A Process for Development of Mobile Augmented Reality Applications Using Component Based Approach in Layered Architectures

Abstract

Augmented Reality (AR) is a growing field which involves the interaction of physical objects that exist in the real world with those that exist in the digital space. Despite the recent fame, it is still a new domain which means that there are plenty of challenges when it comes to the development of such systems. While researchers have defined a few software architectures that are suitable for AR application development, there is still a lack of research on defining efficient processes for development that take into consideration the stakeholders involved and the time taken. This research focuses on defining a process for small scale mobile AR application development by utilizing a Component Based Layered Architecture. This specific architecture was chosen because it allows for rapid development of such applications as compared to other approaches, such as the inheritance based development approach. The project manager, developers and client were identified as the main stakeholders for the process. Two mobile AR applications were developed by an IT firm utilizing the suggested process and the results were compared to a previously developed mobile AR application that utilized an inheritance based approach. Our findings conclude that the process utilizing component based layered architecture is efficient as compared to other existing approaches in terms of the development time, highfidelity prototype construction and feedback incorporation when a small-scale AR application is developed for mobile systems. The success of this process, however, is contingent on the selection of appropriate components at the beginning of the development cycle. Another concern for this process is the difficulty in making a larger multi-platform system because of the different development criteria of components for each unique platform. Overall, this process will be beneficial for small scale mobile AR development and will help IT firms to deliver projects with shorter turnaround times.