Fachhochschule Nordwestschweiz FHNW

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Visualization of Solar Installations on Buildings in AR

Summary

This thesis focused on the development of a mobile application that implements augmented reality (AR) technologies to visualize solar panel installations on real-world buildings.

Keywords

Mobile, Unity, Vuforia, Image Detection, C#

Goal

The primary objective of this thesis was to create a proof-of-concept application that integrates AR frameworks with image recognition to accurately place virtual solar panels on building roofs and facades. The application aims to enhance the customer experience by allowing solar installers to present a realistic AR visualization of solar installations on-site. Key challenges addressed include extracting relevant information from camera feeds, accurately positioning 3D models, and creating an intuitive user flow and experience that does not interfere with the immersion of the scene.

Initial Position

Solextron AG offers online tools with which solar installers can create scenes of houses with optimized solar installations. In collaboration with the FHNW, Solextron wishes to examine the viability of displaying solar panels to customers using an augmented reality experience. Displaying solar installations in AR helps customers gain insight into how the installation will look in real life.

Results

yeet

The proof-of-concept developed uses image-based object recognition using Vuforia, along with manual controls, to place virtual solar panels on the roofs and facades of real buildings in augmented reality. It also has a logically intuitive user flow which does not interfere with the displayed scene and user experience.

The application highlights limitations in using Vuforia image targets to automatically place virtual content. The accuracy of the image target's placement is limited by the need for precise measurements of the building's dimensions. This is needed to ensure correct model placement and must currently be manually adjusted by the user. Furthermore, the obligation to turn off Vuforia's image target behavior when trying to view the solar panels from different angles, forces the use of AR Anchors. These AR Anchors are resource intensive to use, and it is probable that the tested hardware in this study could not facilitate the use of AR Anchors, causing the displayed objects to drift. This drift compromises the immersion and use of the application. Finally, an unintended behavior created by using Vuforia image targets is causing tracked objects to be momentarily displaced and possibly compromising the immersion of the scene which can negatively impact the user experience.

Video Demo