Page 119 - Kaleidoscope Academic Conference Proceedings 2022

A COMPARATIVE ANALYSIS OF AUGMENTED REALITY FRAMEWORKS AIMED AT
DIVERSE COMPUTING APPLICATIONS

Mfundo A. Maneli ; Omowunmi E. Isafiade
1
1
1 Department of Computer Science, Faculty of Natural Science, University of the Western Cape, South Africa

ABSTRACT on 3D, stereoscopic, head tracked displays, hand/body
tracking and binaural sound, as shown in Figure 2. The
Immersive systems such as Augmented Reality (AR) and earlier methodologies of achieving AR/VR required bulky,
Virtual Reality (VR) have proven useful in diverse computing computationally-demanding and expensive equipment to
domains. However, there is little effort on accuracy operate [3]. As time went by further research and
measurements within AR applications, which could greatly development came into place. Consequently, low powered
impact outcomes and decisions in certain domains, such as devices such as smartphones can run AR and power-efficient
crime scene investigations, among others. This paper aims head mounted displays can facilitate VR [4]. Immersive
to analyze and evaluate two existing prominent AR technologies have been widely adopted in diverse sectors
frameworks, ARCore and ARKit, which support the such as education [5], advertising [6], gaming [7], forensic
development of diverse mobile computing applications for science and crime scene reconstruction [8], among others.
immersive systems. This research developed prototype
applications and conducted comparison tests of
measurement accuracy within the applications. The
accuracy was tested using four distance criteria across six
different devices, spanning ARCore and ARKit frameworks.
A control experiment was used to benchmark the
measurement accuracy. Relatively, an instance of the
experiment presented ARCore as reliable. Overall, ARKit
proved to be more accurate between the two frameworks,
with an average accuracy of 99.36% as opposed to 89.42%
scored by ARCore. The obtained results can give insight on
the choice of framework to consider during AR application
development for a specific domain, hence boosting quality of
experience.
Figure 1 – Augmented reality schematic diagram [9]
Keywords – ARCore, ARKit, AR measurements,
augmented reality, crime scene investigation

1. INTRODUCTION

Research development in the field of information technology
is ever advancing at a rapid pace. Newer and more efficient
methods of improving human interactions with their
environments are continually devised. These human
interactions and environment methods encompass
immersive technologies [1]. Augmented Reality (AR) and
Virtual Reality (VR) are the two primary types of immersive
technology, but other technologies such as Mixed Reality
(MR) and extended Reality (XR) also fall under the
immersive technologies umbrella. AR is a technology which
can superimpose digital perceptual information in the real
world [1], as shown in Figure 1. VR, on the other hand, offers Figure 2 – Virtual reality schematic diagram [2]
a three-Dimensional (3D) computer generated environment,
and immersive, and multisensory experience [2], which rely

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