IQ-Station: A Low Cost Portable Immersive Environment

The emergence of inexpensive 3D TV’s, affordable input and rendering hardware and open-source software has created a yeasty atmosphere for the development of low-cost immersive environments (IE). A low cost IE system, or IQ-station, fashioned from commercial off the shelf technology (COTS), coupled with a targeted immersive application can be a viable laboratory instrument for enhancing scientific workflow for exploration and analysis. The use of an IQ-station in a laboratory setting also has the potential of quickening the adoption of a more sophisticated immersive environment as a critical enabler in modern scientific and engineering workflows. Prior work in immersive environments generally required either a head mounted display (HMD) system or a large projector-based implementation both of which have limitations in terms of cost, usability, or space requirements. The solution presented here provides an alternative platform providing a reasonable immersive experience that addresses those limitations. Our work brings together the needed hardware and software to create a fully integrated immersive display and interface system that can be readily deployed in laboratories and common workspaces. By doing so, it is now feasible for immersive technologies to be included in researchers’ day-to-day workflows. The IQ-Station sets the stage for much wider adoption of immersive environments outside the small communities of virtual reality centers

VirCA NET and CogInfoCom: Novel challenges in future internet based augmented/Virtual Collaboration

Abstract—Several challenges can arise during augmented/virtual collaboration. In this paper, we identify and classify some of these challenges from a cognitive infocommunications (CogInfoCom) point of view. The starting point of our analysis is the VirCA NET application, which was built on the Virtual Collaboration Arena (VirCA) and developed at the MTA SZTAKI. First, we demonstrate how VirCA and VirCA NET belong to the CogInfoCom paradigm and how they are also related to Future Internet. To highlight our ideas in a practical use-case, we identify key features of infocommunication in a collaborative scenario for building industrial production layouts. In the collaborative scenario, factory planning is defined as a multi-stakeholder and multi-domain challenge, which distributed planning teams have to face. Based on the features of VirCA NET and the specifics of the scenario, we outline a list of challenges, some of which are already solved by the system to some extent, and some of which remain to be solved in future work. The challenges are presented in relation to the theoretical background of CogInfoCom engines and CogInfoCom channels, in order to further strengthen the link between augmented/virtual collaboration and the goals of CogInfoCom. I

Late Cenozoic deformation of the Kura fold-thrust belt, southern Greater Caucasus

Although the geometry and kinematics of the first-order structures accommodating Arabia-Eurasia convergence are relatively well known in Turkey and Iran, major shortening structures remain poorly understood within the central portion of the collision zone, in eastern Anatolia and the Caucasus. New remotely sensed neotectonic mapping, synthesis of regional geologic and stratigraphic data, and balanced cross sections suggest that the Kura fold-thrust belt has accommodated the majority of Arabia-Eurasia convergence since the early Pliocene between the longitudes of ~45°E and ~49°E. This belt lies southeast of the N80°W-striking Greater Caucasus Mountains and forms an eastwardnarrowing band of elevated topography that roughly parallels the range front for ~400 km along strike. The belt is separated from the Greater Caucasus to the north by the 10 to 25-km-wide Alazani Basin and comprises a series of predominantly south-verging folds deforming Eocene-Quaternary flysch and molasse. To document structural geometries within the Kura fold-thrust belt, we have used the Real-time Interactive Mapping System (RIMS) software to analyze Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), visible to near-infrared (VNIR), and digital elevation model (DEM) data. This neotectonic mapping indicates an along-strike, eastward decrease in both structural complexity and the degree to which deformed geomorphic surfaces are dissected. Existing geologic maps indicate a corresponding eastward decrease in the depth of exposure. By integrating the structural geometries determined in our analysis of remote-sensing data with existing geologic data, we have constructed two balanced cross sections, which suggest these systematic along-strike variations result from a west-to-east decrease in total shortening within the Kura fold-thrust belt. We interpret this variable shortening to stem from eastward propagation of the Kura fold-thrust belt. Comparison of our preliminary total shortening estimates with those predicted by current plate motions suggest that the Kura fold-thrust belt has accommodated ~30%-40% (~25 km) of total Arabia-Eurasia convergence since 5 Ma, and thus forms a first-order structural system within the central portion of the collision zone. © 2009 Geological Society of America

Interpolating sparse scattered data using flow information

Scattered data interpolation and approximation techniques allow for the reconstruction of a scalar field based upon a finite number of scattered samples of the field. In general, the fidelity of the reconstruction with respect to the original scalar field tends to deteriorate as the number of samples decreases. For the situation of very sparse sampling, the results may not be acceptable at all. However, if it is known that the scalar field of interest is correlated with a known flow field - as is the case when the scalar field represents the value of an oceanographic tracer that propagates under the influence of the ocean's flow - then this knowledge can be exploited to enhance the scattered data reconstruction method. One way to exploit flow field information is to use it to construct a modified notion of distance between points. Replacing the standard Euclidean distance metric with a flow-field-aware notion of distance provides a method for extending standard scattered data interpolation methods into flow-based methods that produce superior results for very sparse data. The resulting reconstructions typically have lower root-mean-square errors than reconstructions that do not use the flow information, and qualitatively they often appear physically more realistic

Interactive Visualization and Steering of CFD Simulations

We describe a system that supports real-time interactive visualization of computational fluid dynamics (CFD) simulations. The system allows a user to place and manipulate visualization primitives, such as isolines and streamlines, during an ongoing simulation process. A user can interactively select and designate regions of the computational mesh for refinement as the simulation progresses, perform remeshing, and see the effects of the refinement on the simulation in real time. The system is being used for the study of two open problems in compressible fluid dynamics. We can interactively explore solutions as they are computed, identify flow field regions containing features of interest, and refine the grid in those regions in order to obtain a better result locally. The ability to visualize “live ” data, and to make changes to the computational setup in real time, has helped us to understand the underlying fundamental CFD simulation issues of these problems in shorter times than would otherwise have been possible