A framework for Mixed Reality application development: A case study on Yapahuwa archaeological site

Abstract

A major challenge in developing Mixed Reality (MR) applications is the lack of a generic framework that can be used for easy development of MR applications employing multimodal user interaction techniques. The main objective of having such framework is that, whenever needed, it should be possible to simply design and develop a complete MR application to provide an immersive user experience based on the given framework. In this research we have designed and developed a mixed reality application using the proposed framework as part of the research; this MR application is customized to run on resource constrained portable devices such as smart phones. Moreover, it is capable of capturing required user inputs without their active intervention through the inbuilt sensors of the device, while using its screen for rendering visualization. Hence, the expensive and physically constrained explicit hardware devices are not required for a user to enjoy the MR experience. The framework presented in this research allows easy development of such MR applications relying on its architecture. By building a MR application in the domain of archaeological site reconstruction and exploration, the usefulness of the framework was emphasized. The proposed solution was tested to analyse the resource usage on the mobile device, accuracy of visualization and level of user experience, which are discussed in the paper.