Augmented Reality for Enterprise Alliance

Augmented Reality Functional Requirements

As part of the AREA’s mission to accelerate the adoption of Enterprise Augmented Reality (AR) by creating a comprehensive ecosystem, we are pleased to share with you the world’s first AR hardware and software functional requirements.

Outcome of Chicago Workshop Requirements Session, February 2018

At the 2018 AREA/DMDII workshop in Chicago, Dr Michael Rygol and Glen Oliver provided an update on the current state of AREA requirements. One topic presented was the proposed ‘AREA Schema of Needs’. This was followed by a group exercise.  The audience was split into 17 table groups, each with a mix of people from industrial users, commercial suppliers and academics. The idea was to get a blend of perspectives for the group activity.

Armed with a set of templates, the 17 teams were set the following exercise:

  1. Choose your industry and setting
  2. Provide a written definition of the scenario
  3. Highlight the “use case” chunks that form the scenario
  4. Describe at least three of the supporting use cases
  5. Capture some of the derived requirements/needs
  6. Construct a maturity model
  7. BONUS: Describe the value proposition of using AR in this scenario

Whilst each team was given a high-level scenario (e.g. “manufacturing operation” or “design review”), they were free to choose their own.

One objective for the exercise was to use the outputs from the team as further content for helping populate a future database. An additional objective was to mix the attendees and have them focused on articulating scenarios, use cases and requirements in a structured way that can also be tied back to business value.

The scenarios discussed included (but were not limited to) the following:

  • Remote design review
  • City building planning
  • Factory floor – optics manufacturing
  • Optimising manufacturing operations
  • Onsite field service task
  • New product training – customer
  • New equipment commissioning
  • Domestic owner repair procedure
  • Assembly assistance
  • Maintenance for new staff
  • Collaborative landing gear inspection
  • ‘Unusual’ field service tasks
  • Construction design change optimisation
  • Multi-stakeholder design review

 

The digitized transcription of the outputs of the groups’ activity is captured here:

AR Functional Requirements-Hardware

AREA&DMDII Team Transcripts

Augmented Reality Functional Requirements

Our Augmented Reality Functional Requirements were initially created through a collaboration between UI LABS and the AREA and delivered through a project led by Lockheed Martin, Caterpillar and Procter & Gamble.

In March 2017, 65 organizations — including industry, AR providers, universities, and government agencies — came together for a workshop to discuss the requirements and offer insights into their challenges and needs in order to further develop the guidelines.

It’s important for any new global ecosystem to agree on a baseline set of requirements. They can act as a benchmark, help to create a shared understanding and language, and provide direction to the Enterprise AR ecosystem.

For Enterprises: AR functional requirements encourage interoperability, make RFPs easier to create, and provide a clear understanding of what is required.

For AR Providers: AR functional requirements clarify what enterprises need to make AR projects successful, which can then be used to influence development road-maps and future product launches.

The documents below include requirements outlining:

 

The AR functional requirements are living documents that, under the aegis of the AREA, will be further developed and expanded to provide an ongoing, comprehensive statement of what industry needs for a single solution to meet its future needs. To support their ongoing development, the AREA is creating a Functional Requirements Committee (made up of AREA members) the goal of which is to ensure the requirements become an increasingly integral, relevant and important resource in the development of the Enterprise AR ecosystem.

Committee members will be tasked to establish the processes, tools, governance and strategy to ensure that all players have a say. The AREA Functional Requirements Committee will have ultimate responsibility for keeping the requirements updated and relevant.

More work is going on in the background to create simple and effective ways to engage with the requirements and ensure the you can have your say.

Look for more updates to follow, but in the meantime please feel free to leave a comment about the requirements or this process.