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Abstract In‐field visual inspections have inherent challenges associated with humans such as low accuracy, excessive cost and time, and safety. To overcome these barriers, researchers and industry leaders have developed image‐based methods for automatic structural crack detection. More recently, researchers have proposed using augmented reality (AR) to interface human visual inspection with automatic image‐based crack detection. However, to date, AR crack detection is limited because: (1) it is not available in real time and (2) it requires an external processing device. This paper describes a new AR methodology that addresses both problems enabling a standalone real‐time crack detection system for field inspection. A Canny algorithm is transformed into the single‐dimensional mathematical environment of the AR headset digital platform. Then, the algorithm is simplified based on the limited headset processing capacity toward lower processing time. The test of the AR crack‐detection method eliminates AR image‐processing dependence on external processors and has practical real‐time image‐processing.
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Enabling human–infrastructure interfaces for inspection using augmented reality
Decaying infrastructure maintenance cost allocation depends heavily on accurate and safe inspection in the field. New tools to conduct inspections can assist in prioritizing investments in maintenance and repairs. The industrial revolution termed as “Industry 4.0” is based on the intelligence of machines working with humans in a collaborative workspace. Contrarily, infrastructure management has relied on the human for making day-to-day decisions. New emerging technologies can assist during infrastructure inspections, to quantify structural condition with more objective data. However, today’s owners agree in trusting the inspector’s decision in the field over data collected with sensors. If data collected in the field is accessible during the inspections, the inspector decisions can be improved with sensors. New research opportunities in the human–infrastructure interface would allow researchers to improve the human awareness of their surrounding environment during inspections. This article studies the role of Augmented Reality (AR) technology as a tool to increase human awareness of infrastructure in their inspection work. The domains of interest of this research include both infrastructure inspections (emphasis on the collection of data of structures to inform management decisions) and emergency management (focus on the data collection of the environment to inform human actions). This article describes the use of a head-mounted device to access real-time data and information during their field inspection. The authors leverage the use of low-cost smart sensors and QR code scanners integrated with Augmented Reality applications for augmented human interface with the physical environment. This article presents a novel interface architecture for developing Augmented Reality–enabled inspection to assist the inspector’s workflow in conducting infrastructure inspection works with two new applications and summarizes the results from various experiments. The main contributions of this work to computer-aided community are enabling inspectors to visualize data files from database and real-time data access using an Augmented Reality environment.
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- Award ID(s):
- 2024520
- PAR ID:
- 10348626
- Date Published:
- Journal Name:
- Structural Health Monitoring
- Volume:
- 20
- Issue:
- 4
- ISSN:
- 1475-9217
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1980 to 1996
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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- Free Publicly Accessible Full Text
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Accepted Manuscript1.0
- Journal Article:
- https://doi.org/10.1177/1475921720977017
