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Planar fiducial markers: a comparative study

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Abstract

Fiducial markers are a cost-effective solution for solving labeling and monocular localization problems, making them valuable tools for augmented reality (AR), robot navigation, and 3D modeling applications. However, with the development of many marker detection systems in the last decade, it has become challenging for new users to determine which is best suited for their needs. This paper presents a qualitative and quantitative evaluation of the most relevant marker systems. We analyze the available alternatives in the literature, describe their differences and limitations, and conduct detailed experiments to compare them in terms of sensitivity, specificity, accuracy, computational cost, and performance under occlusion. To our knowledge, this study provides the most comprehensive and updated comparison of fiducial markers. In the Conclusion section, we offer recommendations on which method to use based on the application requirements.

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Notes

  1. https://developers.google.com/ar [last access 09/07/2022].

  2. https://developer.apple.com/augmented-reality/ [last access 09/07/2022].

  3. https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/de/dc3/classcv_1_1QRCodeDetector.html [last access 09/07/2022].

  4. https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/de/dc3/classcv_1_1QRCodeDetector.html [last access 09/07/2022].

  5. http://www.arreverie.com/blogs/getting-started-with-artoolkit-unity-plugin/ [last access 09/07/2022].

  6. https://docs.opencv.org/4.x/d5/dae/tutorial_aruco_detection.html [last access 03/01/2023].

  7. https://developer.vuforia.com/ [last access 09/07/2022].

  8. https://tinyurl.com/2nm5z4b3 [last access 09/07/2022].

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Funding

This project has been funded under the Industrial Ph.D. Program of Córdoba University with Seabery R &D, Project 1380047-F UCOFEDER-2021 of Andalusia and Project PID2019-103871GB-I00 of Spanish Ministry of Economy, Industry and Competitiveness, and FEDER.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Departamento de Informática y Análisis Numérico, Edificio Einstein. Campus de Rabanales, Universidad de Coŕdoba, 14071, Córdoba, Spain

    David Jurado-Rodriguez, Rafael Muñoz-Salinas & Rafael Medina-Carnicer

  2. Seabery R &D, Doctor Emilio Haya Prats 13, 21005, Huelva, Spain

    David Jurado-Rodriguez & Sergio Garrido-Jurado

  3. Instituto Maimónides de Investigación en Biomedicina (IMIBIC), Avenida Menéndez Pidal s/n, 14004, Córdoba, Spain

    Rafael Muñoz-Salinas & Rafael Medina-Carnicer

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  1. David Jurado-Rodriguez
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  2. Rafael Muñoz-Salinas
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  3. Sergio Garrido-Jurado
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  4. Rafael Medina-Carnicer
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Correspondence to Rafael Muñoz-Salinas.

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Conflict of interest

Some authors of this work are also the authors of the ArUco, ArUco3, and Jumarker libraries. Nevertheless, this has not affected the impartiality of the tests conducted. All systems and datasets employed in this paper are public so that other researchers can reproduce our results.

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Jurado-Rodriguez, D., Muñoz-Salinas, R., Garrido-Jurado, S. et al. Planar fiducial markers: a comparative study. Virtual Reality 27, 1733–1749 (2023). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10055-023-00772-5

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