
Amir (Ph.D., August, 2008, advisor: Vineet R. Kamat) received the FIATECH CETI Outstanding Student Researcher Award for 2008 in recognition of his work on, “ARVISCOPE: Geo-referenced Visualization of Dynamic Construction Processes in 3D Outdoor Augmented Reality.” An alternate approach of visualizing simulated operations was developed in this research, in which Augmented Reality (AR) is used to create mixed views by combining real existing jobsite features with virtual 3D CAD models of construction resources. The designed AR-based visualization methodology is comprised of two primary components: 1) ARVISCOPE, a general purpose AR animation authoring language; and 2) ROVER, a mobile computing AR hardware framework. When used together, ARVISCOPE and ROVER can create 3D AR animations of any length and complexity from the results of running simulation models of engineering operations (e.g. construction, manufacturing, aviation, etc.). ARVISCOPE takes advantage of advanced Global Positioning System (GPS) and orientation tracking technologies to accurately track a user’s spatial context, and geo-references superimposed 3D graphics in an augmented environment. This research concluded that the addition of contextual, computer-generated information spatially located relative to the user has significant potential of improving the performance of several scientific and engineering tasks. FIATECH is an industry consortium of leading capital project industry owners, engineering construction contractors and technology suppliers. FIATECH established the CETI Award – Celebration of Engineering & Technology Innovation – in 2006 to promote and showcase innovative construction-related technologies that benefit the capital projects industry. The award was presented in Las Vegas, Nevada, in 2009 (see photo). Amir Behzadan is currently Assistant Professor at City University of New York.