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：工业过程断层成像（IPT）是一种广泛应用于工业场景中过程监控与控制的专业成像技术。当前，增强现实/混合现实（AR/MR）正越来越多地被应用于工业场景，然而在IPT领域仍存在明显应用鸿沟。为弥合这一差距，我们提出首个采用光学透视式（OST）头戴显示器（HMDs）的系统性AR方法，并通过对比评估验证方法对IPT可视化分析的领域适用性。通过采用均衡化设计的组内用户实验（n=20）验证了概念原型，并进行了定性和定量的双重测量。结果表明，相较于传统方案，我们的AR方法在IPT数据可视化分析中展现出显著优势：更高的可理解性、更短的任务完成时间、更低的领域任务错误率、更强可用性、更优用户体验以及更高推荐级别。我们总结了研究结论并对未来利用AR/MR技术赋能IPT用户的研究方向提出建议。