A Survey on Quaternion Algebra and Geometric Algebra Applications in Engineering and Computer Science 1995–2020

Abstract

Geometric Algebra (GA) has proven to be an advanced language for mathematics, physics, computer science, and engineering. This review presents a comprehensive study of works on Quaternion Algebra and GA applications in computer science and engineering from 1995 to 2020. After a brief introduction of GA, the applications of GA are reviewed across many fields. We discuss the characteristics of the applications of GA to various problems of computer science and engineering. In addition, the challenges and prospects of various applications proposed by many researchers are analyzed. We analyze the developments using GA in image processing, computer vision, neurocomputing, quantum computing, robot modeling, control, and tracking, as well as improvement of computer hardware performance. We believe that up to now GA has proven to be a powerful geometric language for a variety of applications. Furthermore, there is evidence that this is the appropriate geometric language to tackle a variety of existing problems and that consequently, step-by-step GA-based algorithms should continue to be further developed. We also believe that this extensive review will guide and encourage researchers to continue the advancement of geometric computing for intelligent machines.