The European Telecommunications Standard Institute (ETSI) issued frameworks for AR designed to enable interoperability between components supplied by different providers, a feature it expects to encourage broader and faster adoption of the technology.

In a statement, the European Union-backed organisation described the new specifications as being key towards delivering interoperability of AR components, as it encourages the development of a multi-vendor ecosystem to benefit both industry and consumers.

ETSI noted businesses currently using AR applications tended to rely on a single provider. Using its standardised framework, it added, elements from a range of companies could be used, increasing the speed and scope of adoption.

A group of industry experts operating in its specialist AR group, formed in late 2017, created the standard. It defines architecture for hardware and software while also detailing elements related to real and virtual content.

“The functional architecture applies to both fully embedded AR systems and implementations spread over IP networks in a scalable manner with subfunctions,” it added.

“These subfunctions can either be deployed on the AR device or be provided via cloud technology.”

AR is frequently cited as one of the drivers for industrial applications which use 5G technology, covering everything from factory logistics to advanced remote healthcare.

Chair of the ETSI AR Framework group, Muriel Deschanel, said: “AR can be a real asset for many use cases in Industry 4.0 or in the medical sector. With the significant improvement to network performance brought by 5G, in particular in terms of bandwidth and latency, cloud services will become essential to a larger number of AR use cases”.