Improving AR visualizationwith Kalman filtering andhorizon-based orientation : – To prevent boats to run aground at sea

Abstract: This thesis researched the possibility of improving the compass of smartphones as theearth’s magnetic field is not strong and is easily disturbed, either by the environment ortechnology. The compass is used in Augmented Reality (AR) when the AR visualizationshould correspond to a position on earth. The issue lies in oscillating input values to thecompass that reduces the AR experience.To improve the AR experience without the use of external equipment, this work tried toboth filter the incoming values with a Kalman filter and to know the direction by capturingan image with a horizon that was image processed. The Kalman filter achieved a reductionin incoming disturbances and the horizon was matched against a panorama image thatwas generated from 3D data. The thesis starts off with requirements and contents of ARand goes through the different approaches that begins with a LAS point cloud and ends inmatching horizons with normalized cross-correlation.This thesis furthermore measures performance and battery drainage of the built applicationon three different smartphones that are nearly a year apart each. Drift was alsomeasured as it is a common issue if there is no earthly orientation to correct itself unto,for instance the magnetometer. This showed that these methods can be used on OnePlus2, Samsung Galaxy S7, and Samsung Galaxy S8, there is a steady performance and efficiencyincrease in each generation and that ARCore causes less drift. Furthermore thisthesis shows the difference between a compass and a local orientation with an offset.The application that was made focused to work at sea but it was also tested on buildingswith good results. The application also underwent usability tests that showed that theapplied functionalities improved the AR-experience. The conclusion shows that it is possibleto improve the orientation of smartphones. Albeit it can go wrong sometimes which iswhy this thesis also presents two ways to indicate that the heading is off.