Latency in Virtual Environment Systems
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Mary C. Whitton
Panelists
Roger Hubbold
Robert van Liere
Stephen R. Ellis
Abstract
Latency is a significant factor in the performance and effectiveness of virtual environment systems, but many system developers do not make low latency a design goal. An aim of this panel is to raise the VE community’s awareness of issues related to latency. To provide a basis for discussion with the audience, the panelists will introduce topics including;
• Why you should care about latency
• How latency impairs performance
• Sources of system latency—end-to-end
• Why everyone should measure and report latency
• How to measure latency
• How to overcome latency
Biographies
Mary C. Whitton
Mary C. Whitton is a research associate professor of computer science at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill. She co-leads the Effective Virtual Environments research group that focuses on discovering what makes virtual environment systems effective and developing techniques to make them more effective for applications such as simulation, training, and rehabilitation. Prior to joining UNC in 1994, she was co-founder of two companies tat produced high-end hardware for graphics, imaging, and visualization.. Ms. Whitton has held leadership roles in ACM SIGGRAPH including serving as President 1993-1995. She is a member of the IEEE and the IEEE Computer Society.
Stephen R. Ellis
Stephen R. Ellis has headed the Advanced Displays and Spatial Perception Laboratory at the NASA Ames Research Center. He received a Ph.D. in Psychology (1974) from McGill University and postdoctoral fellowships in Physiological optics and Bioengineering at Brown University and at U.C. Berkeley respectively. He has published over 170 journal publications and reports on user interaction with spatial information and has been in the forefront of the introduction of perspective and 3D formats into user interfaces for aerospace applications. He has served on the editorial boards of Presence, Virtual Reality and Human Factors and has edited a book, Pictorial communication in virtual and real environments, (Taylor and Francis, London, 2nd Ed., 1993).
Roger Hubbold
Roger Hubbold is Professor of Virtual Environments in the School of Computer Science at the University of Manchester. He was awarded a First Class degree in Engineering in 1967 and a Ph.D. in Computer Graphics in 1971, both at the University of Leicester, UK. He has been involved in computer graphics since 1967, in universities and in industry. In 1991 he was one of the founders of the Advanced Interfaces Group, which is researching software systems and applications of novel 3D interfaces, including virtual environments. He is the Research Group Leader for this group.
Robert van Liere
Robert van Liere is a principle investigator at CWI in Amsterdam, where he heads the Visualization and Virtual Reality research group. He also holds a part-time position as full professor at the Technical University in Eindhoven. Robert received a Ph.D. in computer science from University of Amsterdam and a master degree in computer science from University of Delft. His research interests involve interactive visualization, virtual environments, and human-computer interaction.
Student Panel: Building a Career in VR
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Robert W. Lindeman
Panelists
The panelists will be drawn from PhD programs, industry, the military, and government labs.
Abstract
This panel will bring together senior graduate students and recent Ph.D.s from VR research groups in academia, industry, the military, and government. The discussion will focus on two main topics: Building a Career in VR, and Evolving the IEEE VR Conference.
Building a Career in VR
1. Is building a career in VR feasible? How do you market yourself? What special considerations do you have to make for interviews?
2. The idea of ‘VR+something’: should you sell yourself as “VR+CG”, “VR+HCI”, or “VR+Games” instead of simply “VR”?
3. Current and future funding considerations for VR research and careers.
Those entering academia, research, or industry specializing in VR have unique concerns with respects to “selling themselves”, funding, and charting a career. What approaches do those about to enter industry, government, and academia plan on employing?
Evolving the IEEE VR conference
1. We will discuss the idea of “pure VR” and the intersection with interactive 3D graphics, 3D UI, AR, projector based VR, mixed reality, and video games.
2. How should we evolve the IEEE VR conference over the next 10 years?
The IEEE VR conference is the premiere conference on Virtual Reality. Exactly what VR is, and the resulting scope and focus of such a conference, is still a topic of considerable debate. In what ways would the panelists evolve the conference?
A moderator will direct the discussion with a focus on student involvement (especially those in the audience). Preference will be given to questions from students in the audience. More-senior researchers will also be encouraged to contribute advice.
Biography
Robert W. Lindeman received a BA in Computer Science from Brandeis University in 1987, an MS in Systems Management from the University of Southern California in 1992, and the ScD degree in Computer Science from The George Washington University in 1999. His doctoral work focused on 3D user interaction techniques in VR. He joined the Computer Science faculty of Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI) in Fall 2005, in support of the newly formed Interactive Media & Game Development major. He is founding director of the WPI Human Interaction in Virtual Environments (HIVE) lab. Work in the HIVE spans most human-sensory modalities, including graphical cues, spatialized audio, wearable haptics, and wind cues, with applications in virtual, real, and teleoperated environments. Dr. Lindeman’s group pursues a unified approach, combining cues to as many sensory modalities as possible, while minimizing cumber, to increase presence and situation awareness. He is a long-time member of ACM, IEEE, and UPE.