GrouptoGroup Collaboration Using the Access Grid Allan Spale
Group-to-Group Collaboration Using the Access Grid Allan Spale, Research Assistant Vikas Chowdhry, Research Assistant Melissa Golter, Research Assistant Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
What is the Access Grid? • Communication and sharing application data – “…resources that can be used to support human interaction across the grid. ” • Venue for holding a variety of meeting types and sizes – “…supports large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and training. ” Quoted material taken from http: //www. accessgrid. org. First deployed by Argonne National Laboratory, creator of Globus Toolkit, foundation for the Grid. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
What is the Access Grid? • Specially designed audio-visual space – “Nodes are…‘designed spaces’ that explicitly contain the high-end audio and visual technology needed to provide a high-quality compelling user experience. ” Quoted material taken from http: //www. accessgrid. org. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid: Communicating and Sharing Application Data • “…resources that can be used to support human interaction across the grid. ” – Includes a variety of hardware and software • Microphones, cameras, computers, video conferencing software, etc. – The computer “grid” concept will use computing resources and services similar to the electric power grid. • Computing power will be a utility. – First deployed by Argonne National Laboratory • Creator of Globus Toolkit, the foundation for the Grid. Quoted material taken from http: //www. accessgrid. org. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid 2. 0 Architecture Excerpt from Open Architecture and Interfaces for Access Grid 2. 0 (Ivan Judson-Argonne National Laboratory) PDF Location: http: //www-fp. mcs. anl. gov/fl/accessgrid/ag-retreat. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago 2002/proceedings/judson. pdf
Access Grid: Venue for a Variety of Meeting Types and Sizes • “…supports large-scale distributed meetings, collaborative work sessions, seminars, lectures, tutorials and training. ” – Sizes of meetings • One or two other sites • Small group of sites (primary design point) • Large group of sites – Sharing of applications and data helps create collaborative work sessions. Quoted material taken from http: //www. accessgrid. org. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid: Specially Designed Audio-Visual Space • “Nodes are…‘designed spaces’ that explicitly contain the high-end audio and visual technology needed to provide a high-quality compelling user experience. ” –Have many visual displays to allow for viewing lots of video streams and other applications. –Types of furniture and furniture arrangement is important. Quoted material taken from http: //www. accessgrid. org. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Components Image from earlier version of Access Grid Media Handout produced by Argonne National Laboratory Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Community • Industry – Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Johnson & Johnson, Microsoft, Motorola • Educational and Research Institutions – 75+ nationwide sites • Private, public, and government-funded institutions – 15+ international sites • Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy, Japan, Korea, Netherlands, United Kingdom Complete list at http: //www-fp. mcs. anl. gov/fl/accessgrid/ag-nodes. htm Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Videoconferencing • One or two other sites – CAVE application (YG) seminar to plan an art installation • University at Buffalo, Indiana University – Informal meetings, discussions – Technical help for fixing Access Grid node problems Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Videoconferencing • Small group of sites – “Virtual News Conference: Academic Excellence for All Urban Students” • NSF’s Urban Systemic Initiative improved math and science scores • EVL hosted 15 attendees from the Chicago Public School system. http: //calder. ncsa. uiuc. edu/ACCESS/ Events/Pics/2001 -0628_nsf/nsf 18. jpg http: //www. evl. uic. edu/activity/temp late_act_project. php 3? indi=148 Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Videoconferencing • Small group of sites – NSF CISE Grand Challenges in e-Science Workshop • Discussions about the utilization of high performance computing will help advance science and engineering • EVL hosted this conference of 30+ attendees http: //www. evl. uic. edu/activity/template_act_project. ph p 3? indi=142 http: //www. evl. uic. edu/activity/NSF/present. html Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Videoconferencing • Large group of sites – Chatauqua (1999, 2000) • The first large scale Access Grid meeting ever conducted. • EVL presented some VR work during Chatauqua 2000. – SC Global 2001 • Broadcasted from certain venues of Supercomputing 2001 in Denver • International and national sites in attendance http: //archive. ncsa. uiuc. edu/alliance/chautauqua/Ohio 2000/ chautauquaday 3/plenarysession/pages/P 6150100. htm Electronic Visualization Laboratory Image courtesy of Bob Huebert of Artic Region Supercomputing Center University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Videoconferencing at EVL • Art • Video mixer for graphics overlays on a video stream • Videotape on a video stream (no audio) • Integration of Polycom into the Access Grid Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: “Shared Desktop” • Implemented by using a program called “Virtual Network Computing” from AT&T Laboratories – Typically used to display the desktop from a Windows computer (Linux and UNIX versions are also available) – Advantages • High resolution still images • Better than viewing compressed video streams of an image Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: Distributed Power. Point • Implemented using Microsoft Power. Point and some additional software distributed by Argonne National Laboratory – Allows people to receive slide changes from a remote site while running the slide show locally – Disadvantages • Animations are strongly discouraged • Cannot see if the remote presenter of the slide show is pointing at something using the mouse pointer • New version of the software overcomes these problems Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Access Grid Application: “Video-On-Demand” • Implemented using Voyager, a program developed by Argonne National Laboratory that allows videoconferences to be recorded and played back at a later time. – Used by EVL/UIC to record a graduate student’s master’s thesis defense • Future improvements – Other streams from scientific instrumentation will be recorded besides video and audio Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Group-to-Group Collaboration in the “Continuum” • Purpose – “…centers around the concept of distributed, collaborative, ‘amplified work environments’ where collaborators gather to solve problems assisted by advanced collaboration, computation and visualization technologies. ” • Technologies – Access Grid, AGAVE, Access Grid-to-Go and VVP, Access. Bot, Tera. Vision, tiled high-resolution displays • Investigators – Dr. Jason Leigh, Kyoung Park, Atul Nayak Quoted material taken from http: //www. evl. uic. edu/cavern/continuum/indexmain. html. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Group-to-Group Collaboration in the “Continuum” Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Continuum: AGAVE • Access Grid Augmented Virtual Environment • “… AGAVE is to append a low-cost PC-based graphics workstation to an Access Grid node that can be used to project 3 D stereoscopic computer graphics to allow collaborators to share 3 D content. ” Qutoted material from: http: //www. evl. uic. edu/cavern/aga ve/ Left image from: http: //www. evl. uic. edu/cavern/cont inuum/indexmain. html Right image from: http: //www. evl. uic. edu/cavern/aga ve/AGAVE. ppt Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Continuum: Access Grid-To-Go • “Access Grid - to - Go - allows traveling users to attend meetings from remote locations. Furthermore the video streaming capability allows scientists to monitor remote equipment or stream visualizations directly from immersive environments such as the CAVE. ” Quoted material and image from: http: //www. evl. uic. edu/cavern/continuum/indexmain. html. Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Full Access Grid Node • Total: $42, 625 -$46, 665 – Computing equipment: $12, 455 – Network equipment: $750 – Other computing equipment (monitors, KVM switch): $1, 800 – Audio configuration • Small: $6, 524 • Large: $10, 564 – Video cameras (4 Sony EVI-D 30): $5, 196 – Projectors (3 Epson 710 c): $15, 900 • Cabling and mounting costs are not included Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Alternate Access Grid Node Specifications • Mid-level requirements – Computing Equipment: Pentium III 845 MHz, Windows 2000, 786 MB RAM – Network: 100 Mbps, multicast – Audio: PC Speakers, echo cancellation unit, microphone – Video: 1 camera and capture card – Display: 1 large display screen (could substitute with projector) – Software: Access Grid-in-a-Box Software • Entry level software and requirements from VRVS at Cal Tech (http: //www. vrvs. org). Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Evaluation and Deployment Information • Access Grid Documentation Project (AGDP) – Evaluation • “Access Grid Node Minimum Requirements” – http: //www. accessgrid. org/agdp/guide/min-req. html – Hardware Requirements and Cost • “Access Grid Hardware Specification” – http: //www. accessgrid. org/agdp/guide/spec. html – Deployment • “Building an Access Grid Node…” – http: //www. accessgrid. org/agdp/guide/building-an-accessgrid-node. html Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Support • Access Grid Documentation Project (AGDP) – http: //www. accessgrid. org/agdp/ • E-mail – Access Grid technical help mailing list at ag-tech@mcs. anl. gov. – Individuals at different institutions • Interactive help – Chat rooms – Videoconferencing Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
Questions and Comments Electronic Visualization Laboratory University of Illinois at Chicago
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