Investigations of collaborative design environments: A framework for real-time collaborative 3D CAD

This thesis was submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy and awarded by Brunel University.This research investigates computer-based collaborative design environments, in particular issues of real-time collaborative 3D CAD. The thesis first presents a broad perspective of collaborative design environments with a preliminary case study of team design activities in a conventional and a computer mediated setting. This study identifies the impact and the feasibility of computer support for collaborative design and suggests four kinds of essential technologies for a successful collaborative design environment: information-sharing systems, synchronous and asynchronous co- working tools, project management systems, and communication systems. A new conceptual framework for a real-time collaborative 3D design tool, Shared Stage, is proposed based upon the preliminary study. The Shared Stage is defined as a shared 3D design workspace aiming to smoothly incorporate shared 3D workspaces into existing individual 3D workspaces. The addition of a Shared Stage allows collaborating designers to interact in real-time and to have a dynamic and interactive exchange of intermediate 3D design data. The acceptability of collaborative features is maximised by maintaining consistency of the user interface between 3D CAD systems. The framework is subsequently implemented as a software prototype using a new software development environment, customised by integrating related real-time and 3D graphic software development tools. Two main components of the Shared Stage module in the prototype, the Synchronised Stage View (SSV) and the Data Structure Diagram (DSD), provide essential collaborative features for real-time collaborative 3D CAD. These features include synchronised shared 3D representation, dynamic data exchange and awareness support in 3D workspaces. The software prototype is subsequently evaluated to examine the usefulness and usability. A range of quantitative and qualitative methods is used to evaluate the impact of the Shared Stage. The results, including the analysis of collaborative interactions and user perception, illustrate that the Shared Stage is a feasible and valuable addition for real-time collaborative 3D CAD. This research identifies the issues to be addressed for collaborative design environments and also provides a new framework and development strategy of a novel real-time collaborative 3D CAD system. The framework is successfully demonstrated through prototype implementation and an analytical usability evaluation.Financial support from the Department and from the UK government through the Overseas Research Studentship Awards

Network Latency Adaptive Tempo in the Public Sound Objects System

In recent years Computer Network-Music has increasingly captured the attention of the Computer Music Community. With the advent of Internet communication, geographical displacement amongst the participants of a computer mediated music performance achieved world wide extension. However, when established over long distance networks, this form of musical communication has a fundamental problem: network latency (or net-delay) is an impediment for real-time collaboration. From a recent study, carried out by the authors, a relation between network latency tolerance and Music Tempo was established. This result emerged from an experiment, in which simulated network latency conditions were applied to the performance of different musicians playing jazz standard tunes. The Public Sound Objects (PSOs) project is web-based shared musical space, which has been an experimental framework to implement and test different approaches for on-line music communication. This paper describe features implemented in the latest version of the PSOs system, including the notion of a network-music instrument incorporating latency as a software function, by dynamically adapting its tempo to the communication delay measured in real-time

CONCURRENCY IN A REAL-TIME MULTI-USER SIMULATION

Current methods of Real-Time simulation involving multiple users are non-scalable, difficult to develop, difficult to maintain, and expensive. Concurrent computer usage is exploding. The ability to edit documents, 3D models, and interact with multi-user simulations by users who are remote from one another is an emerging technology. Current techniques do not scale well and require a large infrastructure investment. This research addressed issues in which existing infrastructure of the clients’ PCs can be leveraged to the computational demands of distributed interaction. In this research, I investigated the feasibility, of a thin server – peer client architecture for real-time multi-user simulation.  This project involved a number of issues in simulating a shared environment on multiple computers, with multiple users in real-time. These issues included: latency, synchronization of state, events, clients coming into or leaving the simulation, security, and privacy. Solutions for data conflict resolution that were investigated included distributed state verification (peer voting) and master-client (one or more clients are designated as arbiters of truth)

Real time programming environment for Windows

This document provides a description of the Real Time Programming Environment (RTProE). RTProE tools allow a programmer to create soft real time projects under general, multi-purpose operating systems. The basic features necessary for real time applications are provided by RTProE, leaving the programmer free to concentrate efforts on his specific project. The current version supports Microsoft Windows{trademark} 95 and NT. The tasks of real time synchronization and communication with other programs are handled by RTProE. RTProE includes a generic method for connecting a graphical user interface (GUI) to allow real time control and interaction with the programmer`s product. Topics covered in this paper include real time performance issues, portability, details of shared memory management, code scheduling, application control, Operating System specific concerns and the use of Computer Aided Software Engineering (CASE) tools. The development of RTProE is an important step in the expansion of the real time programming community. The financial costs associated with using the system are minimal. All source code for RTProE has been made publicly available. Any person with access to a personal computer, Windows 95 or NT, and C or FORTRAN compilers can quickly enter the world of real time modeling and simulation

Canine Haiku: Yellow Ball

Canine Haiku: Yellow Ball is part of an ongoing series of experimental performances called Canine Haiku; interspecies new media projects in development that combine aesthetics and ethics to draw attention to intentionality and expressiveness of canines, which contributes to enhanced regard for other-than-human beings and our shared ecologies. In Canine Haiku, recorded vocals of Tom [canine collaborator], haiku poetry, and computational autonomous systems, propose depictions of canine, human, computer relational space. The project is informed by practices of Zen, Beat poetry, jazz and Japanese music, computational aesthetics, and scholarly research in critical animal studies and philosophy. During a performance, the custom software [made using Max/MSP] selects and plays a canine vocal track that, in real- time, triggers visual effects and sonic ‘instrument’ accompaniments based on expressive characteristics of Tom's voice

Public Sound Objects : a shared environment for networked music practice on the Web

The Public Sound Objects (PSOs) project consists of the development of a networked musical system, which is an experimental framework to implement and test new concepts for online music communication. The PSOs project approaches the idea of collaborative musical performances over the Internet by aiming to go beyond the concept of using computer networks as a channel to connect performing spaces. This is achieved by exploring the internet’s shared nature in order to provide a public musical space where anonymous users can meet and be found performing in collective sonic art pieces. The system itself is an interface-decoupled musical instrument, in which a remote user interface and a sound processing engine reside with different hosts in an extreme scenario where a user can access the synthesizer from any place in the world using the World Wide Web. Specific software features were implemented in order to reduce the disruptive effects of network latency, such as dynamic adaptation of the musical tempo to communication latency measured in real time and consistent sound panning with the object’s behavior at the graphical user interface

5G Visualization: The METIS-II Project Approach

[EN] One of the main objectives of the METIS-II project was to enable 5G concepts to reach and convince a wide audience from technology experts to decision makers from non-ICT industries. To achieve this objective, it was necessary to provide easy-to-understand and insightful visualization of 5G. This paper presents the visualization platform developed in the METIS-II project as a joint work of researchers and artists, which is a 3D visualization tool that allows viewers to interact with 5G-enabled scenarios, while permitting simulation driven data to be intuitively evaluated. The platform is a game-based customizable tool that allows a rapid integration of new concepts, allows real-time interaction with remote 5G simulators, and provides a virtual reality-based immersive user experience. As a result, the METIS-II visualization platform has successfully contributed to the dissemination of 5G in different fora and its use will be continued after METIS-II.This work has been performed in the framework of the H2020/5G-PPP project METIS-II cofunded by the EU. The authors wish to thank the rest of METIS-II colleagues who contributed to the development of the METIS-II visualization platform.Martín-Sacristán, D.; Herranz Claveras, C.; Monserrat Del Río, JF.; Szczygiel, A.; Kuruvatti, NP.; Garcia-Roger, D.; Prado-Alvarez, D.... (2018). 5G Visualization: The METIS-II Project Approach. Mobile Information Systems. 1-8. https://doi.org/10.1155/2018/2084950S18Zyda, M. (2005). From visual simulation to virtual reality to games. Computer, 38(9), 25-32. doi:10.1109/mc.2005.297Johnson, C. (2004). Top scientific visualization research problems. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 24(4), 13-17. doi:10.1109/mcg.2004.20Tullberg, H., Popovski, P., Li, Z., Uusitalo, M. A., Hoglund, A., Bulakci, O., … Monserrat, J. F. (2016). The METIS 5G System Concept: Meeting the 5G Requirements. IEEE Communications Magazine, 54(12), 132-139. doi:10.1109/mcom.2016.1500799cmLee, B., Riche, N. H., Isenberg, P., & Carpendale, S. (2015). More Than Telling a Story: Transforming Data into Visually Shared Stories. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 35(5), 84-90. doi:10.1109/mcg.2015.99Yi, J. S., Kang, Y. ah, & Stasko, J. (2007). Toward a Deeper Understanding of the Role of Interaction in Information Visualization. IEEE Transactions on Visualization and Computer Graphics, 13(6), 1224-1231. doi:10.1109/tvcg.2007.70515Campbell, B. D. (2016). Immersive Visualization to Support Scientific Insight. IEEE Computer Graphics and Applications, 36(3), 17-21. doi:10.1109/mcg.2016.6

Towards an automated photogrammetry-based approach for monitoring and controlling construction site activities

The construction industry has a poor productivity record, which was predominantly ascribed to inadequate monitoring of how a project is progressing at any given time. Most available approaches do not offer key stakeholders a shared understanding of project performance in real-time, which as a result failed to identify any project slippage on the original schedule. This study reports on the development of a novel automated system for monitoring, updating and controlling construction site activities in real-time. The proposed system seeks to harness advances in close-range photogrammetry, BIM and computer vision to deliver an original approach that is capable of continuous monitoring of construction activities, with the progress status determinable, at any given time, throughout the construction stage.The research adopted a sequential mixed approach strategy pursuant to the design science standard processes in three stages. The first stage involved interviews within a focus group setting with seven carefully selected construction professionals. Their answers were analysed and provided "the informed-basis for the development of the automated system” for detecting and notifying delays in construction projects. The second stage involved development of ‘proof of the concept’ in a pilot project case study with nine potential users of the proposed automated system. Face-to-face interviews were conducted to evaluate and verify the effectiveness of the developed prototype, which as a result was continuously refined and improved according to the users’ comments and feedbacks. Within this stage the prototype to be tested and evaluated by a representative of construction professionals was developed. Subsequently a sub-stage of the system’s development sought to test and validate the final version of the system in the context of a real-life construction project in Dubai whereby an online survey is administered to 40 users, a representative sample of potential system users. The third stage addressed the conclusion, limitations and recommendations for further research studies for the proposed system.The findings of the study revealed that once the system installed and programmed, it does not require any expertise or manual intervention. This is mainly due to all the processes of the system being fully automated and the data collection, interpretations, analysis and notifications are automatically processed without any human intervention. Consequently, human errors and subjectivity are eliminated, and accordingly the system achieved a significantly high level of accuracy, automation and reliability. The system achieved a level of accuracy of 99.97% for horizontal construction elements and exceeded 99.70% for vertical elements. The findings also highlighted that this developed system is inexpensive, easy to operate and its accuracy excels that of current systems sought to automate monitoring and updating of progress status’ for construction projects. The distinctive features of the proposed system assisted the site team to complete the project 61 days ahead of its contractual completion date with a 9% time saving and 3% cost saving.The proposed system has the potential to identify any deviation from as-planned construction schedules, and prompt actions taken in response to the automatic notification system, which informs decision-makers via emails and SMS

Online Collaborative Editor

“Online collaborative editor” is a node.js based browser application that provides real time collaborative editing of files and improves pair programming. Current real time editors fail to provide simultaneous viewing and editing of files within the server and results in a complex version controlling system. Such systems are also vulnerable to deadlocks and race conditions. This project provides a platform for real time collaborative editors, which can support simultaneous editing and viewing of files and handle concurrency problems by using locking mechanism. The experiment results showed that node.js platform provides good performance for collaborative editing

Practical Use of Cloud Systems in Project Management

V této bakalářské práci se zaměříme na popis cloudových systémů a jejich využití v projektovém plánování neziskové organizace. První část této práce se zabývá teoretickým úvodem do cloudových systémů. Následně budou popsány vlastnosti několika nejznámějších cloudových systémů. Představené cloudové systémy budou poté porovnány pro použití při plánování konkrétního projektu. V závěru se pokusíme vybrat optimální cloudové řešení.The thesis is focused on a description of cloud system services and their application in project management of a non-profit organization. Theoretical introduction into cloud systems services is concerned in the first part of the thesis. Consequently features of several best known cloud system services will be described. Described systems will be further compared for usage in a particular project planning. Selection of the optimal cloud service solution will be determined in the conclusion.