70117.2546@CompuServe.COM (Frank Dunn) (02/25/90)
I'm wondering if we could start a discussion on applications of virtual-worlds technology in the telecommunications industry. From what I hear, it appears that there are a few groups already working on this, such as VPL <---> Warren Robinette (Univ. of North Carolina). I also found out that there is a research project that is starting up at the University of Washington ( it is my understanding that the UW has gathered up some of the heaver talent in the field is this true?). At first glance this seems to be a costly endeavor, seeing that the only commercial VR system available at this time requires 2 powerful workstations for each setup. It appears to me that the bandwidth is kind of exessive but the chances are probibly good that you could pull it off with 9600 bps. So what if we can do this what would some of the applications be? Maybe in the long term we can do away with our political reps that do such a good job serving the will of the people ha ha ha ha. Got to go now. Frank dunn 70117.2546@compuserve.com
brandonl%amadeus.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Brandon Lovested) (03/01/90)
The problem of bandwidth will be partially alleviated when high
speed communications links like ISDN, and better yet, FDDI will
be adopted. The speed (>1 Gigahertz) and bandwidth of these links
could possibly allow massive VR communication environments.
That's what the people behind the curtains are working on as we speak...
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velasco%beowulf@ucsd.edu (Gabriel Velasco) (03/02/90)
brandonl%amadeus.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Brandon Lovested) writes: >The problem of bandwidth will be partially alleviated when high >speed communications links like ISDN, and better yet, FDDI will >be adopted. The speed (>1 Gigahertz) and bandwidth of these links >could possibly allow massive VR communication environments. >That's what the people behind the curtains are working on as we speak... ISDN is actually a description of an interface to a carrier. It says nothing about how the information will be transported once it has left the customers equipment. ISDN offers various types of services which are combinations of several channel types. The highest bandwidth channel type which has been standardized, so far, is only 1920 kbps. You could put 521 of these together to get one 1 Gbps channel. FDDI is a Token-Ring type network operating at 100 Mbps. There are actually two rings with data traveling in opposite directions. The second ring is intended to be for crash-proofing the system. If a site goes down, its ends can be connected and you can have one big ring until the site is fixed. You could, however, use the two rings at the same time and get speeds of about 200 Mbps. FDDI is only intended to run over distances of up to 200 km which really makes it suitable as a Metropolitan Area Network not as a replacement for the ARPANET. They are working on a >1 Gbps ARPA internet which will hopefully be up by the turn of the century. Speed is usually measured in bits per second because that can vary over a fixed number of hertz depending on the encoding scheme. It (speed) is roughly synonymous with bandwidth, however, because if you use the same encoding scheme, you can transmit more bits per second on a higher bandwidth channel. ________________________________________________ <>___, / / | ... and he called out and said, "Gabriel, give | /___/ __ / _ __ ' _ / | this man an understanding of the vision." | /\__/\(_/\/__)\/ (_/_(/_/|_ |_______________________________________Dan_8:16_|
andrew@dgbt.uucp (Andrew Patrick DGBT/DBR) (03/02/90)
In article <16386@well.sf.ca.us> 70117.2546@CompuServe.COM (Frank Dunn) writes: >I'm wondering if we could start a discussion on applications of >virtual-worlds technology in the telecommunications industry. ... This is a topic we have been discussing around here lately. In particular, we have been thinking about the role that broadcasters might play in virtual-world services. Consider the following situation: A broadcaster arranges to provide 'virtual world' coverage of a major event -- say, the Canada Day celebrations on Parliament Hill in Ottawa (or the fighting in Lebanon). First, the broadcaster would collect 'stock' images and models of the physical layout, and some standard interactions (e.g., imformation bases). The broadcaster might also 'create' some virtual characters that can be used later, such as notable historical figures. On the day of the event, the broadcaster would setup a number of live cameras etc. to transmit the events as they happen. For the viewer (user) of this virtual-world broadcast, there would be the capability of interacting with and moving about the live images, as well as using the 'stock' information and historical characters. There are obvious questions about how that much information could be transmitted during the event, but it is not impossible. The 'stock' information could be transparently transmitted to the users and stored before the event takes place. Thus, only the 'live' information need be broadcast during the event, and there are already broadcasters using multiple channels to cover the same event, with the user being able to select amoung the different 'views'. What we are really lacking is the capability of 'integrating' information that is stored locally with that coming in live. Also, we are missing the human interface component that makes this interesting, and easy to use. That's were the virtual-reality devices come into play. Finally, at most importantly, we need to know what people want. That is, we need to know what value systems like this will have for people, and what they will be willing to pay for. So much to do... -- Andrew Patrick, Ph.D. | andrew@dgbt.crc.dnd.ca (613) 990-4675 | ...utzoo!lsuc!nrcaer!dgbt!andrew Communications Canada, Ottawa | andrew@doccrc.BITNET "Was that cannon fire, or is it my heart pounding?"
arnief%tekgvs.labs.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Arnie Frisch) (03/04/90)
In article <2204@milton.acs.washington.edu> brandonl%amadeus.wr.tek.com@RELAY.CS.NET (Brandon Lovested) writes: > > >The problem of bandwidth will be partially alleviated when high >speed communications links like ISDN, and better yet, FDDI will >be adopted. The speed (>1 Gigahertz) and bandwidth of these links >could possibly allow massive VR communication environments. > FDDI is a 100 to 125 megabit per second link, i.e., it's not quite as fast as a typical 32 bit computer bus. ISDN is hierarchical; I don't believe the top level is 1 giga-bit per second yet, though SONNET may be so envisioned. Arnold Frisch Tektronix Laboratories