Overview of Immersive Technology: Terminology, State of the Art, and APL Efforts

Abstract

Immersive technologies have roots dating back to the 1800s. The Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (APL) has been exploring how to use these technologies to meet critical national needs for decades. Today these technologies constitute an entire domain, replete with its own lexicon, and commercially available tools have become more capable and less expensive. There are use cases for immersive technologies in just about every field, from the entertainment industry to health care to defense. This article reviews the history of immersive technologies, clarifies some of the terminology used to describe the technologies, and presents the current state of the art. It then presents 15 examples of APL work in a wide range of application areas including intelligence, military, first responders, medical, space, human factors, education, and research, and it concludes with some additional use cases.