Details of Grant 

EPSRC Reference:	GR/K38090/02
Title:	ROPA: THE DISTRIBUTED EXTENSIBLE VIRTUAL REALITY LABORATORY (DEVRL)
Principal Investigator:	Slater, Professor M
Other Investigators:
Researcher Co-Investigators:
Project Partners:
Department:	Computer Science
Organisation:	UCL
Scheme:	ROPA
Starts:	01 October 1995	Ends:	07 January 1997	Value (£):	76,535
EPSRC Research Topic Classifications:	Networks & Distributed Systems
EPSRC Industrial Sector Classifications:
Related Grants:
Panel History:
Summary on Grant Application Form
The development of an extensible UK wide virtual reality laboratory exploiting both available and emerging network facilities provided by SuperJANET.To outline requirements for future communication and network services to support the type of traffic generated by cooperative VR applications.To investigate appropriate interface and communication techniques for distributed VR by developing three testbed applications.To propose a set of future network services to support cooperative VR applications and the management of the heterogeneous media links they employ.ProgressThe first two months of the project have involve establishing an initial network of three VR nodes between the academic sites connected by SuperJANET. This has included the demonstration and assessment of existing multi-user VR applications among the three project sites. In particular, a set of field trials has been undertaken between Lancaster Nottingham and QMW. A series of trial virtual meetings have been held and project meetings are currently planned in VR to organise and manage the project and to gain experience of using distributed multi-user VR systems.The project focuses on the demands and needs of distributed VR in supporting the cooperative work of users. The project is currently outlining and constructing a set of applications to support different aspects of cooperation within virtual environments. A principle aim over the coming years of the project is the development of a matrix of performance evaluations across three dimensions: Network performance:The effects of bandwidth and latency on measured aspects of the VR performance amongst the participating sites. Human performance:The consequences of varying network parameters on task performance and the sense of presence. Representation and Interaction Techniques:The effects of varying modes of interaction and representations on task performance. The initial results in establishing a three node VR network suggests that VR applications make quite different demands of the network infrastructure than many existing multimedia applications. For example, VR systems often only need to transmit changes in geometry, this requiring less bandwidth than the continuous transmission of video. However, establishment of the initial scene may involve a significant initial transfer of data. Over the forthcoming years we wish to develop a clearer understand of the communication demands of VR and the effects of infrastructure facilities on the VR environments.
Key Findings
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Potential use in non-academic contexts
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Impacts
Description This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk Summary Date Materialised
Sectors submitted by the Researcher
This information can now be found on Gateway to Research (GtR) http://gtr.rcuk.ac.uk
Project URL:
Further Information:
Organisation Website: