Background paper

This background paper analyzes technologies for tomorrow’s information superhighways. Advanced networks will first be used to support scientists in their work, linking researchers to supercomputers, databases, and scientific instruments. The paper also describes six test networks that are being funded as part of the High Performance Computing and Communications Program

Interactive Multimodal Volume Visualization for a Distributed Radiation-Treatment Planning Simulator

We describe the VISTAnet gigabit testbed's visualization system, a parallel, interactive, multimodal renderer implemented on the Pixel-Planes 5 graphics engine. The system displays multiple superimposed data sets characterizing a 3D radiation treatment scenario. Its features are designed to facilitate comprehension of spatial relationships among geometrically complex anatomy and radiation dose structures. The algorithms and visualization options of this mature system are general and should be useful for other applications. The VISTAnet system is currently in clinical evaluation. 1