Simulation Driven Virtual Reality Lacey Duckworth January 7, 2010 Dissertation Progress Report A Framework for Large Scale Virtual Simulation Dr. Andrew Strelzoff, Chair Dr. Tulio Sulbaran, Co-Chair Dr. Ray Seyfarth Dr. Nan Wang Dr. Chaoyang Zhang

 Meeting Objective  Recap of last meeting – May 18, 2009 Approved Prospectus (problem and objective) Committee Feedback  Dissertation Progress Concrete example selected Application developed in LabVIEW Communication Protocol between LabVIEW and RealXtend  Dissertation Plan

 Provide an update on the status of my Ph.D. dissertation (concrete example) to obtain feedback.

 Problem A robust and reusable communication method does not exist to connect external simulation languages with a compelling and accessible client-server Virtual Reality Environments.  Objective Develop a robust and scalable communication method that connects external simulation languages with client-server Virtual Reality Environments

 Divided into two sub-objectives Sub-Objective 1  Define a generalizable communication layer between an external simulation language and a client-server Virtual Reality Environment (VRE) Sub-Objective 2  Test the robustness and scalability of the proposed design by developing a case study with several components. CVRE Simulation Language Communication Protocol

 Choose a concrete example that will help derive an abstract model.  Explain the type of the state machine to be used on this dissertation  Explicitly indicate the impact of this dissertation

 Partnership Dr. Randy Rapp Associate Professor, Purdue University Disaster Restoration and Reconstruction Management, concentration Ex-military commander US-ACE  Application Simulate the phases of construction project excavation while allowing the students to make the selections and give feedback in response to their actions

 Task: A simulator for training individuals how to properly excavate a construction site.  Goal: Present the individual with questions relating to the sequential process of excavating a construction site and show them the how their answer effects the construction site.

 Process: Students are presented with a bid plan and soil type then asked the following questions:  What is the soil type described?  What type of slope should be used?  What is the volume of soil to be excavated? If all the questions are answered correctly, the construction site is excavated. If all the questions are answered incorrectly, the construction site is excavated improperly.

 Deterministic finite automaton An input signals a transition to a certain state  Concrete State Machine Each push button triggers one or more events Example  Event  Touch “Get Bid Project Information” button  Response  Present a randomly chosen bid plan and soil type

State Machine

 A communication between a virtual environment, RealXtend, and a simulation language, LabVIEW, which: Provide a new method for determining the state of the environment in order to minimize the time between user input and environment update. Provide an easier method for creating complex simulations. New components can be added or existing components edited with minimal effort An optimal communication method will exist.

3D Environment Developed

Current Status (Cont.) Project implemented in LabVIEW

Current Status (Cont.)  Communication Protocol (IronPython) A scripting language to connect a client to a server so that the client can ping the server for information and the server can report back the requested data.  Client: RealXtend  Interpreter: IronPyhthon  Server: LabVIEW The script is initialized at server start up time and executed when an object containing the script is brought into the environment.

 Move the state machine into a LabVIEW Database.  Develop Excavation Simulation in the Virtual Environment  Implement the simulation in Dr. Rapp’s class Middle to late March  Collect data from the in class implementation.  Analyze the data for meeting the requirements.

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