Research Papers

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'''Abstract:''' ''An “agent” in a computer simulation is an object with a dynamic model driving its actions. There are different classifications for agents, for example: autonomous, intelligent, and software. A cell within a cellular automaton might be considered an agent with the complete environment being a multi-agent system. An object containing an artificial intelligence could also be considered an agent. Our purpose is to introduce the “personal” aspect of agents through first-person perspective—by becoming one of the agents in the simulation. When a level of presence on the part of the human’s relationship to the agent is incorporated in this fashion, we must incorporate methods found typically within multi-user virtual environments. This tutorial is centered on one particular open-source, multi-user, virtual environment system called OpenSimulator (or OpenSim). We introduce OpenSim to allow the reader an opportunity for understanding how this software is used within the context of agentbased computer simulations''
 
'''Abstract:''' ''An “agent” in a computer simulation is an object with a dynamic model driving its actions. There are different classifications for agents, for example: autonomous, intelligent, and software. A cell within a cellular automaton might be considered an agent with the complete environment being a multi-agent system. An object containing an artificial intelligence could also be considered an agent. Our purpose is to introduce the “personal” aspect of agents through first-person perspective—by becoming one of the agents in the simulation. When a level of presence on the part of the human’s relationship to the agent is incorporated in this fashion, we must incorporate methods found typically within multi-user virtual environments. This tutorial is centered on one particular open-source, multi-user, virtual environment system called OpenSimulator (or OpenSim). We introduce OpenSim to allow the reader an opportunity for understanding how this software is used within the context of agentbased computer simulations''
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<p style="font-size: 132%; font-weight: bold;">[https://software.intel.com/content/dam/develop/external/us/en/documents/sciencesimwp-ccefinal-165506.pdf ScienceSim: A Virtual Environment for Collaborative Visualization and Experimentation]</p>
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Intel Labs, Intel Corporation, Supercomputing 2009 Conference
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'''Abstract:''' ''Describes a collaboration between the ACM, IEEE Computer Society, and Intel Labs to launch ScienceSim, an OpenSimulator-based collaborative environment for general simulation experiments. As part of the project Intel has launched a research initiative called Cable Beach, to build an architecture for decentralized virtual environments with multiple virtual worlds, such as ScienceSim. The goal is promote interoperability - to enable the sharing of authorization, content delivery, and services across virtual worlds, based on common web protocols.''
 
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Revision as of 14:15, 9 September 2020

Research Papers about OpenSimulator

A list of research papers that mention OpenSimulator.

2018

A Review of Managment Tools for OpenSimulator

BRUNO VICENTE, FERNANDO PAIS DE SOUSA, LEONEL MORGADO, PEDRO FURTADO, JOÃO PASCOAL FARIA5.
Abstract: To host OpenSimulator virtual world servers at educational institutions, system administrators find at their disposal a diversity of webbased management systems with different sets of features. To support the selection among current management tools and provide a baseline from which to identify subsequent development needs, we installed and evaluated 4 of these systems (WiFi pages, OSMW, MWI and jOpenSim), analyzing and comparing their features. WiFi pages only provides account-management features. MWI has mostly the same features, but also provides systems administrators with the option of creating their own management website. OSMW has account-management and maintenance features, such as log management and editing of configuration files. jOpenSim provides features for account and event management and feature for generating some actions within virtual world, such as broadcasting a message to all regions. From matching the identified features with the literature-reported requirements for virtual world deployment at educational organizations, we conclude that there is no management tool that fulfils all the functional requirements reported in the literature and, therefore, that the adoption of current tools by system administrators will always require to manually perform some of the administrative tasks. We therefore call for development of novel, more encompassing administrative tools for OpenSimulator virtual worlds.

OpenSimulator based Multi-User Virtual World: A Framework for the Creation of Distant and Virtual Practical Activities

MOURDI Youssef, SADGAL Mohamed, BERRADA FATHI Wafaa, EL KABTANE Hamada of Faculty Semlalia University, Cadi Ayyad, Marrakesh, Morocco. International Journal of Advanced Computer Science and Applications, Vol. 9, No. 8, 2018.
Abstract: The exponential growth of technology has contributed to the positive revolution of distance learning. Elearning is becoming increasingly used in the transfer of knowledge where instructors can model and script their courses in several formats such as files, videos and quizzes. In order to complete their courses, practical activities are very important. Several instructors have joined Multi-User Virtual World (MUVW) communities such as SecondeLife, as they offer a degree of interrelated realism and interaction between users. The modeling and scenarization of practical activities in the MUVWs remains a very difficult task considering the technologies used by these MUVWs and the necessary prerequisites. In this paper, we propose a framework for the OpenSimulator MUVWs that can simplify the scenarization of practical activities using the OpenSpace3D software and without requiring designers to have expertise in programming or coding.

2016

Aspect-Oriented Architectural Style for Distributed Interactive Simulations

Arthur Rodrigo Sawazachi Valadares, University of California, Irvine, CA
Abstract: The goal of this dissertation is to expand the expressiveness of distributed simulation frameworks while reducing the technical complexity to develop integrated distributed simulations independently. This dissertation presents a novel architecture for distributed interactive simulations (DIS) called Collaborative Aspect-oriented DIS (CADIS). The architecture is divided in two frameworks called PCC and spacetime. PCC (Predicate Collection Classes) is an object-oriented programming model for representing collections of objects. These collections of objects are called relational data types – types that are reclassified based on runtime values. Relational types allows the expressiveness of queries that are common to relational databases to be defined as abstract data types. Spacetime adds automatic synchronization and recalculation of PCC data types in discrete time distributed simulations. Through a simple push, update, and pull process, simulations operate with newly reclassified objects, and any modifications are automatically pushed to the server.

Evaluation of OpenSimulator Extensibility by Designing Collaborative and Adaptive 3D Learning Object

Livia ŞTEFAN, Florica MOLDOVEANU, Alin MOLDOVEANU, Scientific Bulletin, Series C - Electrical Engineering and Computer Science, Vol. 78, Iss. 1, 2016
Abstract: This paper reports research results from design and implementation of several collaborative and adaptive learning objects within a 3D experimental educational simulator on OpenSimulator platform. Our methodology was to identify and apply different extensibility mechanisms of OpenSimulator that can support a flexible design and an extensible model required by an open and adaptive educational simulator. The learning objects were experimented with a small user base using different collaborative scenarios and will be further integrated into the "3DUPB" virtual campus in a Massive MultiUser Online context. The paper also discusses findings and presents conclusions and perspectives of the research.

Impact of Event Filtering on OpenSimulator Server Performance

Eugenia Gabrielova and Cristina V. Lopes, Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA
Abstract: Virtual worlds can be used to create immersive 3D teleconfer-encing and collaboration spaces. One challenge to the scalability of virtual collaboration is the unpredictable behavior of virtual world client viewers. This paper describes the result of a performance study of server optimizations in OpenSimulator, a multi-platform, 3D virtual world server. We explore the effect of server-side optimizations on mitigating client viewer instability. Our results show that filtering out insignificant events decreases server load by at least 24%, restoring it to baseline load levels.

OpenSimulator and Unity as a Shared Development Environment

Fumikazu Iseki of Tokyo Univ. of Info. Sci., Dept. of Informatics, Japan; Austin Tate of AIAI, School of Informatics, University of Edinburgh, UK; Daichi Mizumaki of Tokyo Univ. of Info. Sci., Dept. of Informatics, Japan; Kohei Suzuki of The Daiichi Information Systems Co., Ltd., Japan.
Abstract: We developed a conversion system to load OpenSimulator Archive (.oar) files into Unity. This system allows the user to load world data jointly created in OpenSimulator into Unity on a region-by-region basis, and to ultimately output the data from Unity in a variety of formats. These features allow us to treat the pairing of OpenSimulator and Unity as a shared development environment, which simplifies the low-cost creation of 3D spatial visualization data.

2015

On Designing and Testing Distributed Virtual Environments

Arthur Valadares, Eugenia Gabrielova, Cristina Videira Lopes of Bren School of Information and Computer Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA, USA
Abstract: Distributed Real-Time (DRT) systems are among the most complex software systems to design, test, maintain and evolve. The existence of components distributed over a network often conflicts with real-time requirements, leading to design strategies that depend on domain- and even application-specific knowledge. Distributed Virtual Environment (DVE) systems are DRT systems that connect multiple users instantly with each other and with a shared virtual space over a network. DVE systems deviate from traditional DRT systems in the importance of the quality of the end user experience. We present an analysis of important, but challenging, issues in the design, testing and evaluation of DVE systems through the lens of experiments with a concrete DVE, OpenSimulator. We frame our observations within six dimensions of well-known design concerns: correctness, fault tolerance/prevention, scalability, time sensitivity, consistency, and overhead of distribution. Furthermore, we place our experimental work in a broader historical context, showing that these challenges are intrinsic to DVEs and suggesting lines of future research.

Scalability for virtual worlds

Raluca Diaconu, Université Pierre et Marie Curie - Paris VI
Abstract: Virtual worlds attract millions of users and these popular applications --supported by gigantic data centers with myriads of processors-- are routinely accessed. However, surprisingly, virtual worlds are still unable to host simultaneously more than a few hundred users in the same contiguous space.The main contribution of the thesis is Kiwano, a distributed system enabling an unlimited number of avatars to simultaneously evolve and interact in a contiguous virtual space. In Kiwano we employ the Delaunay triangulation to provide each avatar with a constant number of neighbors independently of their density or distribution. The avatar-to-avatar interactions and related computations are then bounded, allowing the system to scale. The load is constantly balanced among Kiwano's nodes which adapt and take in charge sets of avatars according to their geographic proximity.

2013

Adaptive Content Management for Collaborative 3D Virtual Spaces

Jarkko M. Vatjus-Anttila, Seamus Hickey, Timo Koskela of Intel and Nokia Joint Innovation Center, Center for Internet Excellence, University of Oulu, Finland. Proceedings of the 13th Conference of Fruct Association.
Abstract: Collaborative 3D virtual spaces and their services are often too heavy for a mobile device to handle. The burden of such services is divided between extensive amounts of data, which need to be downloaded prior to using the service, and the complexity of the resulting graphical rendering process. In this paper, a proxy based architecture for collaborative virtual spaces is used to manipulate graphical data demand-time to favor both network bandwidth usage and graphical rendering process. In addition, a proof of concept test is shown, regarding how the simplification process gains savings for different client device profiles, including laptops, tablets and mobile devices.

Virtual Archaeology in Second Life and OpenSimulator

Luís Miguel Sequeira and Leonel Morgado of UTAD – University of Trás-os-Montes Alto Douro
Abstract: Traditional approaches to virtual archaeology include dealing with research methods to capture information from heritage sites, creating models out of that information and how to present them to the public; these are intense technical procedures which might be too costly for some types of history or heritage-based projects. Virtual worlds allowed new types of models of/for heritage sites to be produced and disseminated at a fraction of the cost. Second Life®, and its open source counterpart, OpenSimulator, are virtual world platforms with user-generated content. 3D models are created in real time and instantly rendered for all visitors. This allows amateurs and researchers create their own virtual archaeology projects easily and with few costs, and to have the resulting models immediately available to a vast community of users. This article presents an overview of four different approaches to virtual archaeology projects that are present in these platforms and that have been publicly discussed and analyzed; in particular, the last type shows a novel approach to virtual archaeology which is not found in other platforms, and explains how researchers have managed to extend the concept to new areas and develop methodologies to incorporate the validation of historical accuracy to encompass these areas.

2012

The Design of a Contemporary Infrastructure for Scalable and Consistent Virtual Worlds

Umar Farooq, School of Computing Sciences, University of East Anglia
NOTE: Large download, 245 page PDF
Abstract: We investigate the capabilities of OpenSimulator and develop a load model that determines when to initiate a split or a merge operation. We presented an abstract framework for scalability which is implemented by building on the basic capabilities of OpenSimulator. This work is demonstrated through experiments on both Windows and Linux platforms. It obtains the same level of scalability as static configurations but with a reduced number of resources. It further proves over current dynamic approaches by transferring regions in an aggregate in turn. For evaluation purposes, we used a number of timing and system statistics. We developed significantly more efficient algorithms for removing a region from a simulator compared with the basic methods of OpenSimulator. Overall, we effectively developed a system that dynamically expands and contracts the set of servers used to support a virtual world based on load estimated by tracking the number of active players.

2010

Scaling OpenSimulator : An Examination of Possible Architectures for an Internet­ Scale Virtual Environment Network

Justin Clark­ Casey, Kellogg College, University of Oxford
Abstract This dissertation describes an analysis of possible architectures for an Internet­ scale virtual environment network. These are treated as evolutions of an existing virtual environment architecture embodied in an open­ source project called Open Simulator. Distributed Computing concepts and Z schemas are used to examine both the existing Open Simulator architecture and the alternative configurations.

Scaling Virtual Worlds: Simulation Requirements and Challenges

Huaiyu Liu, Mic Bowman, Robert Adams, John Hurliman, Dan Lake of Intel Labs, Intel Corporation. Proceedings of the 2010 Winter Simulation Conference.
Abstract: Virtual worlds use simulation to create a fully-immersive 3D space in which users interact and collaborate in real time. It is still a great challenge to scale virtual worlds to provide rich user experiences, high level of realism, and innovative usages. There are three unique simulation requirements in scaling virtual worlds: (1) large-scale, real time and perpetual simulations with distributed interaction, (2) simultaneous visualization for many endpoints with unique perspectives, and (3) multiple simulation engines with different operation characteristics. In this paper, we review the challenges in meeting these requirements, present the scalability barriers we observed in current virtual worlds, and discuss potential virtual world architecture and solutions to address the challenges and overcome the barriers.

2009

An Introduction to OpenSimulator and Virtual Environment Agent-Based M&S Applications

Paul A. Fishwick, Computer & Information Sci. and Eng. Dept., Bldg. CSE, Room 301, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA. Proceedings of the 2009 Winter Simulation Conference.
Abstract: An “agent” in a computer simulation is an object with a dynamic model driving its actions. There are different classifications for agents, for example: autonomous, intelligent, and software. A cell within a cellular automaton might be considered an agent with the complete environment being a multi-agent system. An object containing an artificial intelligence could also be considered an agent. Our purpose is to introduce the “personal” aspect of agents through first-person perspective—by becoming one of the agents in the simulation. When a level of presence on the part of the human’s relationship to the agent is incorporated in this fashion, we must incorporate methods found typically within multi-user virtual environments. This tutorial is centered on one particular open-source, multi-user, virtual environment system called OpenSimulator (or OpenSim). We introduce OpenSim to allow the reader an opportunity for understanding how this software is used within the context of agentbased computer simulations

ScienceSim: A Virtual Environment for Collaborative Visualization and Experimentation

Intel Labs, Intel Corporation, Supercomputing 2009 Conference
Abstract: Describes a collaboration between the ACM, IEEE Computer Society, and Intel Labs to launch ScienceSim, an OpenSimulator-based collaborative environment for general simulation experiments. As part of the project Intel has launched a research initiative called Cable Beach, to build an architecture for decentralized virtual environments with multiple virtual worlds, such as ScienceSim. The goal is promote interoperability - to enable the sharing of authorization, content delivery, and services across virtual worlds, based on common web protocols.


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