Enhancement of user awareness of virtual content in augmented reality

Augmented reality (AR) technology combines the virtual and real world by superimposing virtual content onto the real-world environment. A key element that allows the user to view the virtual content combined with the real world is the AR display. While there is a wide variety of AR displays such as hand-held displays, projection-based displays, and head-mounted displays, the AR display field of view is limited compared to the typical human vision field of view. Consequently, the AR user can only perceive and interact with the virtual content through a limited view window. To address this problem, this research project has developed and evaluated the use of different AR notification alerts to enhance the AR user awareness of the virtual content out of their AR display's field of view. The alerts include on-screen AR notifications with both passive and active user interfaces, and 3D register notifications with both passive and active user interfaces. In a user study (n=24), the use of AR on-screen notifications with passive UI has been shown to alert and guide the AR user to virtual content out of their field view faster than the other three configurations. In addition, to validate the use of notifications to enhance the user's limited field of view, a study was conducted (n=46) to evaluate the use of notifications in a collaborative work environment with a limited field of view. The study compared the performance of participants in a collaborative work environment with and without the use of notifications. The study demonstrated that the participants that performed the collaborative tasks with the used notifications completed their task faster and made fewer mistakes than the control group that performed their collaborative task without the use of notifications.