State of the art of non-vision-based localization technologies for AR in facility management

Augmented reality (AR) applications for indoor purpose mostly use vision-based localization systems. However, even with AI-based algorithms, reachable accuracies are quite low. In the field of facility management an important functionality is the possibility to go for a high localization accuracy to display information, warnings or instructions at the correct position, if necessary. Simple vision-based solutions, like QR codes, are widely used. However, they show a high effort during installation and the advantages of using AR are limited. Thus, a state-of-the-art review for non-vision-based indoor localization technologies was carried out. Moreover, an evaluation with respect to usability for augmented reality applications was done. A scenario of the application of AR in the facility management environment is described based on the review results. For use-cases with high accuracy, tracking systems like infrared-based camera systems are a preferable solution. Also, ultrasonic could be a cheap solution for a medium accuracy tracking. For a simple room-based localization Bluetooth beacons and other hybrid indoor position technologies are preferred.