Project Status

This project was started in May of 1998 and is worked on frequently.

Hardware Aquired:

• ProView^TM 40 ST headset by Kaiser Electro-Optics, Inc.
• Flock of Birds^TM tracker by Ascension Technology Corporation (range: 10')
• Polhemus^TM tracker (range: 3')
• SGI Onyx Reality Engine 2 (dual-CPU)
• NIQ EzIO

Completed steps:

• Connected HMD and tracker to the Onyx
• Established the special graphics mode
• Implemented a demo in Performer v2.0
• Implemented noise and repeatability test aplication
• BirdServ implemented
• Implemented a test client (connects to BirdServ)
• Demo rewritten with shared memory tracker server
• Bird went in for a flash ROM update
• Tested repeatability with good results
• developed C++ libs for the HMD system
• Upgraded system to work with ExtendedRange Tracker
• investigated the ultraSonic tracker at SIGGRAPH '98
• implemented dynamic scene adjustment using keyboard events
• moved tracker receiver to obviate the display adjustment problem
• have obtained reasonable registration of real and virtual worlds
• created a sample HUD application
• Commented the arview code
• Created a hypothetical visualization demo (Inventor)
• Implemented keyboard control interface
• Installed Big Black Box in the VRlab ceiling
• IRIX6.5 upgrade
• LARGE DOWNTIME DUE TO SGI'S INTERNAL COMPILER PROBLEMS
• fixed compiler problem
• began manifold: an API for developing realtime-sensor data visualization
• migrated client-server model from systemV shared mem to pfDataPool
• manifold display's on CAVE, HMD and screen
• doc++ documentation system implemented for manifold (doc's availible)
• sample sensor data (random data) visualization completed
• CORBA based Ezio server/client system implemented with great results!
• created a sample visualization using realtime data (sphereIOViz)
• made changes to manifold design for optimization
• added geometry to the thermalViz application

Short Term Plan (next 1 months):

• get tracking working under manifold
• connect thermalViz to the realtime data stream
• get CORBA working on the laptop
• migrate CORBA from nfs to nameservice for iiop information
• compile on vr1 instead of aegaeon

Long Term Plan (next 12 months):

• Investigate alternative and portable platform (O2 on wheels)
• document manifold and release a stable version
• create a configuration system (file based or interface based) that allows users to make connections between sensors, filters and visualizations

last updated: 8/4/99
Ross Barna