Changing Realities for Business

Chapter 4. Building Out the Augmented Reality and Internet of Things Layer

Although Chapter 3 and this chapter both have case studies, Chapter 3 shows how companies are currently using augmented reality (AR), whereas this chapter looks at how to integrate new tech with old machines and ways of working. It’s a topic that’s important for a book that speaks to the business of AR; if you’re working inside an older or a more traditional business (or selling to one), half of your job is building the technology—the other half is explaining it and having it accepted.

This advice and insight can help.

Using AR to Help Visualize Sensor Data

Not only is the history of AR-enabling devices like tablets and wearables systems important to discuss—there’s an evolution of sensors that is relevant, too.

The kinds of sensors we have in modern consumer devices were once so expensive that only NASA could afford to invent (as well as build) them. If you look around the world today, many things are sensor-enabled or controlled—consider that every automobile is filled with hundreds of sensors, for example, one for the crankshaft, one to measure fuel vapor pressure, one for vehicle speed, one for camshaft angle, door ajar, seat pressure, seatbelt, spark knock, and on and on. It’s actually really interesting the number and variety of sensors that exist.

Here’s a primer for those who are new to how all this works:

Walk onto an ordinary factory floor and you’ll see dozens of sensors on any given machine. ...