New CAVE Design

Hept-Cave Design Wiki

This page serves as a repository of the design issues, knowledge, and decisions for the new Brown Cave funded through an NSF grant from 2009-2013.

Initial Design Issues

=== Display Surface Angles === Assigned to DHL. Updates are due by 12:00 noon on 9/14.

• Problem: What are the consequences of display surface angles and/or curvature (horizontal and vertical angles may be different)?
• Input needed
  • Expert feedback from Acevedo re KAUST design choices
• Experiments needed
  • Set up two side-by-side and top/bottom displays and evaluate anecdotally
• Decision: ?

=== Blending/Butting at Display Boundaries === Assigned to SGF. Updates are due on 9/14 by 12:00 noon

=== Text with Checkerboard Stereo === Assigned to JH. Updates are due by 12:00 noon on Monday, 9/14.

• Problem: What text resolution will be usable with checkerboard stereo and will that level be sufficient to do the experiments and applications that we want to do?

=== Floor Design === Assigned to SGF. Updates are due by 12:00 noon on Monday, 9/14.

=== Treadmill Options === ( not Omni-directional) Assigned to SGF. Updates are due by 12:00 noon on Monday, 9/14.

=== Fixed wall design, or can it unfold into a powerwall? === Assigned to SGF. Updates are due by 12:00 noon on Monday, 9/14.

Contracting to an Integrator

• Problem: Would contracting to an integrator to build based on an RFP be effective?
• Input:
  • Phone feedback from some of the potential integrators
• Decision:

3D Tracking options

• Goals: wireless, accurate, low-latency, unobtrusive
• Examples: head-tracking, tracking fingers and body, tracking "phicons"/props
• Q: Is camera-based tracking reliable in a Cave?

Hardware supporting usability studies

• Problem: is special hardware needed to support evaluation of Cave-like systems (e.g., devices that measure galvanic skin response (GSR))?
• Input needed
  • Advice from Mel Slater (How does Mel decide when GSR, etc. is important? How expensive is the system?)
  • Consider whether results from future (or past) studies would be significantly improved with such devices?
• Experiments needed
  • none
• Decision: ?

Commercial Software Availability

• Problem: What do we need to do to make sure that commercial software will be usable in our new facility?
• Input:
  • Feedback from some of the software players (Avizo/Amira, Ensight, OpenSceneGraph)
• Decision:

Schedule, Timeline, and Deliverables

The following describes our schedule, timeline, and deliverables using absolute months into the project (months 0-11 is year 1, months 12-23 is year 2, etc.).

Year 1 (0.50 hw-person FTE +consulting)

We will finalize hardware decisions which will involve evaluating changes in availability since proposal submission; demonstrations of competing manufacturer’s equipment; consultation regarding details of acquiring, machining, and integrating elements; and ordering the central display equipment (projectors, screen material, computers, trackers). The new equipment will be received late in the year. Through a process that minimizes system downtime, the 1998 Cave will be taken down and removed.

• finalize refined design (due month 3, 1.5 hw-person mos)
• order equipment (due month 5, 1.0 hw-person mos) screens; projectors;computer parts, racks; computer interconnect; computer-display connections; display-display interconnections; display calibration hardware/software; tracking hardware.
• receive equipment (due month 8, 0.5 hw-person mos)
• computer cluster assembled (due month 11, 1 hw-person mo) machine/construct/assemble computer supports; assemble computer hw with high-speed interconnect; install and test OS on cluster
• raised floor and other site preparations complete (due month 11, 1.0 hw-person mo)
• remove 1998 Cave (due at least disruptive time in year 1 TBD, 0.5 hw-person mo)

Year 2: (0.67 hw-person FTE, 0.58 swe-person FTE)

In year 2 we will complete construction of the display, bring computer systems online, install TGS’s Avizo and our own VRG3D software, and begin testing individual and linked systems.

• display hardware (due month 20, 4.5 hw-person mos, +machining/fab), (will start in year 1) detailed screen support specifications; detailed monitor support specifications; machine and construct screen supports; machine and construct projector platforms; mount screens and projectors; rough-calibrate projectors
• display-computer interconnect (due month 20, 0.5 hw-person mo)
• tracker system(s) (due month 20, 2-4 hw-person mos) install and test; calibrate; create hooks for monitoring and testing
• VRG3D display software library (due month 23, 6 swe-person mos) source-control setup; ability to distribute software configurable for arbitrary multi-display devices; implemented for new display configuration; multi-display optimizations incorporated; tracking incorporated; hooks for automated testing incorporated
• install Avizo (due month 23, 1 swe-person mos)

Year 3 (0.63 hw-person FTE, 0.63 swe-person FTE)

Monitoring and testing reliability software will be designed, developed, and deployed. Application users and developers will be able to begin using the system.

• VRG3D-based example application (due month 26, 2 swe-person mos) identify additional problems with library
• distribution version of VRG3D available (due month 30, 1 swe-person mos)
• application users can now begin creating new applications
• monitoring/testing reliability software (due month 30, 2 hw-person mos, 4.5 swe-person mos) daily builds of software library and application; daily tests of machine accessibility (tracking, compute cluster functionality/performance, display device availability); touchscreen display of component status/availability; touchscreen access to troubleshooting options; easily extensible touchscreen interface for startup of (experiments, applications, demos, homework assignments) item displayfacet alignment system (due month 35, 5.5 hw-person mos)

Year 4 (0.17 hw-person FTE, 0.33 swe-person FTE)

In year 4 we will finalize the software infrastructure, complete the auto-calibration system.

• software library changes (due month 36, 2 hw-person mos, 3 swe-person mos)

(note that these are not maintenance, but part of the development process); feature request from specific application areas; application users will change apps to use them

• final software distributions to SourceForge (due month 47, 1 swe-person mos)