A collection of Grid computing resources interconnected by an application-configurable network of lightpaths is called a LambdaGrid. It provides data-intensive applications with the needed deterministic network bandwidth to transport data between grid instruments, high-performance storage systems, compute clusters and visualization systems, that is often needed for real-time interactive scientific exploration. Advance reservation is needed to guarantee the availability of network resources. Flexible scheduling affords users greater convenience while also improving resource utilization and acceptance rate. 

In this paper we propose a unified flexible advance reservation model called FARM and apply this model to the cross-domain Routing and Wavelength Assignment problem. We will present the architecture and implementation of a coordinated Interdomain and Intradomain optical control plane, which is capable of flexible advance reservations. Our simulation results show that by just relaxing the reservation constraint and providing flexibility on the starting time, the network can carry 39% more load, and resource utilization can improve by 41%.

14 Node NSFNET Topology

AR-PIN / PDC: Flexible Advance Reservation of Intradomain and Interdomain Lightpaths

The Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE) is specialized middleware for enabling data, high-definition video and extremely high-resolution graphics to be streamed in real-time from remotely distributed rendering and storage clusters to scalable display walls over ultrahigh-speed networks. In this paper, we present the SAGE architecture, focusing on its dynamic graphics streaming capability. In the SAGE framework, multiple visualization applications can be streamed to large tiled displays and viewed at the same time. The application windows can be moved, resized and overlapped like any standard desktop window manager. Every window movement or resize operation requires dynamic and non-trivial reconfiguration of the involved graphics streams. This approach has been successfully shown to scale to support streaming on the LambdaVision 100 Megapixel display wall. SAGE is now being extended to support distance collaboration with multiple endpoints by streaming visualization to all the participants.

SAGE Running on LambdaVision Tiled Display at EVL

High-Performance Dynamic Graphics Streaming for Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment

Skin, the largest organ of the human body and the medium of physical contact that surrounds each and every one of us, has been a recurring subject in the research and artwork of this artist. Virtual Reality, because of its uniqueness as an experiential medium for the rendition of hybrid realities and dialogical situations between physical and digital existence, manifested as the experimental platform for the articulation and visualization of &ldquo;senses of touch&rdquo;. 

This work describes skin, 2006, a hyperstereoscopic high-definition interactive audiovisual installation that explores the intersection of the body as a landscape / mindscape and the body&rsquo;s own traces of touch. 

Keywords: Hyperstereoscopic video, Virtual reality art, Interactive installation, Electro, CWall, skin

Still from skin, 2006

Skin, 2006

In 2001 the GeoWall project began with a question: Could we create an affordable (&lt;$10,000) version of our existing CAVE&reg; hardware and software. Instead of relying on special-purpose hardware, we used off-the-shelf components including new projection technology, fast graphics cards and inexpensive computers to provide a stereo projection system that was more affordable than previous commercial solutions. A community of users interested in sharing software, visualizations, and experiences formed and led to over 500 GeoWalls being built. Five years later this collaboration between Computer Science and Geoscience has changed the way Geoscience research and education is done. 

The reasons for creating the GeoWall are obvious. A good understanding of spatial relationships is a fundamental requirement in the Earth Sciences; Earth science data is typically 3D and time-dependent. The GeoWall allows people to visualize the structure and dynamics of the Earth in stereo to aid the understanding of spatial relationships. Making use of inexpensive polarized 3D glasses entire classrooms or conference audiences can share the 3D experience. Since the hardware is portable, it can travel as checked luggage on flights to remote sites making it easier to bring the visualizations to the audience. 

The article will describe the GeoWall hardware and software and will talk about how the GeoWall Consortium was instrumental in creating a community of users in a variety of disciplines. The paper will then focus on several case studies of how the GeoWall has been used in research and education. Finally it will describe our recent work in high-resolution tiled displays.

Students wear lightweight polarized glasses to view a stereoscopic GeoWall application showing the topography of Hickey Mountain, Arizona

GeoWall: Stereoscopic Visualization for Geoscience Research and Education

Advance reservation is a mechanism to guarantee the availability of resources when they are needed. In the context of LambdaGrid, this mechanism is used to provide data-intensive applications with the needed deterministic network Quality of Service to transport data between grid instruments, high-performance storage systems, compute clusters and visualization systems. 

Flexible scheduling affords users greater convenience while also improving resource utilization and acceptance rate. In this paper we propose a Flexible Advance Reservation Model (FARM) and describe how to implement this model in the meta-scheduling problem. Then we extend this methodology to the cross-domain lightpath reservation problem by incorporating Routing and Wavelength Assignment algorithms. Next, we present the architecture, implementation and APIs of a coordinated Interdomain and Intradomain optical control plane called AR-PIN / PDC, which is capable of flexible advance reservations. 

Our simulation results show that by relaxing the reservation time constraint, the acceptance rate and resource utilization can be improved dramatically. Through simulations, we also analyze the impact of advance reservations on immediate reservations and conclude that both AR and IR requests need admission control algorithms in order to let both types of reservations coexist and use resource properly.

JOIN operation in AR-PDC resource manager

A Flexible Advance Reservation Model for Multi-Domain WDM Optical Networks

At iGrid 2005 we demonstrated the transparent operation of a biology experiment on a test-bed of globally distributed visualization, storage, computational, and network resources. These resources were bundled into a unified platform by utilizing dynamic lambda allocation, high bandwidth protocols for optical networks, a Distributed Virtual Computer (DVC), and applications running over the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE). 

Using these layered technologies we ran a multi-scale correlated microscopy experiment, where biologists imaged samples with scales ranging from 20X to 5000X in progressively increasing magnification. This allows the scientists to zoom in from entire complex systems such as a rat cerebellum to individual spiny dendrites. The images used spanned multiple modalities of imaging and specimen preparation thus providing context at every level and allowing the scientists to better understand the biological structures. 

This demonstration attempts to define an infrastructure based on OptIPuter components which would aid the development and design of collaborative scientific experiments, applications and test-beds and allow the biologists to effectively use the high resolution real estate of tiled displays.

Biologists use a SAGE display for visualizing multiple datasets while collaborating with remote sites using HDTV video streams

Real-time Multi-scale Brain Data Acquisition, Assembly, and Analysis using an End to End OptIPuter

LambdaGrid applications as typified by data-intensive collaborative visualization are likely to be the first users of terabit-level networking. This paper features a main enabler of collaborative visualization over LambdaGrid, the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE) in particular, and anticipates the future needs of LambdaGrid applications in general. We present a scalable architecture called LambdaBridge to &ldquo;bridge&rdquo; LambdaGrid applications with the terabit optical core networks. 

LambdaBridge will provision and control predictable-performance networks for end-systems (i.e. Grid clusters) using on-demand lambda / VLAN provisioning and end-system traffic shaping. 

The chief contribution of LambdaBridge is a deep understanding of how to synergistically bridge provisionable networks, end-systems, and future generation distributed terabit applications. This paper also introduces Scalable Visualcasting - a multicasting service for LambdaGrid that incorporates IP multicasting and optical multicasting.

LambdaVision driven by SAGE.

LambdaBridge: A Scalable Architecture for Future Generation Terabit Applications

The research outlined in this paper marks an initial global cooperative effort between visualization and collaboration researchers to build a persistent virtual visualization facility linked by ultra-high-speed optical networks. 

The goal is to enable the comprehensive and synergistic research and development of the necessary hardware, software and interaction techniques to realize the next generation of end-user tools for scientists to collaborate on the global Lambda Grid. This paper outlines some of the visualization research projects that were demonstrated at the iGrid 2005 workshop in San Diego, California.

SAGE Showing Several High Resolution Streams at iGrid

The Global Lambda Visualization Facility: An International Ultra-High-Definition Wide-Area Visualization Collaboratory

The optical virtual concatenation (OVC) function of The Terabit LAN was demonstrated for the first time at the iGrid 2005 workshop in San Diego, California. 

The TERAbit-LAN establishes a lambda group path (LGP) for an application where the number of lambdas / L2 connections in a LGP can be specified by the application. Each LGP is logically treated as one end-to-end optical path, so during parallel transport, the LGP channels have no relative latency deviation. However, optical path diversity (e.g. restoration) can cause LGP relative latency deviations and negatively affect quality of service. OVC hardware developed by NTT compensates for relative latency deviations to achieve a virtual bulk transport for the Electronic Visualization Laboratory&rsquo;s (EVL) Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment application.

Fig. Conceptual diagram of TERAbit-LAN.

The First Functional Demonstration of Optical Virtual Concatenation as a Technique for Achieving Terabit Networking

Larry Smarr, Maxine Brown, Tom DeFanti and Cees de Laat (guest editors), Special issue on the International Grid (iGrid) 2005 Workshop. 

For more information please see the following links: 
<ul>
<li><a href="http://www.igrid2005.org/">iGrid 2005</a></li>
<li><a href="http://www.elsevier.com/wps/find/journaldescription.cws_home/505611/description#description">FUTURE GENERATION COMPUTER SYSTEMS (FGCS) - The International Journal of Grid Computing: Theory, Methods and Applications</a></li>
</ul>

Special issue on the International Grid (iGrid) 2005 Workshop

As scientific data sets increase in size, dimensionality, and complexity, new high resolution, interactive, collaborative networked display systems are required to view them in real-time. Increasingly, the principles of virtual reality (VR) are being applied to modern scientific visualization. One of the tenets of VR is stereoscopic (stereo or 3D) display, however the need to wear stereo glasses or other gear to experience the virtual world is encumbering and hinders other positive aspects of VR such as collaboration. 

Autostereoscopic (autostereo) displays present imagery in 3D without the need to wear glasses or other gear, but few qualify as VR displays. The Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL) at the University of Illinois at Chicago (UIC) has designed and built a single-screen version of its 35-panel tiled Varrier&trade; display, called Personal Varrier. Based on a static parallax barrier and the Varrier computational method, Personal Varrier provides a quality 3D autostereo experience in an economical, compact form factor. 

The system debuted at iGrid 2005 in San Diego, CA, accompanied by a suite of distributed and local scientific visualization and 3D teleconferencing applications. The CAVEwave National LambdaRail (NLR) network was vital to the success of the stereo teleconferencing. 

Keywords: Varrier, Personal Varrier, virtual reality, autostereoscopy, autostereo, 3D display, camera-based tracking, parallax barrier

A user seated at the Personal Varrier system

Personal Varrier: Autostereoscopic Virtual Reality for Distributed Scientific Visualization

Grid is a computing architecture that consists of distributed clusters of computers interconnected by a network. Grid computing is used in a variety of data and compute-intensive scientific domains such as bioscience, nanotechnology, geoscience, high-energy physics. To facilitate the transportation of enormous (e.g. terabyte-sized) data-sets between Grid clusters, a new type of Grid computing architecture, called the LambdaGrid, has emerged. LambdaGrids are Grids that are interconnected by ultra-high-speed networks that can be directly controlled by applications. Typically the unit of control is a light path (often called a Lambda) in an optical network. In order for data-intensive applications to function efficiently, they need to be able to reserve enough bandwidth, through the allocation of these light paths. This thesis focuses on the problem of efficient scheduling of light paths between Grid clusters. Prior approaches use rigid scheduling schemes- i.e. resources are scheduled in terms of when the resources are needed and for how long. This thesis will show that contrary to obvious expectations, a flexible advance scheduling model can provide better overall resource utilization and user experience than a rigid scheduling scheme. 

In this thesis I propose a Flexible Advance Reservation Model (FARM) and describe how to apply this model to the cross-domain lightpath reservation problem by incorporating Routing and Wavelength Assignment algorithms. Next, I present the architecture, implementation and services of a coordinated Interdomain and Intradomain optical control plane called AR-PIN / PDC, which is capable of flexible advance reservations, and provides web services. The simulation results show that by relaxing the reservation time constraint, the acceptance rate and resource utilization can be improved dramatically. Through simulations, I also analyze the impact of advance reservations on immediate reservations and conclude that both AR and IR requests need admission control algorithms in order to let both types of reservations coexist and use resource properly. The AR-PIN / PDC software has been deployed in an international photonic testbed consisting of four domains. Over the testbed, I measure the components of end-to-end signaling latency during inter-domain reservation and claim processes. The results show that the major latency component during claim processes is the optical switching time and domain level parallelism can effectively reduce the claim latency. And the time slot granularity is the major factor affecting the reservation latency.

AR-PIN / PDC Multi-domain Photonic Testbed Topology

A Flexible Advance Reservation Model for Multi-Domain WDM Optical Networks (PhD Thesis)

Argonne National Laboratory is actively pursuing research and design for a Rare Isotope Accelerator (RIA) facility that will aid basic research in nuclear physics by creating beams of unstable isotopes. Such a facility has been labeled as a high priority by the joint Department of Energy and National Science Foundation Nuclear Science Advisory Committee because it will allow more study on the nature of nucleonic matter, the origin of the elements, the Standard Model, and nuclear medicine. 

An important part of this research is computer simulations that model the behavior of the particle beam, specifically in the Fragment Separator. The Fragment Separator selects isotopes based on their trajectory in electromagnetic fields and then uses absorbers to separate particles with a certain mass and charge from the rest of the beam. 

This project focused on the development of a multivariate, correlated Gaussian distribution to model the distribution of particles in the beam as well as visualizations and analysis to view how this distribution changed when passing through an absorber. The distribution was developed in the COSY INFINITY programming language. The user inputs a covariance matrix and a vector of means for the six phase space variables, and the program outputs a vector of correlated, Gaussian random variables. 

A variety of random test cases were conducted in two, three and six variables. In each case, the expectation values, variances and covariances were calculated and they converged to the input values. The output of the absorber code is a large data set that stores all of the variables for each particle in the distribution. It is impossible to analyze such a large data set by hand, so visualizations and summary statistics had to be developed. 

The first visualization is a three-dimensional graph that shows the number of each isotope present after each slice of the absorber. A second graph plots any of the six phase space variables against any of the others to see the change in the beam&rsquo;s distribution. Also, the expectation values, variances and covariances of the phase space variables were calculated after the absorber. The distribution that models the particle beam gives the variability that physicists need to simulate many different situations in the Fragment Separator. The statistics and visualizations will allow quick analysis of the particle beam. Both of these developments will contribute to the overall viability of the RIA proposal.

Modeling and Visualizing the Particle Beam in the Rare Isotope Accelerator

The goal of this research was to evaluate the usefulness of a wireless custom monitor in measuring real-time finger posture over an extended period of time as the wearer goes about daily life activities. One individual wore the device for 25 continuous hours in the research facility and at home. Initial data analysis methods have been presented to explore different aspects of hand activity over time. Evaluating mean flexion over five minute intervals reveals common hand postures assumed throughout the day, while total joint excursion over longer intervals highlights periods of inactivity associated with sleep or rest, as well as periods of higher intensity activities that can be used to evaluate compliance with physical therapy and home rehabilitation instructions.

Wireless Shadow Monitor with sensors placed over MCP joints

Measuring Finger Flexion and Activity Trends over a 25 Hour Period using a Low Cost Wireless Device

The Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE) is a specialized middleware that enables real-time streaming of extremely high-resolution graphics and high-definition video from remotely distributed rendering and storage clusters to scalable display walls over ultra high-speed networks. I propose Visualcasting in order to extend SAGE to support distant collaboration between multiple endpoints by streaming visualization to all participants. 

In the SAGE framework, each visualization application streams its rendered pixels to the virtual high-resolution frame buffer of SAGE, allowing users to freely move, resize and overlap the application windows on the display. Every window movement or resize operation requires dynamic and non-trivial reconfigurations of the involved graphics streams. These reconfigurations become even more complex when SAGE is required to support multiple collaboration endpoints with different tiled display configurations and application window layouts. 

Visualcasting is a scalable real-time image distribution service to address this problem. Visualcasting includes a high-speed bridging system that receives pixel streams from rendering clusters to duplicate and distribute pixels to each end-point. This approach will be compared with the traditional router-based multicasting approach and the reliable layered multicasting approach. Several issues in optimizing Visualcasting will be also addressed.

Visualcasting Demonstration

Visualcasting - Scalable Real-Time Image Distribution in Ultra-High Resolution Display Environments

Ice cores drilled from lake and ocean floors, continents, and ice sheets provide geoscientists with the most extensive and accurate picture of the Earth&rsquo;s climate history. For decades, these stratigraphic records have been locked in core repositories around the world. Now, aided by modern information technologies and advanced equipment like high-resolution color line-scanners and multi-sensor data loggers, core data can be digitized to create large amounts of high-precision digital images and numerical data. 

Corelyzer allows geoscientists to collaborate over huge data visualizations in a desktop workstation using single or multiple monitors with great interactivity and scalability. The main user-interface was developed in Java with native methods for efficient rendering with the OpenGL implementation on Mac OS X. A multiple level-of-detail texture paging system is implemented inside Corelyzer that allows scientists to load and interact with thousands of meters of geological cores, for which approximately one kilometer produces 30 GB of raw imagery. 

With the ability to display core sections in high resolution, Corelyzer is best viewed on tiled 30 inch Apple Cinema Displays. Corelyzer can scale to display on multiple large displays run by a single computer all the way down to the new MacBook. Future development will incorporate the use of a table of Apple displays driven by a cluster. 

Extensibility is also a priority of Corelyzer, so that the visualization tool can be customized. Examples by individual organizations include: heterogeneous database access, image analysis and Persistent Multi-user Online Collaborative Scientific Visualization (PMOCSV). 

In October 2006, Corelyzer will be deployed at the ANDRILL project&rsquo;s McMurdo expedition station. ANDRILL is the newest geological drilling program to recover stratigraphic records from the Antarctic region. 

Corelyzer is being developed by the University of Illinois at Chicago&rsquo;s Electronic Visualization Laboratory with funding provided by the National Science Foundation.

Corelyzer running on 17

Corelyzer: Scalable Geologic Core Visualization using OSX, Java and OpenGL

This paper presents the LambdaTable, a tabletop display that employs tiled LCD monitors to significantly improve resolution over single display or projector systems. It supports multi-modal interaction with applications and copresent users by combining extremely high visual resolution with uniquely identified, special purpose camera tracked physical interface devices, all within a large multiuser tabletop environment. 

In this paper we investigate the Fitts Law properties of this system, with particular emphasis on target acquisition across large distances. We also discuss the LambdaTable&rsquo;s&trade; applications for solving emerging needs within the scientific visualization and emergency response domains.

Figure 4. Each target was positioned in one of 9 different locations, no targets were occluded by mullions

Tangible User Interface Testing on the LambdaTable: A High Resolution Tiled LCD Tabletop

Although community discovery based on social network has been studied extensively in the Web hyperlink environment, limited research has been done in the case of Web documents. The co-occurrence of words and entities in sentences and documents usually implies some connections among them. Studying such connections may reveal important relationships. In this paper, we investigate the co-occurrences of named entities in Web pages and blogs, and mine communities among those entities. We show that identifying communities in such an environment can be transformed into a graph clustering problem. A hierarchical clustering algorithm is then proposed, which exploits triangle structures within the graph and the mutual information between vertices. Our empirical study shows that the proposed algorithm is promising in discovering communities from Web documents.

Image of Pre-Clustering

Pervasive Web Community Structure Summarization: A Machine Learning Approach

HelioRoom simulates the orbital motion of the planets in the Solar system on a set of synchronized computer displays situated on the walls of the classroom, with planets &ldquo;orbiting&rdquo; around the periphery of the room. Third grade students used the application for a problem-solving activity requiring the collection of evidence in support of theories concerning the identity of planets whose size and surface characteristics were intentionally obscured.

Helio Display

HelioRoom: Problem-solving in a whole class visual simulation

Pan is an interactive visual installation that facilitates a collaborative performance among users. 

The title of the work is a Korean word that invokes several different meanings: plate, disk, place, stage. The reference to a plate corresponds to the interface used in the work, while simultaneously referencing a Korean tradition - the designation of a public performance space within the community that is for eyeryone&rsquo;s use, and a gathering place for performance. 

The installation invites the audience to participate in its synthetic movement and provides a space for community interaction. By interacting with a tangible interface, the installation renders tabletops with a new aesthetic that is generative and organic. Interactive activities are interpreted as softened dynamics visually by a generic particle system algorithm. The three interfaces are capable of network communication to form an interconnection among participants.

Exhibition Overview

LambdaGrid applications can generate hundreds to thousands of parallel flows. These flows emanate from network interfaces in the end-systems (i.e. the compute clusters) to communicate with other end-systems over multiple lightpaths. LambdaStream is an application-level UDP based transport protocol for LambdaGrids. We present wide-area results with LambdaStream over dedicated 10Gbps networks using the TeraGrid and CaveWave. We present results wherein we achieve close to 10Gbps unidirectional and over 18Gbps bidirectional over these high-speed wide-area networks. 

Keywords: High-performance Transport Protocols, Optical Networks, Wide-Area Networks

Wide-Area experiments with LambdaStream over dedicated high-bandwidth networks

Prior research efforts have focused on the development of techniques for rule-based automated generation of either visualizations or user-interfaces. There is, however, little focus on adaptive visualization and interaction to provide a system that is capable of dealing with complex visualization and automated user-interface generation simultaneously. In this paper, we present our objectives in the development of new system so called PAVIS - Pervasive Adaptive Visualization and Interaction Service, an adaptive system that intends to automatically generate visualization and context-sensitive user-interfaces that are best suited for the display device. Based on the user&rsquo;s environment, display devices may vary widely from cell-phones, desktop computers to high-resolution tiled displays. A context-sensitive environment can respond to changes in visualization or data context by accommodating techniques to change the interface at run-time. Here, we describe our design goals and an initial case study. 

Keywords: Adaptive Visualization, Dynamic User-Interfaces, Display Resolution, Scalable Rendering.

PDA user visualizing real-time change in traffic congestion

PAVIS - Pervasive Adaptive Visualization and Interaction Service

We envision situation-rooms and research laboratories in which all the walls are made from seamless ultra-high-resolution displays fed by data streamed over ultra-high-speed networks from distantly located visualization, storage servers, and high definition video cameras [1,6]. It will allow local and distributed groups of researchers to work together on large amounts of distributed heterogeneous datasets. From working with our collaborators at the US Geological Survey and the National Center for Microscopy and Imaging Research, we have seen how high resolution displays can be used to show detail and context simultaneously. Homeland security applications and emergency response management in particular, and the whole domain of visual analytics in general would largely benefit from the same features. 

We are taking the next steps toward this vision by building and using LambdaVision - an 11x5 tiled display with a total resolution of 100 megapixels and developing SAGE, the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment. The goal is to enable scientists to explore datasets and share applications at the highest resolution available. SAGE allows the seamless display of various networked applications over the high-resolution displays. Each visualization application (such as 3D rendering, remote desktop, video streams, very large 2D maps, see Figure 1) streams its rendered pixels (or graphics primitives) to SAGE, allowing for any given ayout onto the displays (e.g. the output of arbitrary M by N pixel rendering cluster nodes can be streamed to X by Y pixel display screens). 

The graphics streaming architecture of SAGE addresses two non-trivial problems in scientific visualization. One is heterogeneity: since most visualization applications are closely tied to their graphics environment, it is difficult to integrate various visualization applications into a unified graphics environment. The other is scalability: the ability of visualization software and systems to scale in terms of the amount of data they can visualize and the resolution of the desired visualization [5]. SAGE addresses the heterogeneity problem by decoupling graphics rendering from graphics display so that visualization applications developed on various environments can easily migrate into SAGE by streaming their pixels into the virtual frame buffer. Also, SAGE provides scalability by supporting any number of resolution, and the SAGE visualization applications have extremely fast access to huge databases at remote or local sites taking advantage of affordable ultra-high-bandwidth networks.

SAGE Running on EVL&rsquo;s 55 -tile 100-Megapixel LambdaVision Display

Collaborative Visualization using High-Resolution Tiled Displays

Embedded Phenomena is a learning technology framework in which simulated scientific phenomena are mapped onto the physical space of classrooms. Students monitor and control the local state of the simulation through distributed media positioned around the room, gathering and aggregating evidence to solve problems or answer questions related to those phenomena. 

Embedded Phenomena are persistent, running continuously over weeks and months, creating information channels that are temporally and physically interleaved with, but asynchronous with respect to, the regular flow of instruction. 

In this paper, we describe the motivations for the framework, describe classroom experiences with three embedded phenomena in the domains of seismology, insect ecology, and astronomy, and situate embedded phenomena within the context of human-computer interaction research in co-located group interfaces and learning technologies. 

Author Keywords: Embedded phenomena, classroom learning, science inquiry 

ACM Classification Keywords: H5 Information interfaces and presentation; K.3.1 Computer Uses in Education

Students Interact with Tablet Computer for RoomQuake Distributed Earthquake Simulation

Embedded Phenomena: Supporting Science Learning with Classroom-sized Distributed Simulations

This paper presents research on a collaborative learning envrionment in an urban elementary science classroom. The application, called RoomBugs, simulates a dynamic ecosystem of insects within the physical space of a classroom. Using table-mounted tablet computers as &ldquo;sand traps&rdquo; that capture the foot-prints of virtual bugs walking across the screen, participants take on the role of scientists attempting to track and control the imagined insects that exist within their classroom walls. The simulation is designed to create authentic phenomenon without required heavy instrumentation. 

Keywords: Learning technologies, simulation, embedded phenomena 

ACM Classification Keywords: H.5.3 Computer-supported cooperative work, K.3.1 Computer uses in education

Students Interact with RoomBug Application

RoomBugs: Simulating Insect Infestations in Elementary Classrooms using Commodity Hardware

UNFOLDING SPACE is a VR enveloping landscape of concave and convex forms, which are determined by the orientation and displacement of the user in relation to a grid made of tesseracts (cubes in four dimensions). The interface accepts input from tridimensional and four dimensional transformations, and smoothly displays such interactions in real-time. Instead of navigating the familiar landscape of volumes, space is attached to the shadow of a higher dimensional grid, which can then be turned around, to stretch or compress their sides to face the person. Such shadow projected to three dimensions use the distortion of tridimensional perspective to organize visual hierarchy. Stereo visualization and real-time computer graphics also allow us to integrate the dynamic abilities of the human body for accessing higher dimensions while assimilating complex configurations. The motion of the person becomes the graphic element whereas the higher dimensional grid references to his / her position relative to it. The person learns how motion inputs affect the grid, recognizing a correlation between the input and the transformations. 

Tridimensional projections can be flattened to the screen of a computer, and so can higher dimensions. Higher dimensions may cause concern because we are only used to three dimensions when we move around the world with our bodies. But if we were two dimensional beings, and were to be shown a tridimensional object, all we could see from it would be its two dimensional shadow crossing our plane of existence over time. Since we are not two dimensional beings, but tridimensional ones, UNFOLDING SPACE confronts us with a structure which is one dimension higher than our perceptual world. The design tool to make such space visible is the grid8: the same way that a flat space can be shown through a grid of squares and tridimensional space can be revealed through a grid of cubes, four dimensional space, can be revealed through a grid of tesseracts (the four dimensional projection of a cube), in this case, casted into three dimensions. What we end up seeing is a flexible space that expands and collapses, self-intersecting depending on our position in relation to it. Of course the fourth dimension can cast a shadow in either two dimensional or tridimensional space, but I base its parameters on a tridimensional shadow since that is closer to the natural experience of moving our bodies through space.

UNFOLDING SPACE Experienced in the CAVE

UNFOLDING SPACE Thesis Project Documentation

Focus and organization of the symposium 

While the personal computer (and by implication the individual learner) continues to be the target platform for most educational software, the affordances of distributed computing and communications have received considerable attention within both the learning and technology worlds for their potential in supporting the development of communities of science learning. 

These capabilities have been manifested in two complementary but distinct frameworks. On the one hand, researchers are exploring the affordances of technologies, particularly the Internet, that link physically separated users (e.g., Pea, 1993; Edwards et al., 2001; Dede, 1995). 

At the same time, inspired by the Participatory Simulation framework emanating from MIT (e.g., Resnick &amp; Wilensky, 1997; Colella, 2000), designers are actively exploring the potential for using distributed collections of computation devices within physically shared (&ldquo;co-present&rdquo;) spaces.

Co-Present Distributed Simulations of Science Phenomena for K-8 Learners: A Technology Designers&rsquo; Round-Robin Symposium

This paper presents the results of a six-week unit on seismology conducted in a fifth-grade classroom. The unique feature of the unit involved the use of classroom technology, RoomQuake, designed to support students&rsquo; participation in authentic seismological practice: the interpretation of seismograms to determine the epicenter and magnitude of earthquakes. 

The goals of the empirical study were (1) to gain insight into the impact of the intervention with respect to student mastery of seismological practice skills, development of conceptual understanding of earthquake distributions, and changes in self-conception as investigative agents, and (2) to investigate student participation in an emerging community of practice over an extended time course.

Simulated Strip-chart Seismograph in RoomQuake Application

RoomQuake: Learning, Self-Concept, and Growth of a Community of Practice in a Persistent Whole-Classroom Simulation

A photonic network comprised of Photonic Cross Connects (PXC) with Generalized Multi-Protocol Label Switching (GMPLS) capability is a promising candidate for the design of next-generation high-performance networks. Extensive efforts [1, 2] are well underway to validate such networks. These reports mainly focus on issues such as multi-vendor interoperability and implement such photonic networks with equipment that fully supports the GMPLS protocol. However, little is done to actually evaluate their performance using real-time bandwidth-intensive applications - which is a key area of focus in the work described in this paper. The National Science Foundation&rsquo;s Optiputer project [3] has been pursuing the development of data-intensive LambdaGrid applications that utilize the networks as wide-area systems busses connecting clusters of storage, computing and visualization services. The Scalable Adaptive Graphic Environment (SAGE) developed by the Electronic Visualization Laboratory (EVL), the Optiputer&rsquo;s visualization middleware, can easily scale up to Tbps rendering capacity and is therefore a prime candidate for aggressively evaluating high-performance networks. In such an application, and in LambdaGrid applications in general, dynamic capacity-on-demand without explicit messaging between the applications and the photonic control plane network will highly desirable, since applications will be able to focus on application-specific processing rather than configuring network topologies and characteristics. 

In this paper, we present the results of the dynamic lambda-on-demand functionality against the SAGE visualization application over a US nationwide testbed. We used two 10GbE links from Chicago to San Diego. Three PXC systems with GMPLS capability were installed in Chicago and San Diego to form a triangular topology. In addition, we developed control servers to monitor the application traffic on the first lambda and to invoke the automatic activation of the second lambda. The control server with the PXC control-plane (C-plane) automatically configured the number of lambdas and L2 connections to transparently meet the dynamic traffic changes in SAGE.

OXC system with GMPLS control

The First Application-Driven Lambda-on-Demand Field Trial over a US Nationwide Network

&ldquo;Rutopia 2&rdquo; is a virtual reality art project built for the C-Wall network environment. 

It describes a magic garden with interactive sculptural trees that connect to distant worlds and unite them into a shared network community. &ldquo;Rutopia 2&rdquo; explores the aesthetics of virtual art inspired by the distinct cultural forms present in Russian folk arts and painting. It is based upon their principles of composition, bright colors, simplified shapes, and material culture.

Rutopia 2 Screenshot

RUTOPIA 2

Though TCP / IP is considered the de facto standard for Internet related wide area computing, its failure for LambdaGrids is well documented. On the other hand, rate-controlled UDP / IP-based protocols are strongly emerging as a feasible solution for meeting the performance goals in such environments. While such protocols have been able to avoid most the drawbacks of TCP / IP, they are still plagued by the drawbacks of UDP / IP, such as a host-based implementation, limiting their performance on high-speed networks. On the other hand, researchers have attempted to fix this drawback in TCP / IP using hardware offloaded TCP / IP implementations such as the TCP Offload Engines (TOEs). Given these two orthogonal developments, it is not completely clear about which is a better solution, i.e., a rate-controlled UDP / IP based protocol that is implemented in the host or a hardware offloaded TCP / IP solution such as the TOE. In this paper, we combine the benefits of both these solutions to design and develop an emulated UDP Offload Engine (UOE) based on the Chelsio T110 TOE; a solution which would transparently improve the performance for existing UDP / IP-based applications. Evaluations of our emulated UOE stack show that our design can achieve up to a 35% improvement in the performance while maintaining a significantly lower CPU usage. 

Keywords: LambdaGrid, UDP, TOE, Sockets

Micro-Benchmark of Ping-Pong Latency

A Case for UDP Offload Engines in LambdaGrids

Stroke is among the leading causes of adult disability in Europe. While finger flexion often appears spontaneously within weeks after a cerebrovascular accident, finger extension is less likely to exhibit recovery and creates difficulty for voluntary hand opening. A study from the UK reports that over half of the subjects studied depended on others for assistance six months post-stroke. 

We present a training environment for rehabilitation of hand opening in stroke survivors. This environment integrates augmented reality, assistive devices and the process of repetitive training of grasp-and-release tasks. The AR element utilizes head mounted display and virtual objects for reach-and-grasp task training. The assistive device consists of either a body-powered orthosis (BPO) or a pneumatic-powered device (PPD), both of which are incorporated into gloves. The 6-week grasp-and-release training sessions are performed 3 times a week and 30 minutes long for each.

The hand kinematics model, assistive devices and vitual objects for grasp

VR Post-Stroke Hand Opening Rehabilitation: An Approach Utilizing Virtual Reality, Body Orthosis and Pneumatic Device

Ventriculostomy is a neurosurgical procedure that consists of the insertion of a catheter into the ventricles of the brain for relieving the intracranial pressure. A distinct &ldquo;popping&rdquo; sensation is felt as the catheter enters the ventricles. Early ventriculostomy simulators provided some basic audio / visual feedback to simulate the procedure, displaying a 3D virtual model of a human head. Without any tactile feedback, the usefulness of such simulators was very limited. The first generation haptic ventriculostomy simulators incorporated a haptic device to generate a virtual resistance and &ldquo;give&rdquo; upon ventricular entry. While this created considerable excitement as a novelty device for cannulating ventricles, its usefulness for teaching and measuring neurosurgical expertise was still very limited. Poor collocation between the haptic device stylus held by the surgeon and the visual representation of the virtual catheter, as well as the lack of a correct viewer-centered perspective, created enormous confusion for the neurosurgeons who diverted their attention from the actual ventriculostomy procedure to overcoming the limitations of the simulator. We present a second generation haptic ventriculostomy simulator succeeding over the major first generation limitations by introducing a head and hand tracking system as well as a high-resolution high-visual-acuity stereoscopic display to enhance the perception and realism of the virtual ventriculostomy.

Augmented reality environment created by the ImmersiveTouch&trade;

Second Generation Haptic Ventriculostomy Simulator Using the ImmersiveTouch&trade; System

As virtual / augmented reality evolves, the need for spaces that are responsive to structures independent from three dimensional spatial constraints, become apparent. The visual medium of computer graphics may also challenge these self imposed constraints. If one can get used to how projections affect 3D objects in two dimensions, it may also be possible to compose a situation in which to get used to the variations that occur while moving through higher dimensions. The presented application is an enveloping landscape of concave and convex forms, which are determined by the orientation and displacement of the user in relation to a grid made of tesseracts (cubes in four dimensions). The interface accepts input from tridimensional and four-dimensional transformations, and smoothly displays such interactions in real-time. The motion of the user becomes the graphic element whereas the higher dimensional grid references to his / her position relative to it. The user learns how motion inputs affect the grid, recognizing a correlation between the input and the transformations. Mapping information to complex grids in virtual reality is valuable for engineers, artists and users in general because navigation can be internalized like a dance pattern, and further engage us to maneuver space in order to know and experience. 

Keywords: Virtual reality, higher dimensions, tesseract, design, grid

Virtual Reality and the Unfolding of Higher Dimensions

This paper will explore how the aesthetics of the virtual world affects, transforms, and enhances the immersive emotional experience of the user. What we see and what we do upon entering the virtual environment influences our feelings, mental state, physiological changes and sensibility. To create a unique virtual experience the important component to design is the beauty of the virtual world based on the aesthetics of the graphical objects such as textures, models, animation, and special effects. The aesthetic potency of the images that comprise the virtual environment can make the immersive experience much stronger and more compelling. The aesthetic qualities of the virtual world as born out through images and graphics can influence the user&rsquo;s state of mind. Particular changes and effects on the user can be induced through the application of techniques derived from the research fields of psychology, anthropology, biology, color theory, education, art therapy, music, and art history. Many contemporary artists and developers derive much inspiration for their work from their experience with traditional arts such as painting, sculpture, design, architecture and music. This knowledge helps them create a higher quality of images and stereo graphics in the virtual world. The understanding of the close relation between the aesthetic quality of the virtual environment and the resulting human perception is the key to developing an impressive virtual experience.