesis, éstos se centran en la exploración de la utilidad del juego LBMAR "Ingress" en la educación de adultos, respondiendo a dos preguntas entrelazadas: a) ¿cómo evaluar las opiniones de los alumnos adultos sobre el juego LBMAR "Ingress"? y b) ¿qué piensan los alumnos adultos sobre este juego y cómo perciben sus características? Dar respuesta a estas preguntas equivale a recibir resultados adecuados de una investigación empírica, cuantitativa y cualitativa, que se diseñaría para explorar sus opiniones, puntos de vista y actitudes con respecto a este juego LBMAR. Por lo tanto, 45 personas adultas de Grecia, con edades entre 20 y 62 años, colaboraron como sujetos de esta investigación. Siguieron una breve formación informal introductoria por parte del investigador de esta tesis (sobre RA, realidad virtual, RA móvil, y sobre los juegos relacionados con estas tecnologías) y posteriormente se les dieron las instrucciones de cómo utilizar "Ingress" en un smartphone. La investigación cuantitativa se llevó a cabo antes y después de la formación y todos los alumnos participaron respondiendo a 31 preguntas cerradas del tipo Likert antes y después de la formación. La investigación cualitativa se basó en el análisis de sus respuestas a dos conjuntos diferentes de preguntas abiertas. El primer conjunto constaba de 5 preguntas de este tipo (a las que respondieron 24 participantes) y el segundo conjunto tenía 2 preguntas más amplias, a las que respondieron 36 participantes. La investigación cuantitativa mostró las ventajas para la educación de adultos de integrar el modelo ARCS en la fase de aprendizaje de un juego LBMAR. En concreto, se demostró que la utilización del conocido "modelo ARCS" de Keller (Atención - Relevancia - Confianza - Satisfacción) permitió clasificar las respuestas de los usuarios con respecto a sus interacciones con el juego y, también, es útil para evaluar la educación de adultos con juegos LBMAR. Las respuestas de los jugadores no cambiaron linealmente con su edad y el entrenamiento ha tenido un impacto diferente en cada grupo de edad de los alumnos. Además, los análisis estadísticos demostraron que el entrenamiento aumentó las puntuaciones de los factores del modelo ARCS. Otros resultados de esta investigación mostraron que los mayores de 36 años se centraron más en el hecho de que el juego "Ingress" es principalmente un juego geográfico y su escenario refleja interesantes debates sobre la evolución de la humanidad. Las opiniones de los participantes de los grupos de edad de 20-35 y >52 coincidieron en que el juego no tiene fases ociosas, que combina la emoción con la inseguridad y que es agradable jugar a nivel local a un juego de proporciones planetarias. Otra observación relacionada con la edad se refería a las respuestas a la pregunta ("¿Cómo te sientes cuando dotas al espacio geográfico de preferencias personales?") entre grupos de edad que coincidían: los dos primeros grupos de edad (20-30) y (30-40) estaban más de acuerdo que los dos últimos (40-50) y (50-60). Sin embargo, en la pregunta "¿Crees que el juego ofrece oportunidades para aprender y enseñar geografía, aprovechando tus conocimientos geográficos previos?" hubo un solapamiento en las respuestas de los participantes entre los grupos de edad. En cuanto a la primera pregunta, el concepto más crítico fue: "los usuarios sienten una especie de nostalgia", seguido del concepto "los usuarios consideran los portales como creaciones personales". En el caso de la segunda pregunta, el concepto más crítico fue que los participantes creen que el juego ofrece oportunidades totalmente nuevas para la educación en geografía en comparación con sus experiencias anteriores. Esto fomenta una evidencia de los enfoques constructivistas de la educación de adultos y, también, la relevancia de algunas otras teorías prominentes de la educación de adultos, como el humanismo. Metodológicamente, esta investigación demostró también que el análisis de contenido es un método valioso para explorar las opiniones y actitudes de los usuarios adultos hacia los juegos MAR y los índices de Jaccard pueden utilizarse para explorar cuantitativamente los temas que surgen del análisis de contenido. El análisis de contenido se realizó sobre las respuestas de los usuarios de forma cualitativa para identificar las frases características que expresan actitudes y opiniones. Para la evaluación cuantitativa de las similitudes entre las respuestas de cada pregunta y subconcepto, se calculó el índice de similitud de Jaccard por parejas para cada par de participantes. Además de los índices de Jaccard y de ampliar el alcance de los nuevos métodos de análisis de contenido, esta tesis muestra cómo utilizar el Análisis de Redes Sociales (Social Networks Analysis - SNA) para modelar los mapas conceptuales, abriendo así excelentes oportunidades para crear visualizaciones de los conceptos y sus interrelaciones. Los aspectos cuantitativos del análisis SNA (es decir mediante el uso de la centralidad radial y la centralidad de la información) proporcionan mecanismos adecuados para medir las relaciones internas en los mapas conceptuales (además de la inspección visual) que de otro modo no serían visibles. El uso del SNA permitió la clasificación de las respuestas de los usuarios con respecto a su interacción con el juego y, por lo tanto, fue un enfoque fructífero para la educación que involucra los juegos MAR. Además, con esta novedad, se muestra cómo los textos derivados de las entrevistas o de las respuestas a las preguntas abiertas de diferentes individuos pueden ser analizados tanto cualitativamente como cuantitativamente usando SNA. En conclusión, esta investigación ha aportado novedades, tanto a nivel educativo como metodológico. En lo que respecta a la educación de adultos, se ha demostrado que i) los juegos LBMAR son adecuados para ella, ii) la educación de adultos sobre ellos puede mejorarse siguiendo el modelo ARCS de Keller, iii) la percepción y la satisfacción de los alumnos adultos depende de la edad, y iv) ciertas teorías de la educación de adultos (es decir, el constructivismo y el humanismo) pueden ser relevantes cuando los alumnos adultos utilizan juegos LBMAR como "Ingress". En cuanto a los métodos de investigación educativa, esta investigación sugirió métodos totalmente nuevos para analizar los datos que se derivan de las respuestas de los alumnos a las preguntas abiertas. Estos nuevos métodos son el análisis de contenido de las respuestas de los participantes con el uso de los índices de Jaccard y los métodos de SNA y pueden tener una aplicabilidad más amplia a la investigación educativa