A. M. Nayak

Adaptive networking for tele-immersion

Tele-Immersive applications possess an unusually broad range of networking requirements. As high-speed and Quality of Service-enabled networks emerge, it will becoming more difficult for developers of Tele-Immersion applications, and networked applications in general, to take advantage of these enhanced services. This paper proposes an adaptive networking framework to ultimately allow applications to optimize their network utilization in pace with advances in networking services. In working toward this goal, this paper will present a number of networking techniques for improving performance in tele-immersive applications and examines whether the Differentiated Services mechanism for network Quality of Service is suitable for Tele-Immersion.

Collaborative data visualization for earth sciences with the OptIPuter

Collaborative visualization of large-scale datasets across geographically distributed sites is becoming increasingly important for Earth Sciences. Not only does it enhance our understanding of the geological systems, but also enables near-real-time scientific data acquisition and exploration across distant locations. While such a collaborative environment is feasible with advanced optical networks and resource sharing in the form of Grid, many technical challenges remain: (1) on-demand discovery, selection and configuration of supporting end and network resources; (2) construction of applications on heterogeneous, distributed environments; and (3) use of novel exotic transport protocols to achieve high performance. To address these issues, we describe the multi-layered OptIPuter middleware technologies, including simple resource abstractions, dynamic network provisioning, and novel data transport services. In this paper, we present an evaluation of the first integrated prototype of the OptIPuter system software recently demonstrated at iGrid 2005, which successfully supports real-time collaborative visualizations of 3D multigigabyte earth science datasets.

Vol-a-Tile - A Tool for Interactive Exploration of Large Volumetric Data on Scalable Tiled Displays

We present the current state of Vol-a-Tile, an interactive tool for exploring large volumetric data on scalable tiled displays. Vol-a-Tile presents a variety of features employed by scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography on data collected from the Anatomy of a Ridge-Axis Discontinuity seismic experiment. Hardware texture mapping and level-of-detail techniques provide interactivity. A high-performance network protocol is used to connect remote data sources over high-bandwidth photonic networks.

3D visualization of recent Sumatra Earthquake

Scientists and visualization experts at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography have created an interactive three-dimensional visualization of the 28 March 2005 magnitude 8.7 earthquake in Sumatra. The visualization shows the earthquakes hypocenter and aftershocks recorded until 29 March 2005, and compares it with the location of the 26 December 2004 magnitude 9 event and the consequent seismicity in that region. The 3D visualization was created using the Fledermaus software developed by Interactive Visualization Systems (http://www.ivs unb.cal) and stored as a “scene” file. To view this visualization, viewers need to download and install the free viewer program iView3D (http://www.ivs3d.com/products/iview3d).

3‐D visualization of Tonga Earthquake

Scientists at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography (SIO; La Jolla, Calif.) have created interactive three-dimensional (3-D) visualizations of the 3 May magnitude 8.0 earthquake that occurred near Neiafu,Tonga. The earthquake occurred at 1526 UTC at a depth of 16 kilometers (as recorded by the USArray seismic network operated at SIO, http://anf.ucsd.edu). A tsunami warning was initially issued, but it was subsequently canceled, and to date, no fatalities have been reported. These 3-D visualizations are available for free download at the Scripps Visualization Center Web site (http://www.siovizcenter.ucsd.edu).The first visualization shows the hypocenter of the 3 May Tonga main shock and locations of historical earthquakes. Global topography and bathymetry data are also included for reference. The second visualization shows a more localized view of the Tonga region, along with vertical cross sections of the velocity structure in the region. An obvious correlation can be seen between changes in the velocity structure and the historical earthquake locations, which map out the geometry of the Tonga subduction zone.