The headset, called X-AR, relies on radio frequency (RF) signals to operate. RF signals are wireless electromagnetic signals most often used for communication, like in walkie-talkies, mobile phones, and your favorite radio station. Their ability to pass through solid material makes for an ideal locator—provided the hidden object possesses an RFID tag.
RFID tags reflect RF signals emitted by an RF antenna. As these reflections occur, MIT’s AR headset captures them and turns them into a virtual transparent sphere. The sphere tells the user where an item is, regardless of whether it’s sitting in a cardboard box, around a corner, or under a pile of other objects. Once the user picks up the item, the AR headset verifies that they’ve picked up the right thing.
(Image: Adobe et al./MIT/Signal Kinetics)
MIT associate professor Fadel Adib, who directs a wireless and sensor technologies group, led a team of research assistants and postdoc students in creating the headset. The team started with a Microsoft Hololens AR headset with an RF antenna. Then they programmed the antenna to use synthetic aperture radar (SAR). This technique enabled the antenna to measure the distance between itself and RFID-tagged objects. This technique proved highly effective thanks to humans’ free range of motion: Frequent movement provided the SAR antenna with multiple measurements, facilitating more accurate localization.
After the headset was complete, the team created a relatively simple AR interface to display item databases and locations. Users who put on the headset choose an RFID-tagged item from a menu. That’s when the headset’s antenna kicks in and provides the data necessary to give the item’s location a sphere for easy finding.
Adib’s team tested the headset in the lab and a simulated warehouse environment. In the warehouse, the headset averaged an item localization of 9.8 centimeters and verified that users had picked up the correct item with 96% accuracy.
As one can imagine, this isn’t just useful for a lighthearted game of hide-and-seek. Warehouse, retail, and factory workers could use the technology to quickly and easily find the necessary equipment, rather than opening and digging through bin after bin. There’s also a chance emergency services could also use it for search-and-rescue missions, but anything they’d hope to find under snow or rubble would have to contain an RFID tag.
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