The Essentials: A Comprehensive Survey to Get Started in Augmented Reality

Augmented Reality (AR) has experienced a significant resurgence in popularity and interest in recent years. Despite numerous surveys and reviews in the field, information remains scattered and challenging to consolidate for newcomers. This paper addresses this gap with a comprehensive study of AR's state of the art. We begin with an introduction to AR and related terminologies. We then describe three enabling of AR and four enhancing technologies. A survey then covers different types of commercial AR hardware with detailed specifications and elaborations. We then address AR software and discuss its basic and advanced features, mapping them to software with feature matrices. Based on a thematic literature analysis, we extract a comprehensive set of guidelines for developing AR solutions into seven themes, from ideation to best practices for implementation and deployment. Finally, we explore some essential challenges in the field of AR. This paper serves as an essential resource for those looking to understand what AR is, what is needed to get started, how to approach development, and what the future holds for AR. By consolidating essential information and providing a solid foundation, this paper aims to help researchers and developers capitalize on the current cycle of interest in AR.