Dr. Valerie E. Taylor
ECE Department
Northwestern University
Unknown Location

Tuesday, August 13, 1996
3:00 pm (CT)
3269 Beckman Institute

Abstract

The use of virtual reality has been demonstrated to be very useful in the visualization of science and the synthesis of vast amounts of data. This fact, combined with an increase in connectivity of remote sites via high-speed networks, makes feasible the coupling of supercomputer simulations and virtual environments. The critical performance issue to be addressed with this coupling is the end-to-end lag time (i.e., the delay between a user input and the result of that input). In this talk I will present our lag model for visual supercomputing environments and quantify the lag times for four different applications. These applications range from coupling virtual environments with supercomputers to coupling multiple virtual environments for collaborative design. The lag times for each applications are given in terms of rendering, network, simulation, tracking, and synchronization times. To meet the time constraint imposed by such environments, applications may require hundred to thousands of processors. I will also provide some details on our initial work related to decomposition methods for distributed supercomputers.

Tea and coffee will be served in R3151 Beckman Institute at 2:15pm.