NASA installs new RAVE high-end VR systemMountain View 10 April 2001 The NASA Glenn Research Center, Cleveland, Ohio, has officially opened a new RAVE (Reconfigurable Advanced Visualization Environment)The RAVE was purchased as part of a NASA initiative that aims to enable geographically dispersed teams of engineers and scientists to collaborate in full-sensory environments. Researchers at other NASA centers will utilize broad bandwidth links between systems to share the new immersive environment with NASA Glenn in real-time, remote collaboration, allowing them to work together as if they were at the same location.
The RAVE from Fakespace Systems Inc., located in the Glenn
Reconfigurable User Interface and Virtual Reality Exploration (GRUVE)
laboratory, is being showcased today with a ribbon-cutting ceremony and
demonstrations at NASA Glenn. With the Silicon Graphics Onyx2
InfiniteReality3 system, NASA Glenn now has the computing and graphics
power to explore computational fluid dynamics and structural analysis
simulations in an immersive, collaborative environment.
Silicon Graphics Onyx2, with its high-bandwidth ccNUMA architecture,
combines supercomputing and visualization technologies to process 3D
graphics, 2D imaging and video data in real time, making it an ideal
solution for gaining insight in the fields of manufacturing, government,
engineering, science, research and entertainment. Extending the industry-leading
InfiniteReality graphics architecture, InfiniteReality3 provides
the most advanced capabilities for image quality and realism.
"The display wall is ideal for showing large amounts of data where one can look up close at
small details or step back and get the big picture," said Jay Horowitz, director of the GRUVE
lab at NASA Glenn. "The panoramic view configuration is good for flight simulator type
visualization or for displaying several panels of data and video displays like a virtual control
room. The CAVE, a three-sided room with 3D projection and tracking, gives one the sense of
being fully immersed in a virtual reality simulation."
Onyx2 InfiniteReality3 selected by NASA has 256 MB of texture memory and advanced texture
mapping techniques. T
NASA Glenn also foresees supporting a larger range of applications with the RAVE that could
include work with local Cleveland groups and organizations in the areas of education,
biomedicine and art.
The RAVE system consists of three self-contained modules, that can be used as independent
stereoscopic projection display systems or in a variety of groupings. Each module features an 8-
foot-wide by 7.5-foot-high rigid rear-projected screen at one end of an 11-foot-deep structure
containing one or more high-resolution CRT projectors.
Equipped with air casters, the RAVE modules can be raised approximately one inch off the
ground, and one or two people can easily roll the units into different viewing configurations.
The RAVE is an extremely flexible large-scale system designed for a variety of immersive
viewing modalities. When positioned to form an immersive room, angled theater-like
configuration, a 24-foot flat wall, an L-shaped display or three separate display walls, it
provides stereoscopic visualizations that appear to have a real dimensional presence when
viewed with electronic shutter glasses.
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