Early hands-on experiences with the augmented reality (AR) and mixed reality (MR) devices have given promising results for building evacuation applications. We have developed an integrated situational awareness mobile augmented reality (AR) application for smart campus planning, management, and emergency response. A range of use cases are tested, including data visualization and immersive data spaces, in-situ visualization of 3D models and full scale architectural form visualization. Through the visualization of integrated geographic information systems and real-time data analysis, our mobile application provides insights into operational implications and offers information to support effective decision-making. Using existing building features, we demonstrate how the mobile AR application provides contextualized 3D visualizations that promote and support spatial knowledge acquisition and cognitive mapping thereby enhancing situational awareness. The application was also built for Microsoft HoloLens, a device offering users a 3D, holographic view of building floor plans so that they can have a better perspective of the building, making it easier for them to find a way out of the building during the evacuation. Pilot studies were conducted with the system showing its partial success and demonstrated the effectiveness of the application in an emergency evacuation. Currently, our AR application supports the following features:
• scaling models
• loading 3d models of each floor plan of the building
• Including smoke and fire as well as animations.
• use pre-existing features (image markers) for object detection.
• positioning models relative to real markers
• contextualized 3D visualizations to enhances situational awareness
• user customizable tracking patterns
• support location based capability for calculating path to exit (safe zone).
Decision Making System
We are currently working on the following
• Develop decision making system to give user specific directions (w.r.p. to location) for evacuation.
• Recommend shortest path or recommended path to the user from a specific location.
• Develop voice commands for evacuation
AR System for building evacuation using HoloLens at UNT.
Screen Shot from HoloLens: showing building floor plan with fire and smoke
Screen Shot from HoloLens: showing building floor plan, fire and smoke triggered through a marker.
Closer view of campus library building
Side view of Computer Science Bldg.
Publications
Sharma, S., Engel, D., "Mobile augmented reality system for object detection, alert, and safety", Proceedings of the IS&T International Symposium on Electronic Imaging (EI 2023) in the Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality Conference, January 15-19, 2023.
Mannuru, N. R., Kanumuru, M., and Sharma, S., "Mobile AR application for navigation and emergency response", Proceedings of the IEEE International Conference on Computational Science and Computational Intelligence , (IEEE-CSCI-RTMC), Las Vegas, USA, December 14-16, 2022.
Stigall, J., Bodempudi, S.T., Sharma, S, Scribner, D., Grynovicki, J., Grazaitis, P., "Use of Microsoft HoloLens in indoor evacuation", International Journal of Computers and their Applications, IJCA, Vol. 26, No. 1, March 2019.
Stigall, J., Bodempudi, S.T., Sharma, S, Scribner, D., Grynovicki, J., Grazaitis, P., "Building Evacuation using Microsoft HoloLens", Proceedings of 27th International Conference on Software Engineering and Data Engineering (SEDE 2018), New Orleans, Louisiana, USA, pp. 20-25, October 8-10, 2018. [Best paper award finalist]
James Stigall and Dr. Sharad Sharma, "Mobile augmented reality application for building evacuation" , Poster Presentation, 11th Annual Grant Expo and Research day, Office of Research and Sponsored Programs (ORSP), Bowie State University, April 10, 2018. [Won first Prize]
Stigall, J., Sharma, S, "Mobile Augmented Reality Application for Building Evacuation Using Intelligent Signs", proceedings of ISCA 26th International Conference on Software Engineering and Data Engineering (SEDE-2017), pp. 19-24, San Diego,CA, USA, October 2-4, 2017.
Sharma, S, Jerripothula, S., "An indoor augmented reality mobile application for simulation of building evacuation", proceedings of SPIE conference on the Engineering Reality of Virtual Reality 2015, paper 9392-7, San Francisco, CA, USA, 9 - 10 February 2015.
