Historical Overview
Jon Peddie · 2017
Although seeming new as it penetrates the consumer market, augmented reality can trace its roots back to the second world war, and conceptually even further to Pepper’s ghost in 1862. Overlaying one image with another was employed in various methods from entertainment to weapons, and as might be imagined, weapon development provided the most resources and emphasis. The first application of electronics to augmented reality was done by the English when they adapted an airborne RADAR navigation system in a WWII de Havilland Mosquito night fighter. But it didn’t take long for the entertainment industry to employ the concept in TV right after the war. By the 1960s, small head-mounted displays were being experimented with and in the 1970s, with the ever-increasing miniaturization of electronics, augmented reality hit its stride, and things, as they always do, began to expand rapidly as more people got interested and involved. These keywords were added by machine and not by the authors. This process is experimental and the keywords may be updated as the learning algorithm improves.