| Recent visitors to the University
of Southern California’s Integrated Media Systems Center (IMSC), a recently
graduated NSF Engineering Research Center dedicated to advancement of multimedia
sciences, engineering, and education, have been drawn to Augmented Virtual
Environment (AVE) technology that fuses multiple real-time video images
into a single image by projecting them onto a three-dimensional model that
provides a “bird’s-eye” view of a scene. AVE systems such as this
are capable of managing and projecting hundreds of cameras, providing users
with unprecedented comprehension of real-time imagery over large areas.
AVE has a variety of applications
and is used in the IMSC geospatial decision-making tool, GeoDec, which
has demonstrated video projection onto models of the USC campus and sections
of downtown Los Angeles and Washington, DC. During late 2007 and
early 2008, the USC-Chevron Center of Excellence for Research and Academic
Training on Interactive Smart Oilfield Technologies (CiSoft) installed
the first commercial application of AVE technology in the Bakersfield,
California offices of the Chevron Corporation. Future installations
of AVE technology are expected to enhance oilfield exploration, operations,
and security by providing a clear picture of all activities over a wide
geographic area. |
