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Computing Architectures For Virtual Reality: Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept
Computing Architectures For Virtual Reality: Electrical and Computer Engineering Dept
System architecture
Computing Architectures
The VR Engine
Definition:
fast graphics and haptics refresh rates (30 fps for graphics and
hundreds of Hz for haptics);
8 sub-samples/pixel
16 sub-samples/pixel
Rendering pipeline
The geometry stage
Is done in hardware;
Consists first of model and view transforms
Iλ = Iaλ Ka Odλ +
fatt Ipλ [Kd Odλcosθ + Ks Osλcosnα]
in the scene;
The simpler the shading model, the less
visible edges;
The flat shaded model assigns same color to all
Wire-frame model
“double buffering”;
All the buffers on the system are grouped into the
frame buffer.
Testing for pipeline bottlenecks
If CPU operates at 100% – then the pipeline is
Fill-limited
(increase realism)
The Pipeline Balancing
Single buffering
Graphics processor
Unit (GPU)
NVIDIA Quadro FX 4000 architecture
www.tomshardware.com
State of Watercooling
• Water cooling has been performed by
consumers as early as 2006.
• While niche, the field is popular enough for
parts to be mass-produced.
• Parts are usually bought off specialty websites.
• Becoming more popular as more people
construct their own systems
• Self-contained pre-made water systems are
sold retail. (Corsair H70 and Domino ALC)
• Transfers heat from
Waterblock
EK Supreme High Flow – Full Copper
CPU/GPU to water
• Usually made of copper,
which has better heat
transfer characteristics.
• Contact surfaces
machined to mm
GTX 580 with MSI Waterblock
precision - maximize
contact with CPU/GPU
• Sometimes nickel-plated
to protect against
corrosion
Radiator
• Stores heat to be HW Labs Black Ice Xtreme GTX 360
conducted out of loop
• Multiple sizes, usually in
increments of 120mm.
• Usually copper cores
surrounded by large fin
XSPC RX 240
assemblies.
• Designed to work with
certain types of fans,
either performance or
quiet fans.
Reservoir and Pump
• Pump moves water through Swiftech MCP 655 Pump
loop.
• Can be fitted with
aftermarket “Tops” that offer
more fitting options and
higher flow rate.
EK Spin Bay Reservoir
• Reservoir provides easy way
to measure water level and
fill and empty loop.
• Can be replaced by T-line
Coolant, Tubing, Kill coils and Fans
• Coolant of choice is distilled water. Dyes in colored
coolants often separate from liquid and collect in
waterblocks and radiators.
• Tubing is laboratory grade, meant to bend at sharp angles.
Often coated with anti-bacterial compounds.
• Kill coils are anti-microbial strips of pure silver
• Fans are conventional 120mm fans, ranging from 30 to 260
cubic feet per minute, with accompanying increase in noise
levels (14dBA- 60dBA)
• Push-pull configuration - radiator sandwiched by fans
facing the same direction; 3-4o C decrease in temperature.
Results
Cooler Clock Speed Idle Temperatures
Stock 2.66ghz 34°C
TRUE* (Air) 2.66ghz 31°C
TRUE *(Air) 3.8ghz 42°C
EK HF Supreme (Water) 2.66ghz 28°C
EK HF Supreme (Water) 4.5ghz 38°C
Wireless
transmitter
Wii Zapper
•Wii remote and Nunchuk connected in one “gun-like”
frame.
•For shooting games, makes aiming more accurate, but
slower
Wii (use of shoulder instead of wrist)
Nunchuck
remote
Plastic
frame
The Wii Motion Plus
Has a pass-through expansion port, allowing other
expansions such as the Nunchuk or Classic Controller to be
used simultaneously with the device.
Wii Motion Plus was released in 2009 with the Wii Sports
Resort games
The Wii Motion Plus
It incorporates a pair of resonating gyroscopes which
measure rotation. Sensor is an InvenSense's IDG-1004
integrated dual-axis gyroscope (www.ivensense.com)
PS3 Specs
PS3 CPU: Cell Processor
- Developed by IBM.
- Cell Processor
- PowerPC-base Core @ 3.2GHz
- 1 VMX vector unit per core
- 512KB L2 cache
- 7 x SPE @ 3.2GHz
- 7 x 128b 128 SIMD GPR’s
- 7 x 256KB SRAM for SPE
- 1 of 8 SPE’s reserved for redundancy
- total floating point performance: 218 GFLOPS
Cell Processor Architecture
Gesture recognition
User awareness
–facial recognition
Voice recognition
Independent of lighting
conditions.
Multiple users
Limitations
Blind spots
-sitting down issues
-only in front of the user
30hz frame rate
http://www.winsupersite.com/showcase/xbox360_vs_ps3.asp
Distributed VR architectures
Single-user systems:
multiple side-by-side displays;
multiple LAN-networked computers;
Multi-user systems:
client-server systems;
pier-to-pier systems
hybrid systems;
Single-user, multiple displays
(3DLabs Inc.)
Side-by-side displays.
Master CRT
Buffer
Master Display
Buffer
Geometry+Rasterizer
Application
GPU
Synchronization command
Synchronization command Synchronization command
Geometry+Rasterizer
Application GPU
Buffer Slave Display
Video synchronized displays (three PCs)
release done
Wildcat 4210
(Courtesy of Quantum3D Inc.)
Genlock
Used to synchronize output of graphics card and
connected displays to external synchronization
source.
Ex: Used to
synchronize cameras
with CRT displays so
that scan lines would
not be visible.
Pentium II
Dual-processor
Host computer
Haptic
Interface
Physics Processing Unit (PPU)
First PPU made by Ageia Inc., called “PhysX
PhysX available as an add on card (see above).
Helps the CPU do computations related to material
properties (elasticity, friction, density);
Better fog effects and more realistic clothing simulation
Better fluid dynamics simulation and collision effects;
Cost $160
Co-located Rendering Pipelines (older design)
Wildcat II 5110
Wildcat II 5110
Co-located Rendering Pipelines (newer design)
PC Clusters
Ciara VRX
Google Server Farms
Massive computations done on “server farms”
Google owns about 1 Million servers around the world
Massive installation requiring massive energy (including
for cooling the servers)
That is why server farms are located close to water
sources, and cheaper energy sources.
Cloud Computing in the 21st century
Instead of installing all application software locally, and
worrying about backup, updates, slow graphics, etc., the
only thing the user would need on the local machine is a
web browser.
Everything (graphics rendering, databases, security and
encoding) are done on servers and much less powerful and
cheaper client computers will be needed.
1200
1000
800
600 MegaFlops/W
400
200
R oadR unner
C ra y J a g u a r
T ia n h e -1 A
0
K
IB M
Server-mediated
communication;
Unicast mode;
Sever is bottleneck
Server
on allowable number
of clients
Server 2
LAN LAN
Server 1 Server 3
LAN
Client 1,1 Client 1,2 Client 1,n Client 3,1 Client 3,2 Client 3,n
Multicast packets
Area of interest
management
Cybertennis