RFID-assisted assembly guidance system in an augmented reality environment

Abstract

RFID technology provides an invisible 'visibility' to the end user for tracking and monitoring any objects that have been tagged. Research on the application of RFID in assembly lines for overall production monitoring and control has been reported recently. This paper presents a novel research on implementing the RFID technology in the application of assembly guidance in an augmented reality environment. Aiming at providing just-in-time information rendering and intuitive information navigation, methodologies of applying RFID, infrared-enhanced computer vision, and inertial sensor is discussed in this paper. A prototype system is established, and two case studies are presented to validate the feasibility of the proposed system. © 2011 Taylor & Francis.