Realistic reflections for Marine environment in augmented reality training systems

Abstract

Training systems for emerging threats often require complex, realistic and flexible scenarios. Two recent studies analyzed small boat swarming attacks and found that no adequate training systems exist, particularly since live-firing at multiple targets is impractical. Augmented Reality (AR)--compositing real environments and simulated objects--can overcome this training gap as it allows replacing real ammunition and targets with virtual rounds and boats. Recent advancements in AR address the generation and display of shadows and lighting effects from the virtual objects onto the real scene. However, creating maritime AR environments bears additional difficulties due to the ocean's dynamics and its reflective surface. This thesis presents methods for creating realistic reflections of computer-generated ships on live ocean video. After mirroring the ship, a custom graphics shader is applied to the reflection to distort the reflection and to smoothly blend it with the background ocean video. A user study was conducted in which the participants had to determine the authenticity of real and automatically augmented images, yielding over 30% of augmented images to be considered authentic. improve an AR training system for shipboard personnel in small boat defense, other high-fidelity augmentations for marksmanship or convoy training improve immersion, hence, training effectiveness, and could ultimately save money, ships, and even lives.