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Proc. of Int. Conf. on Recent Trends in Communication and Computer Networks

Augmented Reality for Fire & Emergency Services Aameer R. Wani1, Sofi Shabir2, Roohie Naaz2 National Institute of Technology/Department of IT, Srinagar, India 1 Email: aameer.rafiq@gmail.com 2 Email: {shabir, roohie}@nitsri.net Abstract— this paper presents a proposed system for improving collaboration between different agencies and decision makers involved in a fire emergency situation with the help of wearable augmented reality (AR). This field considers the possibility of transcending the physical and territorial boundaries of a real space; [1] it is applicable to all time space configurations of hybrid (Real + Virtual) world. User interaction is through the use of hands and/or gestures. Rapid flow of information across different devices involved in the process such as head mounted display, PDA, laptop, data walls, and desktop is critical to allow this form of collaboration to be integrated with adaptive context aware work environments based on workflow management systems. Functionality of such form of collaboration system is illustrated in the scenario of a fire emergency situation. Index Terms—augmented reality; fire and emergency Services; disaster management; workflow management; Collaboration

I. INTRODUCTION Augmented Reality (AR) is a variation of Virtual Environments (VE), or Virtual Reality as it is more commonly called. VE technologies completely immerse a user inside a synthetic environment. While immersed, the user cannot see the real world around him. In contrast, AR allows the user to see the real world, with virtual objects superimposed upon or composited with the real world. Therefore, AR supplements reality, rather than completely replacing it. Ideally, it would appear to the user that the virtual and real objects coexisted in the same space, Figure 1 shows an example of what this might look like. It shows a real desk with a real phone. Inside this room are also a virtual lamp and two virtual chairs. Note that the objects are combined in 3-D, so that the virtual lamp covers the real table, and the real table covers parts of the two virtual chairs. AR can be thought of as the "middle ground" between VE (completely synthetic) and telepresence (completely real) [2].

Figure 1. Real Desk with virtual lamp and two virtual chairs. (Courtesy ECRC)

DOI: 03.LSCS.2013.7.590 © Association of Computer Electronics and Electrical Engineers, 2013


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