  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.
