Most of the today’s Augmented Reality (AR) applications would use either black and white data markers or pictorial (template) markers to allocate, identify, and render the virtual information on the real scene. The data markers, in general, do not deliver meaningful visual information to users; whereas, the template markers suffer from the system processing complexity. However, they both survive until today as each of these markers has many uniquely worthy points which could resolve other’s drawbacks.

In this thesis, we propose several different novel concept designs of AR marker which combine the technical advantages of both data markers and template markers. These markers are capable of embedding either a one-dimensional bar-code or a two-dimensional quick response (QR) code in a coloured figure to enhance AR experiences. They are not only aiming to improve the system performance but also present the useful and meaningful realistic-looking graphical content to the users. Another advantage of our proposed markers is that they could provide self-error detection and correction which could help to recover the lost information. In short, these following markers will be introduced within this thesis:

• Pictorial Marker with Hidden Bar-code (PMBC) is capable of hiding a single one-dimensional bar-code in a graphical content using autostereogram theory.

• Curtain Styled Pictorial Marker (CSPM) is capable of embedding the two dimensional QR code in a coloured figure and also provides a correct orientation of virtual objects.

• Envelope Styled Pictorial Marker (ESPM) is an improved method of CSPM which could provide wider graphical content visualisation and more accurate self-error detection and correction.

We conducted the several different experimental exercises have been conducted to qualify our proposed methods on technical performances. We have also presented few proposed marker physical prototypes and produced several working demos. Moreover, our proposed markers have an equivalent system processing performance to it of data markers whereas the visual information remains unchanged.