A Comparative Study on 3D Data Performance in Mobile Web Browsers in 4G and 5G Environments

Since their emergence in 2007, smart phones have advanced up to the point that 5G mobile communication in 2019 started to be commercialized. Accordingly, now it is possible to share 3D modeling files and collaborate by means of a mobile web. As the recently commercialized 5G mobile communication network is so useful in sharing 3D modeling files and collaborating that even large-size geometry files can be transmitted at ultra high speed with ultra low transfer delay. We examines characteristics of major 3D file formats such as STL, OBJ, FBX, and glTF and compares the existing 4G LTE (Long Term Evolution) network with the 5G NR (New Radio) mobile communication network. The loading time and packets of each format were measured depending on the mobile web browser environments. We shows that in comparison with 4G LTE, the loading time of STL and OBJ file formats were reduced as much as 6.55 sec and 9.41 sec, respectively in the 5G NR and Chrome browsers. The glTF file format showed the most efficient performance in all of the 4G/5G mobile communication networks, Chrome, and Edge browsers. In the case of STL and OBJ, the traffic was relatively excessive in 5G NR and Edge browsers. The findings of this study are expected to be utilized to develop a 3D file format that reduces the loading time in a mobile web environment.