Training on LSA lifeboat operation using Mixed Reality

Background This work aims to provide an overview of the Mixed Reality(MR)technology’s use in maritime industry for training purposes.Current training procedures cover a broad range of procedural operations for Life-Saving Appliances(LSA)lifeboats;however,several gaps and limitations have been identified related to the practical training that can be addressed through the use of MR.Augmented,Virtual and Mixed Reality applications are already used in various fields in maritime industry,but their full potential have not been yet exploited.SafePASS project aims to exploit MR advantages in the maritime training by introducing a relevant application focusing on use and maintenance of LSA lifeboats.Methods An MR Training application is proposed supporting the training of crew members in equipment usage and operation,as well as in maintenance activities and procedures.The application consists of the training tool that trains crew members on handling lifeboats,the training evaluation tool that allows trainers to assess the performance of trainees,and the maintenance tool that supports crew members to perform maintenance activities and procedures on lifeboats.For each tool,an indicative session and scenario workflow are implemented,along with the main supported interactions of the trainee with the equipment.Results The application has been tested and validated both in lab environment and using a real LSA lifeboat,resulting to improved experience for the users that provided feedback and recommendations for further development.The application has also been demonstrated onboard a cruise ship,showcasing the supported functionalities to relevant stakeholders that recognized the added value of the application and suggested potential future exploitation areas.Conclusions The MR Training application has been evaluated as very promising in providing a user-friendly training environment that can support crew members in LSA lifeboat operation and maintenance,while it is still subject to improvement and further expansion.

Video Conference System in Mixed Reality Using a Hololens

The mixed reality conference system proposed in this paper is a robust,real-time video conference application software that makes up for the simple interaction and lack of immersion and realism of traditional video conference,which realizes the entire process of holographic video conference from client to cloud to the client.This paper mainly focuses on designing and implementing a video conference system based on AI segmentation technology and mixed reality.Several mixed reality conference system components are discussed,including data collection,data transmission,processing,and mixed reality presentation.The data layer is mainly used for data collection,integration,and video and audio codecs.The network layer uses Web-RTC to realize peer-to-peer data communication.The data processing layer is the core part of the system,mainly for human video matting and human-computer interaction,which is the key to realizing mixed reality conferences and improving the interactive experience.The presentation layer explicitly includes the login interface of the mixed reality conference system,the presentation of real-time matting of human subjects,and the presentation objects.With the mixed reality conference system,conference participants in different places can see each other in real-time in their mixed reality scene and share presentation content and 3D models based on mixed reality technology to have a more interactive and immersive experience.

Adaptive Consistent Management to Prevent System Collapse on Shared Object Manipulation in Mixed Reality

A concurrency control mechanism for collaborative work is akey element in a mixed reality environment. However, conventional lockingmechanisms restrict potential tasks or the support of non-owners, thusincreasing the working time because of waiting to avoid conflicts. Herein, wepropose an adaptive concurrency control approach that can reduce conflictsand work time. We classify shared object manipulation in mixed reality intodetailed goals and tasks. Then, we model the relationships among goal,task, and ownership. As the collaborative work progresses, the proposedsystem adapts the different concurrency control mechanisms of shared objectmanipulation according to the modeling of goal–task–ownership. With theproposed concurrency control scheme, users can hold shared objects andmove and rotate together in a mixed reality environment similar to realindustrial sites. Additionally, this system provides MS Hololens and Myosensors to recognize inputs from a user and provides results in a mixed realityenvironment. The proposed method is applied to install an air conditioneras a case study. Experimental results and user studies show that, comparedwith the conventional approach, the proposed method reduced the number ofconflicts, waiting time, and total working time.

Web-based mixed reality video fusion with remote rendering

Background Mixed reality(MR)video fusion systems merge video imagery with 3D scenes to make the scene more realistic and help users understand the video content and temporal–spatial correlation between them,reducing the user′s cognitive load.MR video fusion are used in various applications;however,video fusion systems require powerful client machines because video streaming delivery,stitching,and rendering are computationally intensive.Moreover,huge bandwidth usage is another critical factor that affects the scalability of video-fusion systems.Methods Our framework proposes a fusion method for dynamically projecting video images into 3D models as textures.Results Several experiments on different metrics demonstrate the effectiveness of the proposed framework.Conclusions The framework proposed in this study can overcome client limitations by utilizing remote rendering.Furthermore,the framework we built is based on browsers.Therefore,the user can test the MR video fusion system with a laptop or tablet without installing any additional plug-ins or application programs.

Reliability Analysis of a Mixed Redundant Model in C 3I System

Aim To define a mixed redundant model(MRM), improving the reliability of C 3I system. Methods The model combined the technology characters of two? unit system with one warm stand by unit and function substitute system. The reliability and availability equations of MRM were deduced. Results and Conclusion Compared with several other reliability models, it has obvious effect upon improving the system reliability. The effect? cost rate is very high among these models. The model can be used in reliability design, evaluation and check of C 3I system. Only a little attached cost is needed to improve C 3I system reliability effectively.

Responses of River Runoff to Climate Change Based on Nonlinear Mixed Regression Model in Chaohe River Basin of Hebei Province, China

Taking the nonlinear nature of runoff system into account,and combining auto-regression method and multi-regression method,a Nonlinear Mixed Regression Model (NMR) was established to analyze the impact of temperature and precipitation changes on annual river runoff process. The model was calibrated and verified by using BP neural network with observed meteorological and runoff data from Daiying Hydrological Station in the Chaohe River of Hebei Province in 1956–2000. Compared with auto-regression model,linear multi-regression model and linear mixed regression model,NMR can improve forecasting precision remarkably. Therefore,the simulation of climate change scenarios was carried out by NMR. The results show that the nonlinear mixed regression model can simulate annual river runoff well.

Application of Mixed Reality Technology in Visualization of Medical Operations

With the continuous progress of virtual simulation technology,medical surgery visualization system has been developed from two-dimensional to three-dimensional,from digital to network and intelligentization.The visualization system with mixed reality technology will also be used in all stage of medical surgery,such as case discussion,surgical planning,intraoperative guidance,post-operative evaluation,rehabilitation,so as to further promote high intelligence,high precision of medical surgery,and consequently improve effectiveness of treatment and quality of medical service.This paper discusses the composition and technical characteristics of medical operation visualization system based on mixed reality technology,and introduces some typical applications of mixed reality technology in medical operation visualization,which provides a new perspective for the application of mixed technology in medical surgery.

Mixed Reality-based Interactive Technology for Aircraft Cabin Assembly

Due to the narrowness of space and the complexity of structure, the assembly of aircraft cabin has become one of the major bottlenecks in the whole manufacturing process. To solve the problem, at the beginning of aircraft design, the different stages of the lifecycle of aircraft must be thought about, which include the trial manufacture, assembly, maintenance, recycling and destruction of the product. Recently, thanks to the development of the virtual reality and augmented reality, some low-cost and fast solutions are found for the product assembly. This paper presents a mixed reality-based interactive technology for the aircraft cabin assembly, which can enhance the efficiency of the assemblage in a virtual environment in terms of vision, information and operation. In the mixed reality-based assembly environment, the physical scene can be obtained by a camera and then generated by a computer. The virtual parts, the features of visual assembly, the navigation information, the physical parts and the physical assembly environment will be mixed and presented in the same assembly scene. The mixed or the augmented information will provide some assembling information as a detailed assembly instruction in the mixed reality-based assembly environment. Constraint proxy and its match rules help to reconstruct and visualize the restriction relationship among different parts, and to avoid the complex calculation of constraint＇s match. Finally, a desktop prototype system of virtual assembly has been built to assist the assembly verification and training with the virtual hand.

Application value of mixed reality in hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma

BACKGROUND As a new digital holographic imaging technology,mixed reality(MR)technology has unique advantages in determining the liver anatomy and location of tumor lesions.With the popularization of 5 G communication technology,MR shows great potential in preoperative planning and intraoperative navigation,making hepatectomy more accurate and safer.AIM To evaluate the application value of MR technology in hepatectomy for hepatocellular carcinoma(HCC).METHODS The clinical data of 95 patients who underwent open hepatectomy surgery for HCC between June 2018 and October 2020 at our hospital were analyzed retrospectively.We selected 95 patients with HCC according to the inclusion criteria and exclusion criteria.In 38 patients,hepatectomy was assisted by MR(Group A),and an additional 57 patients underwent traditional hepatectomy without MR(Group B).The perioperative outcomes of the two groups were collected and compared to evaluate the application value of MR in hepatectomy for patients with HCC.RESULTS We summarized the technical process of MR-assisted hepatectomy in the treatment of HCC.Compared to traditional hepatectomy in Group B,MR-assisted hepatectomy in Group A yielded a shorter operation time(202.86±46.02 min vs 229.52±57.13 min,P=0.003),less volume of bleeding(329.29±97.31 mL vs 398.23±159.61 mL,P=0.028),and shorter obstructive time of the portal vein(17.71±4.16 min vs 21.58±5.24 min,P=0.019).Group A had lower alanine aminotransferas and higher albumin values on the third day after the operation(119.74±29.08 U/L vs 135.53±36.68 U/L,P=0.029 and 33.60±3.21 g/L vs 31.80±3.51 g/L,P=0.014,respectively).The total postoperative complications and hospitalization days in Group A were significantly less than those in Group B[14(37.84%)vs 35(60.34%),P=0.032 and 12.05±4.04 d vs 13.78±4.13 d,P=0.049,respectively].CONCLUSION MR has some application value in three-dimensional visualization of the liver,surgical planning,and intraoperative navigation during hepatectomy,and it significantly improves the perioperative outcomes of hepatectomy for HCC.

Mixed reality for visualization of orthopedic surgical anatomy

In the modern era,preoperative planning is substantially facilitated by artificial reality technologies,which permit a better understanding of patient anatomy,thus increasing the safety and accuracy of surgical interventions.In the field of orthopedic surgery,the increase in safety and accuracy improves treatment quality and orthopedic patient outcomes.Artificial reality technologies,which include virtual reality(VR),augmented reality(AR),and mixed reality(MR),use digital images obtained from computed tomography or magnetic resonance imaging.VR replaces the user’s physical environment with one that is computer generated.AR and MR have been defined as technologies that permit the fusing of the physical with the virtual environment,enabling the user to interact with both physical and virtual objects.MR has been defined as a technology that,in contrast to AR,enables users to visualize the depth and perspective of the virtual models.We aimed to shed light on the role that MR can play in the visualization of orthopedic surgical anatomy.The literature suggests that MR could be a valuable tool in orthopedic surgeon’s hands for visualization of the anatomy.However,we remark that confusion exists in the literature concerning the characteristics of MR.Thus,a more clear description of MR is needed in orthopedic research,so that the potential of this technology can be more deeply understood.

Uses of a dedicated 3D reconstruction software with augmented and mixed reality in planning and performing advanced liver surgery and living donor liver transplantation(with videos)

The development of digital intelligent diagnostic and treatment technology has opened countless new opportunities for liver surgery from the era of digital anatomy to a new era of digital diagnostics,virtual surgery simulation and using the created scenarios in real-time surgery using mixed reality.In this article,we described our experience on developing a dedicated 3 dimensional visualization and reconstruction software for surgeons to be used in advanced liver surgery and living donor liver transplantation.Furthermore,we shared the recent developments in the field by explaining the outreach of the software from virtual reality to augmented reality and mixed reality.

Electro-oxidation of mixed reactants of ethanol and formate on Pd/C in alkaline fuel cells

Direct ethanol fuel cells have attracted attention as an alternative energy technology due to several advantages such as high theoretical energy density and abundant supply of ethanol.In spite of the advantages,commercialization of direct ethanol fuel cells is hampered by the relatively low performance caused by its slow oxidation kinetics and difficulty of complete oxidation.In this study,formate,which has relatively faster oxidation kinetics,was mixed with ethanol to compensate the latter’s sluggish kinetics.Effects of p H,concentration,scan rate,and temperature on the mixed reactants oxidation on Pd were investigated by electrochemical experiments such as potential sweep and potentiostatic methods.Furthermore,the potential of the mixed reactants as fuel was evaluated by single cell experiments.As a result,we demonstrate that mixing formate with ethanol results in enhanced power performance in a single cell system.

Evaluation and Optimization of the Mixed Redundancy Strategy in Cloud-Based Systems

Mixed redundancy strategies are generally used in cloud-based systems,with different node switch mechanisms from traditional fault-tolerant strategies.Existing studies often concentrate on optimizing a single strategy in cloud computing environment and ignore the impact of mixed redundancy strategies.Therefore,a model is proposed to evaluate and optimize the reliability and performance of cloud-based degraded systems subject to a mixed active and cold standby redundancy strategy.In this strategy,node switching is triggered by a continual monitoring and detection mechanism when active nodes fail.To evaluate the transient availability and the expected job completion rate of systems with such kind of strategy,a continuous-time Markov chain model is built on the state transition process and a numerical method is used to solve the model.To choose the optimal redundancy for the mixed strategy under system constraints,a greedy search algorithm is proposed after sensitivity analysis.Illustrative examples were presented to explain the process of calculating the transient probability of each system state and in turn,the availability and performance of the whole system.It was shown that the near-optimal redundancy solution could be obtained using the optimizationmethod.The comparison with optimization of the traditional mixed redundancy strategy proved that the system behavior was different using different kinds of mixed strategies and less redundancy was assigned for the new type of mixed strategy under the same system constraint.

Kinetics modeling for the mixed reforming of methane over Ni-CeO_2/MgAl_2O_4 catalyst

Kinetics model was developed for the mixed （steam and dry） reforming of methane, which is useful for the control of H2/CO ratio. The equilibrium constants of reaction rate were determined using the experimental equilibrium data at different reaction temperatures, while the forward reaction rate constants were estimated using the experimental data under non-equilibrium （high inert fraction and high space velocity） conditions. The comparison between calculated and experimental data clearly showed that the developed model described satisfactorily, and further analysis using the parametric sensitivity determined the wall temperature and CO2 fraction in the feed gas as effective parameters for the manipulation of CH4 conversion and H2/CO ratio of synthesis gas under the equilibrium condition. Meanwhile, the inert fraction, rather than the residence time, was selected as additional parameter under non-equilibrium condition.

Design and analysis of dual mixed refrigerant processes for high-ethane content natural gas liquefaction

Recovery and purification of ethane has a significant impact on economic benefit improvement of the high-ethane content natural gas.However,current LNG-NGL integrated processes mainly focus on conventional natural gas,which are not applicable to natural gas with high ethane content.To fill this gap,three dual mixed refrigerant processes are proposed for simulation study of high-ethane content natural gas liquefaction.The proposed processes are optimized by a combination method of sequence optimization and genetic algorithm.Comparatively analysis is conducted to evaluate the three processes from the energetic and exergetic points of view.The results show that the power consumption of Process 3 which compressing natural gas after distillation is the lowest.For safety or other considerations,some common compositions of the mixed refrigerant may need to be removed under certain circumstances.Considering this,case studies of mixed refrigerant involving six composition combinations are carried out to investigate the effects of refrigerant selection on the process performance.

Design of Teaching System of Industrial Robots Using Mixed Reality Technology

Traditional teaching and learning about industrial robots uses abstract instructions,which are difficult for students to understand.Meanwhile,there are safety issues associated with the use of practical training equipment.To address these problems,this paper developed an instructional system based on mixed-reality(MR)technology for teaching about industrial robots.The Siasun T6A-series robots were taken as a case study,and the Microsoft MR device HoloLens-2 was used as the instructional platform.First,the parameters of the robots were analyzed based on their structural drawings.Then,the robot modules were decomposed,and 1:1 three-dimensional(3D)digital reproductions were created in Maya.Next,a library of digital models of the robot components was established,and a 3D spatial operation interface for the virtual instructional system was created in Unity.Subsequently,a C#code framework was established to satisfy the requirements of interactive functions and data transmission,and the data were saved in JSON format.In this way,a key technique that facilitates the understanding of spatial structures and a variety of human-machine interactions were realized.Finally,an instructional system based on HoloLens-2 was established for understanding the structures and principles of robots.The results showed that the instructional system developed in this study provides realistic 3D visualizations and a natural,efficient approach for human-machine interactions.This system could effectively improve the efficiency of knowledge transfer and the student’s motivation to learn.

Design of Learning Media in Mixed Reality for Lao Education

To improve and develop education systems,the communication between instructors and learners in a class during the learning process is of utmost importance.Currently the presentations of 3D models using mixed reality(MR)technology can be used to avoid misinterpretations of oral and 2D model presentations.As an independent concept and MR applications,MR combines the excellent of each virtual reality(VR)and augmented reality(AR).This work aims to present the descriptions of MR systems,which include its devices,applications,and literature reviews and proposes computer vision tracking using the AR Toolkit Tracking Library.The focus of this work will be on creating 3D models and implementing in Unity 3D using the Vuforia SDK platform to develop VR and AR applications for architectural presentations.

Novel Architecture of OneM2M-Based Convergence Platform for Mixed Reality and IoT

There have been numerous works proposed to merge augmented reality/mixed reality(AR/MR)and Internet of Things(IoT)in various ways.However,they have focused on their specific target applications and have limitations on interoperability or reusability when utilizing them to different domains or adding other devices to the system.This paper proposes a novel architecture of a convergence platform for AR/MR and IoT systems and services.The proposed architecture adopts the oneM2M IoT standard as the basic framework that converges AR/MR and IoT systems and enables the development of application services used in general-purpose environments without being subordinate to specific systems,domains,and device manufacturers.We implement the proposed architecture utilizing the open-source oneM2M-based IoT server and device platforms released by the open alliance for IoT standards(OCEAN)and Microsoft HoloLens as an MR device platform.We also suggest and demonstrate the practical use cases and discuss the advantages of the proposed architecture.

Using Mixed Reality as a Simulation Tool in Urban Planning Project for Sustainable Development

Nowadays, urban design faces complex demands. It has become a necessity to negotiate between stakeholder objectives, the expectations of citizens and the demands of planning. It is desirable to involve the stakeholders and citizens from an early stage in the planning process to enable their different viewpoints to be successfully expressed and comprehended. Therefore, the basic aim of the study was how the MR （mixed reality） application is designed to encourage and improve communication on urban design among stakeholders and citizens？ In this paper, we discuss new approaches to visualize urban building and environment alternatives to different stakeholders and provide them with tools to explore different approaches to urban planning in order to support citizen＇s participation in urban planning with augmented and mixed reality. The major finding of the study is that learning ＂how these participatory technologies may help build a community of practice around an urban project＂. And throughout the different experiences, we can learn to assist towards development of a methodology to use the mixed reality as a simulation tool in the enhancement of collaborative interaction in real-Egyptian project. So, we can determine a number of recommendations to deal with new participatory design tools for urban planning projects.

A Mixed Reality System for Investigating Expert Characteristics on Recall of Situation Including Self-Motion

To study recall accuracy of the offensive and defensive situations including movements of elite-athlete/novice oneself, a novel experimental system was developed where defensive actions were performed by the subject with a CG （Computer Graphics） player who presented predetermined offensive actions. Both the CG player＇s movements and subject＇s movements were reproduced by a video using mixed reality technology for recall examination. This system was also designed to rearrange the natural sequence of image frames resulting in a reproducible video in which the time relation of offense and defense was falsified. Displacement of timing in the false video was twofold; delayed from the truth or advanced from the truth. Using this two-video, true/false imagery method, the subject was asked to select the true video by recall; thus it became possible to examine the recall accuracy quantitatively by controlling the timing displacement. Results of the experiment using this system revealed that karate expert possessed a skill to recognize the time relation between the opponent＇s movement and one＇s own movement perceptually that was more developed than that of the novice. It was further identified that the expert as well as the novice recognized delayed displacement more accurately than they could recognize advanced displacement.