Networked virtual environments: design and implementation

1. The Promises and Challenges of Networked Virtual Environments. What Is a Networked Virtual Environment? Graphics Engines and Displays. Control and Communication Devices. Processing Systems. Data Network. Challenges in Net-VE Design and Development. Network Bandwidth. Heterogeneity. Distributed Interaction. Real-Time System Design and Resource Management. Failure Management. Scalability. Deployment and Configuration. Conclusion. References. 2. The Origin of Networked Virtual Environments. Department of Defense Networked Virtual Environments. SIMNET. Distributed Interactive Simulation. Networked Games and Demos. SGI Flight and Dogfight. Doom. Other Games. Academic Networked Virtual Environments. NPSNET. PARADISE. DIVE. Brick Net. MR Toolkit Peer Package. Others. Conclusion. References. 3. A Networking Primer. Fundamentals of Data Transfer. Network Latency. Network Bandwidth. Network Reliability. Network Protocol. The BSD Sockets Architecture. Sockets and Ports. The Internet Protocol. Introducing the Internet Protocols for Net-Ves. Transmission Control Protocol. User Datagram Protocol. IP Broadcasting Using UDP. IP Multicasting. Selecting a Net-VE Protocol. Using TCP/IP. Using UDP/IP. Using IP Broadcasting. Using IP Multicasting. Conclusion. References. 4. Communication Architectures. Two Players on a LAN. Multiplayer Client-Server Systems. Multiplayer Client-Server, with Multiple-Server Architectures. Peer-to-Peer Architectures. Conclusion. References. 5. Managing Dynamic Shared State. The Consistency-Throughput Tradeoff. Maintaining Shared State Inside Centralized Repositories. Reducing Coupling through Frequent State Regeneration. Dead Reckoning of Shared State. Conclusion. References. 6. Systems Design. One Thread, Multiple Threads. Important Subsystems. Conclusion. References and Further Reading. 7. Resource Management for Scalability and Performance. An Information-Centric View of Resources. Optimizing the Communications Protocol. Controlling the Visibility of Data. Taking Advantage of Perceptual Limitations. Enhancing the System Architecture. Conclusion. References. 8. Internet Networked Virtual Environments. VRML-Based Virtual Environments. Virtual Reality Transfer Protocol. Internet Gaming. Conclusion. References. 9. Perspective and Predictions. Better Library Support. Toward a Better Internet. Research Frontiers. Past, Present, and Future. References. Appendix: Network Communication in C, C++, and Java. Using TCP/IP from C and C++. Managing Concurrent Connections in C and C++. Using TCP/IP from Java. Managing Concurrent Connections in Java. Using UDP/IP from C and C++. Using UDP/IP from Java. Broadcasting from C and C++. Broadcasting from Java. Multicasting from C and C++. Multicasting from Java. References. Index. 0201325578T04062001