Issue link: https://iconnect007.uberflip.com/i/723195
16 The PCB Magazine • September 2016 As I look at these topics and their impact on the overall industry we cover, I realize that any of these are deserving of their own, more de- tailed and continuing coverage. After all, things are moving very fast and accelerating. They will be revisited at a later date. So here we go with the game changing world of VR and AR, as well as mixed reality and how they differ. From there, I'll address what to ex- pect in the next year and how VR/AR are far more than a gaming technology (in some cases they are perhaps better than real life), and final- ly, how they are changing our military and avia- tion industries. Virtual Reality VR is really not that new. Think about it—the black-and-white silent movie of the late 1800s was really the beginning of VR. If you consider 100 years ago, imagine how someone who had never seen a moving picture would feel when entering the embryonic world of VR. In the next 100 years or so, we went from jerky stuttering B&W silent moving pictures to sound and col - or, to higher definition and faster frame rates and 3D, all more and more immersive. In the mid-1990s Star Trek TNG introduced us to the HoloDeck, a vision of what very advanced VR might become. In fact, it probably will, and do so at least 100 years before it was prophesied to. In the last 20 years, and especially in the last few years, we have taken great strides, and thanks to ever-increasing computer and graphics abilities, we are about to truly enter this brave new world. The main difference between virtual and augmented reality is that in VR you become im - mersed in a totally virtual world; you are trans- ported to some place where you are not, you can interact with it to some degree, and it becomes difficult to tell the difference between what is real and what is not, at least from a sight and sound standpoint. The visuals and sound make it seem as if you were there and think about images of people with whom you are conversing, except you cannot touch, feel or smell anything (yet). With augmented reality a virtual world is brought into your real world. It is the blending of virtual reality and real life. Think about seeing 3D im - ages of people to whom you are speaking while sitting in your living room as you converse. The living room is real, but the people visiting are virtual—doing and saying things while they are perhaps halfway around the world. Both VR and AR are similar as they immerse you, but in different ways. With AR, users con - tinue to be in touch with the real world while in- teracting with virtual objects around them. With VR, the user is isolated from the real world while immersed in a world that is completely fabricat- ed or transported to you (such as the surface of an alien planet or the bottom of the ocean, or a simulated battle—whether as a game or a re- hearsal for the real thing). We stand at the dawn of this new age with this technology just being made available to the general public. It is expensive and it has signifi- cant limitations but the progress over the last few years has been amazing. Already we can see very real-looking 360-degree 3D images in high definition, we can move around in a virtual environment and we can to some extent interact with it. What will the future hold in the next quarter-century or probably sooner: Touch DISRUPTIVE TECHNOLOGIES—VR, AR AND STAR TREK Virtual reality demo playing with a whale under the sea