Roadmapping Extended Reality: Fundamentals and Applications

Recently, according to the Gartner Hype Cycle, extended reality (XR) technologies have graduated from being described as mature technologies and are now entering the plateau of productivity. Several leading tech giants are announcing that they will focus their future on the upcoming "metaverse." While the "metaverse" is too new to define, there is a clear consensus about XR's (VR/AR/MR) importance. This book offers a comprehensive overview of the technological aspects of XR and discusses the main challenges and future directions in the field. It is divided into two parts. The first part, "XR Technologies," covers the main technological aspects of XR. The chapters in this section review and discuss relevant fundamental concepts of XR, the actual state-of-the-art, and future challenges. The second part, "XR Applications," focuses on a wide range of applications, including a future roadmap. All in all, this book, which is geared towards a wide multidisciplinary audience of academic and industry stakeholders as well as government agencies and non-profit organizations, offers a snapshot of the state-of-the-art of XR and addresses the necessary requirements for its application. The three main aspects that were holding XR technologies back from mainstream adoption--price, cables, size--have been overcome. However, there are many aspects of XR technologies currently being explored and developed that still need urgent research in terms of security, privacy, health and safety, long-term effects, addiction risks, and age-related developmental concerns; therefore, our aim is to inform all readers of these open issues and challenges. The main benefit of technology roadmapping is to summarize information to inform and direct technology investment decisions. There are currently a great number of interdisciplinary researchers and developers working in the XR R&D field focused on identifying critical technologies and technology gaps and identifying ways to leverage R&D investments. The intended audience of this book includes XR enthusiasts, researchers, developers, students, and practitioners at large institutes and companies, SMEs, etc. To serve this audience in the best way possible, the book has been divided into two sections.