The OptIPuter ProjectTom DeFanti, Jason Leigh, Maxine Brown, Tom Moher, Oliver Yu, Bob Grossman, Luc Renambot

Electronic Visualization Laboratory, Department of Computer Science, UICLarry Smarr, California Institute of Telecommunications and Information Technology, UCSD

National Science Foundation Award #SCI-0225642Problem Statement and Motivation

Technical Approach—UIC OptIPuter Team Key Achievements and Future Goals—UIC Team

The OptIPuter, so named for its use of Optical networking, Internet Protocol, computer storage, processing and visualization technologies, is an infrastructure that tightly couples computational resources and displays over parallel optical networks using the IP communication mechanism.

The OptIPuter exploits a new world in which the central architectural element is optical networking, not computers. This paradigm shift requires large-scale applications-driven, system experiments and a broad multidisciplinary team to understand and develop innovative solutions for a "LambdaGrid" world. The goal of this new architecture is to enable scientists who are generating terabytes of data to interactively visualize, analyze, and correlate their data from multiple storage sites connected to optical networks.

• Deployed tiled displays and clusters at partner sites• Procured a 10Gigabit Ethernet (GigE) private network UIC to

UCSD• Connected 1GigE and 10GigE metro, regional, national and

international research networks into the OptIPuter project. • Developed software and middleware to interconnect and

interoperate heterogeneous network domains, enabling applications to set up on-demand private networks using electronic-optical and fully optical switches.

• Developed advanced data transport protocols to move large data files quickly

• Developed a two-month Earthquake instructional unit test in a fifth-grade class at Lincoln school

• Develop high-bandwidth distributed applications in geoscience, medical imaging and digital cinema

• Engaging NASA, NIH, ONR, USGS and DOD scientists

• Design, build and evaluate ultra-high-resolution displays• Transmit ultra-high-resolution still and motion images• Design, deploy and test high-bandwidth collaboration tools• Procure/provide experimental high-performance network services• Research distributed optical backplane architectures • Create and deploy lightpath management methods• Implement novel data transport protocols• Design performance metrics, analysis and protocol parameters• Create outreach mechanisms benefiting scientists and educators• Assure interoperability of software developed at UIC with OptIPuter

partners (Univ of California, San Diego; Northwestern Univ; San Diego State Univ; Univ of Southern California; Univ of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign; Univ of California, Irvine; Texas A&M Univ; USGS; Univ of Amsterdam; SARA/Amsterdam; CANARIE; and, KISTI/Korea.

Invention and Applications of ImmersiveTouch™, a High-Performance Haptic Augmented Virtual Reality System

Investigator: Pat Banerjee, MIE, CS and BioE DepartmentsPrime Grant Support: NIST-ATP

Problem Statement and Motivation

Technical Approach

Key Achievements and Future Goals

High-performance interface enables development of medical, engineering or scientific virtual reality simulation and training applications that appeal to many stimuli: audio, visual, tactile and kinesthetic.

•First system that integrates a haptic device, a head and hand tracking system, a cost-effective high-resolution and high-pixel-density stereoscopic display•Patent application by University of Illinois

• Depending upon future popularity, the invention can be as fundamental as a microscope

•Continue adding technical capabilities to enhance the usefulness of the device