Scoping Study for a Realistic Driving Simulator: Final Report.

1. INTRODUCTION This report documents the results of a study carried out between December 1989 and March 1990 to determine the most suitable equipment to be purchased for building a driving simulator at the Institute for Transport Studies at the University of Leeds. This "scoping study" was intended to accomplish three main tasks: 1. A review of existing facilities both in the UK and elsewhere in Europe to ascertain what has already been achieved and what is the current state of the art. 2. Initial discussions with potential users on desired features to be built in to the simulator. 3. Discussions with equipment suppliers in the light of what was found out in Tasks 1 and 2, so that the appropriate equipment could be specified. The report documents in subsequent sections the findings of the first two tasks. It then summarizes the conclusions that were reached on the overall simulator design, on the required features of the simulator and on the effort required to develop an operational simulator from the various hardware components. Finally, recommendations are made on the equipment to be purchased in the light of the recommended configuration, the discussion with equipment suppliers under Task 3 and the budget allocated

Tools for 3D scientific visualization in computational aerodynamics

The purpose is to describe the tools and techniques in use at the NASA Ames Research Center for performing visualization of computational aerodynamics, for example visualization of flow fields from computer simulations of fluid dynamics about vehicles such as the Space Shuttle. The hardware used for visualization is a high-performance graphics workstation connected to a super computer with a high speed channel. At present, the workstation is a Silicon Graphics IRIS 3130, the supercomputer is a CRAY2, and the high speed channel is a hyperchannel. The three techniques used for visualization are post-processing, tracking, and steering. Post-processing analysis is done after the simulation. Tracking analysis is done during a simulation but is not interactive, whereas steering analysis involves modifying the simulation interactively during the simulation. Using post-processing methods, a flow simulation is executed on a supercomputer and, after the simulation is complete, the results of the simulation are processed for viewing. The software in use and under development at NASA Ames Research Center for performing these types of tasks in computational aerodynamics is described. Workstation performance issues, benchmarking, and high-performance networks for this purpose are also discussed as well as descriptions of other hardware for digital video and film recording

Expanding the toolbox for nanoparticle trapping and spectroscopy with holographic optical tweezers

We have developed a workstation based on holographic tweezers to optically trap, move and characterize metal nanoparticles. Our advanced darkfield imaging system allows us to simultaneously image and take spectra of single trapped metal nanoparticles. We take advantage of the beamshaping abilities of the spatial light modulator and correct for aberrations of the trapping optics. We monitor the improvement of the optical trap with video-based nanoparticle tracking. Furthermore we theoretically assess the capabilities and limitations of video-based tracking for nanoparticle position detection, in particular with respect to acquisition frequencies below the corner frequency

Multi-camera complexity assessment system for assembly line work stations

In the last couple of years, the market demands an increasing number of product variants. This leads to an inevitable rise of the complexity in manufacturing systems. A model to quantify the complexity in a workstation has been developed, but part of the analysis is done manually. Thereto, this paper presents the results of an industrial proof-of-concept in which the possibility of automating the complexity analysis using multi camera video images, was tested

Telescience Testbed Pilot Program

The Telescience Testbed Pilot Program is developing initial recommendations for requirements and design approaches for the information systems of the Space Station era. During this quarter, drafting of the final reports of the various participants was initiated. Several drafts are included in this report as the University technical reports

The Design of a System Architecture for Mobile Multimedia Computers

This chapter discusses the system architecture of a portable computer, called Mobile Digital Companion, which provides support for handling multimedia applications energy efficiently. Because battery life is limited and battery weight is an important factor for the size and the weight of the Mobile Digital Companion, energy management plays a crucial role in the architecture. As the Companion must remain usable in a variety of environments, it has to be flexible and adaptable to various operating conditions. The Mobile Digital Companion has an unconventional architecture that saves energy by using system decomposition at different levels of the architecture and exploits locality of reference with dedicated, optimised modules. The approach is based on dedicated functionality and the extensive use of energy reduction techniques at all levels of system design. The system has an architecture with a general-purpose processor accompanied by a set of heterogeneous autonomous programmable modules, each providing an energy efficient implementation of dedicated tasks. A reconfigurable internal communication network switch exploits locality of reference and eliminates wasteful data copies