Industrial process tomography (IPT) is a specialized imaging technique widely used in industrial scenarios for process supervision and control. Today, augmented/mixed reality (AR/MR) is increasingly being adopted in many industrial occasions, even though there is still an obvious gap when it comes to IPT. To bridge this gap, we propose the first systematic AR approach using optical see-through (OST) head mounted displays (HMDs) with comparative evaluation for domain users towards IPT visualization analysis. The proof-of-concept was demonstrated by a within-subject user study (n=20) with counterbalancing design. Both qualitative and quantitative measurements were investigated. The results showed that our AR approach outperformed conventional settings for IPT data visualization analysis in bringing higher understandability, reduced task completion time, lower error rates for domain tasks, increased usability with enhanced user experience, and a better recommendation level. We summarize the findings and suggest future research directions for benefiting IPT users with AR/MR.

翻译：工业过程层析成像（IPT）是一种广泛应用于工业场景中过程监控与控制的专用成像技术。当前，增强/混合现实（AR/MR）技术正逐步渗透至众多工业领域，然而在IPT领域仍存在显著的应用鸿沟。为弥合这一差距，我们提出了首个采用光学透视式头戴显示设备（OST HMDs）的系统性AR方法，并通过对比评估验证其在IPT可视化分析中的领域适用性。通过采用平衡设计的被试内用户实验（n=20）验证了该概念验证系统的有效性。本研究从定性与定量两个维度展开测量分析。结果表明，相较于传统设置，我们的AR方法在IPT数据可视化分析中展现出显著优势：提升了数据可理解性，缩短了任务完成时间，降低了领域任务错误率，增强了系统可用性与用户体验满意度，并获得了更高的推荐等级。我们总结了研究发现，并提出了未来利用AR/MR技术赋能IPT用户的研究方向。