NSF Award
2209625
Today’s online shoppers can use augmented reality (AR) to aim their smartphones at an empty corner of their living room to see how a particular new lamp might look there, and diners can instantly see a restaurant's menu on their phones just by scanning a QR code posted at their table. This project will leverage the tremendous investments in AR made by the corporate world over the past several years, and the familiar ease of QR codes, to allow astronomers to see and explore the 3D Universe just as easily as they might shop for a new couch. Building on their 2021 success in publishing the first AR-enhanced figure in an American Astronomical Society Journal, the funding from this award will be used to create a robust system allowing any author to publish figures showcasing high-dimensional data in augmented reality environments. No expensive equipment beyond the same smartphones and tablets used by online shoppers will be needed. Astronomers will be able to see and explore their data in "3D" by walking around projections of it hovering above flat surfaces, or holding in their hands using AR target devices. Imagine, for example, a jet from a black hole, spewing out material from the center of a simulated galaxy, projected just above a researcher’s kitchen table, etc.<br/><br/>Over the course of the project, the team will design, repeatedly test, and ultimately deploy an efficient and effective end-to-end system for embedding augmented reality figures in scholarly journals. By enriching scholarly communication, this new AR-based system is expected to accelerate the pace of scientific discovery. The system created will extend across multiple modular cyberinfrastructure components, including: data format standards; data analysis software; 3D conversion tooling; AR integration pipelines; visual ID encoding infrastructure; and the publication process. The system for authoring and deploying AR figures created and tested under this proposal represents cyberinfrastructure innovation that will ultimately open completely new channels for communication amongst all who rely on effective communication of high-dimensional data.<br/><br/>This project is supported by the Office of Advanced Cyberinfrastructure in the Directorate for Computer & Information Science & Engineering and the Division of Astronomical Sciences in the Directorate for Mathematical and Physical Sciences.<br/><br/>This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.
