XR glossary

Augmented Reality (AR)

Augmented reality (AR) is the real-time use of digital information in the form of text, graphics, audio and other virtual enhancements integrated with real-world objects. It is this “real world” element that differentiates AR from virtual reality.

AR can be experienced using a smartphone or wearable devices such as smart glasses. AR integrates and adds value to the user’s interaction with the real world, versus a simulation.

ARCore

ARCore is a platform for building augmented reality apps on Android.

ARKit

ARKit is Apple's augmented reality development platform for iOS mobile devices.

AR Portal

A polygon or icon through which a user can pass in order to enter another zone of a virtual environment or to perform a user-specified command. 3D version of two-dimensional icons on a digital display.

Degrees of Freedom (DOF)

Degrees of freedom refers to the different degrees of movement available to an object inside a space.

Extended Reality (XR)

Extended Reality XR is an umbrella term, encompassing Virtual Reality (VR), Augmented Reality (AR) and Mixed Reality (MR) applications.

Field of View (FOV)

The field of view is the total number of degrees visible at any given moment from a given point of view.The average human field-of-view is approximately 200 degrees.

Haptic interfaces

Physical sensors which communicate sensory information, such as touch, to a user’s skin and transmit force feedback from their muscles and joints.

Head-mounted display (HMD)

Glasses, goggles, or helmet-like devices with small digital displays in front of each eye which allow a user to see 3D digital graphics. The HMD usually is connected to a head tracker so that the digital graphics change with the user’s head movements.

Heads-up display (HUD)

A digital display device through which a user can see virtual elements and digital graphics superimposed on the real world.

Head tracking

Head tracking is a process that monitors the current position and orientation of the user’s head. It allows the virtual point of view to follow around the user’s point of view, so user can turn his head and see different angles of the same scene within the VR environment.

Hologram

A hologram is a photographic recording of a light field, rather than of an image formed by a lens. It‘s used to visualize a fully three-dimensional image of a virtual object.

Internet of Things (IoT)

The Internet of Things (IoT) is the nervous system made up of billions of sensors connecting and controlling as many objects and infrastructures. Smart cities and Industry 4.0 run on IoT networks that allow buildings, machines, devices, and every other equipment to collect, process, and communicate data with one another.

In recent years, smart speakers and smartwatches transmitting information to other home appliances or devices are examples of IoT systems that entered our daily lives.

Industry 4.0

Industry 4.0 depicts a smart, fully interconnected factory with high levels of automation, welding together a diverse range of emerging technologies among which there are augmented reality, robots, Industrial Internet of (IIOT), big data and cloud.

In this space, machines, workstations and IT systems communicate and share data with one another across all process stages, from production to sales and marketing, which can be accessed real-time by workers through AR application on smart glasses to improve decision making.

Markerless Augmented Reality

Augmented reality programs which orient themselves in space without the use of specialized markers. Any physical object or surface can be recognized by the program and overlaid with holographic content.

Marker-Based Augmented Reality

An augmented reality program in which the camera must recognize a pre-determined physical object or image such as a table or a QR code to launch an AR experience. Distinct markers can open distinct AR experiences within the same application.

Mixed Reality (MR)

Mixed Reality (MR) is a type of hybrid system that involves both physical and virtual elements. This computer technologies that blend together people, places and objects from the physical and digital worlds to produce new environments and visualizations in real time.

Room-Scale VR

A fully immersive virtual reality experience in which a user is able to move about a virtual world in six degrees of freedom (6DOF). Room-scale VR is accomplished with a VR-capable headset tethered to a high-powered computer producing digital environments.

Smart Glasses

Wearable computer glasses that display information for the user. From field technicians to nurses to museum curators,smart glasses are being used in a wide variety of industries to help complete tasks, enable active learning, and assist with complex problem solving.

Spatial computing

A digital technology that interacts with people in places they live in. A spatial computer knows where it is in space and uses a variety of sensors and cameras to build an understanding of both its environment and its user.

This enables immersive, mixed-reality experiences that seamlessly blend the digital and the real world.

Virtual Reality (VR)

Virtual reality (VR) provides a computer-generated 3D environment (including both computer graphics and 360-degree video) that surrounds a user and responds to an individual’s actions in a natural way, usually through immersive headset displays.

It employs sight, sound, and other sensations to generate realistic, yet artificial environments. Gesture recognition or handheld controllers provide hand and body tracking, and haptic (or touch-sensitive) feedback may be incorporated.

Volumetric Capture

Capturing or scanning a physical object in order to create a digital 3D model of it.

Wearable Computer

Small computers and their corresponding displays which can be worn on one’s body. Wearable computers make it possible to increase the mobility of the general workforce by giving workers hands-free and remote access to critical information. Also known as wearables.

WebAR

Augmented reality experiences and applications which can be loaded onto a user’s browser through a website. Has the potential to make AR more accessible to a greater number of users.