Interactive simulation of fire in virtual building environments
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Study on Virtual Simulation Experiment System of Fire Escape and Emergency EvacuationWenqi Zeng 1 and Fengtao Hao 2,*1 Teachers’ College of Beijing Union University 2Teachers’ College of Beijing Union University *Corresponding author. Email:ABSTRACTOnce the fire accident happens, it will seriously threaten people's lives. So it is very important to learn how to deal with dangerous situation. However, it is impossible to directly acquire the experience of fire escape and emergency evacuation by repeatedly experiencing the real situation of fire accident. So it is difficult to carry out practical teaching of fire-related knowledge. In this paper, a virtual simulation experiment system is constructed to reproduce the virtual scenes of fire accident and establish the virtual environment for fire escape and evacuation drills. The system provides learners with an intuitive learning method and creates an immersive real experience environment, so as to enhance their ability to cope with emergencies.Keywords: Virtual simulation, Fire evacuation, Experiment teaching, Open sharing.1. THE SIGNIFICANCE OF VIRTUAL SIMULATION EXPERIMENT OF FIRE ESCAPE AND EMERGENCY EVACUATIONOnce the fire accident happens, it will seriously threaten people's life. People need to know how to deal with fire hazards, learn to escape quickly and evacuate in an emergency. However, due to the particularity and danger of fire accidents, it is difficult for the public to gain practical learning experience through personal experience in real life. Therefore, it is of great practical significance to study and apply the corresponding virtual simulation experiment system.The fire environment can be simulated and realized in the experimental system. Fire escape scene is usually difficult to reproduce in real practice, and due to the limitations of space, the on-site escape drills cannot be repeated for many times. What's more, the skills learned in the occasional escape drill may not translate into the right actions in a crisis situation, especially when you face a real fire.Therefore, the self-rescue process of fire escape can be presented through virtual simulation technology, which can solve this problem well. In the virtual simulation system, complex building environments can be constructed, in which people are crowded and it isdifficult to evacuate and escape in case of fire. The system can guide the experimenters to adapt to the unfamiliar environment quickly, protect their own "safety" and organize evacuation at the same time. Also, relevant experiments can be set up for special experimenters. In addition to fire escape self-rescue, the virtual simulation experiment of emergency evacuation is mainly aimed at some specific occupation, such as teachers, security personnel, building administrators and so on. For example, it is more important and difficult for teachers to organize the students to evacuate than personal safety in a fire accident. However, in a real fire emergency evacuation drill, a large number of people are involved, so repeated training and drills are not allowed.By adopting virtual simulation technology, the fire scene and crowd can be presented virtually, and the virtual environment of escape drill and emergency evacuation can be created, so as to create an immersive teaching and training environment and provide an intuitive and effective learning means for participants. The integration of virtual simulation technology and education can better meet the practical needs of science education curriculum, and it is also a comprehensivetraining of practical ability to deal with emergencies.Proceedings of the 2021 International Conference on Diversified Education and Social Development (DESD 2021)2. TECHNICAL ARCHITECTURE OF VIRTUAL SIMULATION EXPERIMENT SYSTEM FOR FIRE ESCAPE AND EMERGENCY EVACUATIONThe operation of the virtual simulation experiment projects for fire escape and emergency evacuation relies on the support of the open virtual simulation experiment teaching management platform. Based on computer simulation technology, multimedia technology and network technology, the platform adopts service- oriented software architecture, integrates physical simulation, innovative design, intelligent guidance, automatic correction and teaching management. Therefore, it is a great virtual experimental teaching platform with good autonomy, strong interactivity and expansibility.The specific experimental project is seamlessly connected with the management platform through the data interface to ensure that users can access the project through the browser at anytime and anywhere. Besides, various user-oriented functions provided by the platform are utilized to strengthen the open service capability of the experimental project, improve the open service effect and realize independent experiments.The overall architecture of the virtual simulation experiment teaching management platform is as shown in Figure 1.Figure 1 The overall architecture of the system The overall architecture of the experimental system is divided into five layers, each of which provides services for the upper layer to complete the construction of specific virtual experimental teaching environment. The specific functions of each layer are as follows: 2.1. Data LayerThe virtual simulation experiments of fire escape and emergency evacuation involves various types of virtual experiment components and data. The system includes the basic elements library, experimental courses library, typical experiments library, standard answers library, rules library, experimental data and users’ information o f the virtual experiments and so on for the storage and management of the relevant data. 2.2. Support LayerAs the core framework of virtual simulation experiment system, the support layer is the basis for the normal open operation of experimental projects and is responsible for the operation, maintenance and management of the entire system. The supporting platform includes the following functional subsystems: security management, service container, data management, resource management and monitoring, domain management, inter-domain information service, etc.2.3. General Service LayerThe general service layer provides the user interface of the open virtual simulation experiment system and the general support components of the virtual experiment teaching environment, so that users can quickly complete the virtual simulation experiment in the virtual experiment environment. General services include experiment educational administration, experiment teaching management, the theory knowledge learning, experiment resource management, intelligent guidance, interactive communication, automatic correction function, experiment report management, teaching effect evaluation, open and shared modules, etc. The general service layer also provides the relevant integrated interface tools, so that the system can integrate the third-party virtual experiment software to carry out unified management.2.4. Simulation LayerThe simulation layer mainly creates models of experimental equipment, constructs the experiment scene, develops the virtual instrument, and provides the universal emulator. Finally, it provides the formatted output of experimental data for the upper layer.2.5. Application LayerBased on the services provided by the underlying layers, finally the virtual simulation experiment project of fire escape and emergency evacuation is taught and shared in the application layer. The application layer of the framework has good expansibility. Accordingtoteaching needs, teachers can design various typical experimental examples by using various tools provided by the service layer and corresponding equipment models provided by the simulation layer, and finally carry out experimental teaching for schools.3. PRINCIPLE AND PROCESS OF VIRTUAL SIMULATION EXPERIMENT OF FIRE ESCAPE AND EMERGENCY EVACUATIONIn the experiments of fire escape and emergency evacuation virtual simulation, the modern information technology is used to promote the reform of experiment teaching, which applied immersive, problem-based, interactive, autonomous and reflective teaching methods. So as to improve the ability of innovation, active learning and self-reflection for experiment participants.3.1. The Purpose of the Experiments(1) To virtualize the unrealizable real fire environment, intuitively feel the fearfulness and severity of fire, and conduct safety education for the experiment participants.(2) To make the experiment participants experience the danger of fire firsthand and improve their safety awareness.(3) To improve the ability of the experiment participants to respond to fire, rescue themselves and organize evacuation.(4) To make the experiment participants master the use of fire extinguishers and other equipment, so as to reduce the experimental cost.3.2. The Teaching Knowledge Points of the Experiments(1) Personal safety knowledge and fire escape knowledge.(2) Equipment operation knowledge.(3) The design of escape route and the choice of escape method.(4) The design of evacuation plan.(5) Escape skills and evacuation under the condition of not serious fire.(6) High-rise building escape skills and evacuation.(7) Escape skills and evacuation in heavy smoke.(8) Safety education of fire disaster 3.3. The Implementation Process of the ExperimentsOn the simulation platform, the virtual simulation experiment teaching will set up five parts including preview, demonstration, learning, assessment and report.Preview Module: similar to experimental textbooks with experimental purposes, principles, operating steps, precautions, etc. Therefore, it is necessary to preview before conducting experiments.Demonstration Module: including the learning video of the whole process of standard operation, which is convenient for the experiment participants to quickly understand the experimental content as a whole.Learning Module: human-computer interaction can guide the experiment participants to complete the whole experiment step by step with the help of relevant prompts.Assessment Module: conducting the operation test without any prompt and the system will give the score automatically after the assessment.Report Module: After the completion of the assessment, the experimental report should be written, including the experimental purpose, principle, process, conclusion, and evaluation and suggestions for the experiment, and should be submitted to the teacher for review.3.4. Methods and Procedures of the ExperimentsThe simulation training of fire escape and emergency evacuation are constructed through simulation experiments. The experimental project recreates the scene of fire scene by 3d simulation technology and the experiment participants can carry out interactive operation in the whole scene to complete the experiment. The procedures of the experiments areshown in Figure2.Figure 2 Procedures of the Experiments4. FEATURES OF EXPERIMENTAL TEACHINGPROJECTS4.1. Diversified Teaching MethodsThe project follows the experimental teaching idea of teaching orientation, subject integration and innovative practice. Through the implementation of experiential immersion teaching method, the participants can master the escape skills in the event of fire and improve their emergency response ability, organization and coordination ability and comprehensive practice ability in the process of immersive experience, problem discrimination, interactive exercise, autonomous design and reflective evaluation.4.2. Obvious Teaching EffectsThis immersive teaching method can stimulate the learning interest of the experimental participants, deepen the knowledge experience of fire, improve the emergency response ability, and enhance the efficiency and ability of learning. The experimental method can also cultivate the habit of active learning and the ability to find, analyze, solve problems and think creatively. 4.3. Evaluation System4.3.1. Error Correction and FeedbackIn the normative practice of the project, the system will automatically prompt and correct the error when the operation is wrong. The experiment teacher can design the experiment independently, and the system automatically records the experiment process and operation steps throughout the whole process. The experiment participants can look back at their own operation records, prompting them to develop the habit of standardized practice and active thinking.4.3.2. Evaluation and ReflectionIn the assessment link, the system will automatically generate records and scores that can be traced back to the experimental process, so as to evaluate the operation of the experimental participants. The system carries out multi-dimensional assessment on the operation times, operation time, interactive operation points, etc. In addition, the theoretical knowledge of the experimental subjects is assessed through the experimental report, thus forming a comprehensive evaluation system that combines theory with practice, process and summative evaluation.4.4. The Extension and Development of Traditional TeachingSimulation system provides participants with high simulation of the virtual experiment environment, solving a series of problems, such as the risk of fire, lack of real environment, the limited experimental site, etc. which saves the cost of experiment teaching and extends the traditional laboratory with fixed class time to the network virtual laboratory and 24 hours online classroom in the air, so as to use modern information technology to extend the depth and breadth of the experimental content.5. CONCLUSIONThe Virtual Simulation Experiment System of Fire Escape and Emergency Evacuation reproduce the virtual scenes of fire accident and establish the virtual environment for fire escape and evacuation drills. So the system provides learners with an intuitive learning method and creates an immersive real experience environment, so as to enhance their ability to cope with emergencies.REFERENCES[1] Fuquan Zhu, Liping Yang, The Application ofVirtual Reality Technology in Fire Science, in: Science and Technology Innovation Herald, 2018, 15(09), pp:146-149.[2] Dechuang Zhou, Study on Fire ScenarioComputation and Simulation Based on Virtual Reality Platform, in: University of Science and Technology of China, 2009.[3] Weiguo Wang, Construction Consideration andSuggestion of Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching Center, in: Research and Exploration in Laboratory, 2013, 32(12), pp:5-8 [4] Yunming Zhang, Lei Chen, Fire Fighting andRescue Training System Based on Virtual Reality Technology, in: Fire Science and Technology, 2010, 29 (11) , pp:996-998.[5] Weiguo Wang, Jinhong Hu, Hong Liu, CurrentSituation and Development of Virtual Simulation Experimental Teaching of Overseas Universities, in: Research and Exploration in Laboratory, 2015, 34(05), pp:214-219[6] Ling Jiang, Xiaolu Liu, Yingqi Wang, A briefanalysis in the current development of fire computer simulation technology, in: Fire Science and Technology, 2009, 28 (3) , pp:156-159。
International Conference on Advances in Mechanical Engineering and Industrial Informatics (AMEII 2015)A Rocket Launcher Virtual Training System DesignYi CHENG1,a, Yuxia CHEN1, Bin LI1, Yanfei GUAN1, Dimin WU11Wuhan Mechanical Technology College, Wuhan, 430075,Chinaa email:****************Keywords:Virtual Training System; Rocket Launcher; Modeling and Rendering; Model Transformation; Scene SynthesisAbstract. The overall design scheme of a rocket launcher is proposed in this paper. Modeling and rendering, model transformation and scene synthesis in scene generation has been studied. And the interactive training processisdeveloped. Moreover, the key technology of system design is illustrated.IntroductionAfter years of development, virtual training has been successfully applied in the aviation and aerospace equipment [1], tanks and missiles [2][3], military vehicle [5] and other equipments. It has been proved that virtual training has the advantages of low investment, prove its high yield, good effect. In the research of virtual maintenance of large equipment, some work has already been done. Li et al [5] studies system design, system structure, composition and realization method of virtual maintenance. Dynamic link library has been used to constructe a complicated equipment maintenance training simulation system [6]. Distributed network virtual repair system are established by using VRML language, so the distributed users can share the maintenance activity under the network environment [7].With respect to the characteristics of a certain type of rocket launcher training, this paper establishes a virtual training system development platform, which can be used for operation training and repair training. In the framework of the platform presented in this paper, Solidworks is utilized for modeling and 3ds Max is used for renderingto achieve realistic results. Finally, Virtools is utilized for interaction design.Overall designBased on modeling, rendering, animation and so on, the rocket launcher virtual training system constructs the rocket model and virtual environment, simulatesthe operation process of arocket launcher, to achieve the teaching and training of the rocket launcher with little resource consumption and short development cycle.The mechanical parts are modeled in Solidworks and rendered in 3ds Max to achieve the sense of reality, and then they are plugged into Virtools for interaction design.A.Virtual environment modelingSolidWorks, a 3D mechanical software developed by the French Dassault company, is utilized forrocketparts modeling.B. Interaction modeA desktop virtual reality system is adopted.Keyboard and mouse are utilized as interface device. The behavior executed by mouse and keyboard are defined by Virtools BB script, i.e., operation training and maintenance training.C.Disassembly process planningDisassembly process modeling is a problem need to be solved in virtual training, and the disassembly method is the key point. Petri network planning method is used to model the disassembly process of the rocket launcher system as a guide virtual training system development.D.Virtual trainingSolidWorks is utilized as the modeling method, 3ds Max is adopted as the intermediate platform, and Virtools BB script language is used to develop virtual training system.Scene generation based on VirtoolsA. modeling and rendering3D model is the basis of the rocket launcher virtual training system. Therefore, model will directly affect the operation effect and the fidelity of the virtual environment.Sincethe rendering materials cannot be shown in Virtools, 3ds max is utilized for rendering model to achieve the true sense. Because most parts are made of metal materials, the sense of reality and gloss material is very important. At the same time, in order to achieve the best display effect in Virtools, 3ds max mapping function is applied.B.Model outputVirtools comes with output plug for Maya,3ds MAX, Light Wave and XSI. Therefore, 3ds Max is utilized as an intermediary to connect SolidWorks and Virtools. MAXScript is used to import STL entity components in batch.C.Scene generationThrough the 3ds Max Exporter exe plugin, the 3ds Max rocket file can be exported into NMO format. The elements whichcan be derived from 3ds Max are: (1) the rocket digital model; (2) the model material and color; (3) the modeling set light, including Free Spot, Target Spot, Oni, Target Direct, Free Direct and other standard lamp types; (4) any camera created in 3ds Max.Interactive designThe simulation of rocket launcher virtual operation, and the display of structure parts, demand a two-way communication betweenthe system and the participant.When the operator clicks parts in the model, and then click the option box, the selected components will make the appropriate action, such as flicker, moving, rotating, which can make the whole picture more dynamic. The interaction task and scene control should be accomplished by using 3D pick up of the mouse in Virtools.Fig.1. Maintenance flow chatKey technologyA.Same object cannot be chose twice“Set Cell”can choose a unit in the array according to the column and row indices. By using two “Set Cell” to replace the “Object Set” (see Figure 2),objects after the implementation are assigned with a “security”, i.e.,they cannot be selected again.Fig.2.Replace Object SetB.Tools and components cannot be hiddenTools and spare parts are all set to hide at initialization. They are shown when needed and hidden after using. Since some tools and spare parts is composed of various components, abusing the “Hide” module may leads to bug. Therefore, the “Group Iterator” module is used to package all models which need to be hidden, as shown in Figure 3.Fig.3. Hidden realizationC.Warnings aboutRealtime UpdatingIt is found out that the lack of information interaction results in that script failed with synchronous operation. Therefore, the information interaction between the operator script and the warning script is added. As shown in Figures4 and 5, a “Send Message” is addedto the operation script anda “Wait Message”is added to the warning script.Fig.4. Modified operation scriptFig.5. Modified warning scriptConclusionA rocket launcher virtual training system is developed. The modeling of rocket launcher parts, the rendering of material models, the model transformation among various software, and the scene synthesis method are studied. Three key technologies, i.e., same object cannot be chose twice, tools and components cannot be hidden, warnings about realtime updating, have been solved or existing solutions. The Virtual training system can sustain the teaching and training mission, and enhance the equipment maintenance ability of the weapon system.References[1] CuiXiao-feng, FengWu-bin, XiangChang-le, et a1. Researchof maintainability and validation methods in armored equipment based on virtual maintenance [J].ActaArmamentarii, 2009, 30(11): 1430-1434.[2] YangYu-hang, LiZhi-zhong, FuYu, et a1. Missile maintenance training system based on virtual reality technology[J]. ActaArmamentarii, 2006, 27(3): 297-300.[3] XiePu, SuQua-xing, GuHung-qiang. Research on scene graph of virtual maintenance training system of armament[J].ActaArmamentarii, 2006, 27(4): 741-744.[4] Li Dan, YangSi-xin, Yang Yu-hang. Helicopter maintenance training simulation system[J].Computer Engineering and Design, 2009, 30(5): 1212-1215.[5] HaoJian-ping. The simulation theory and techniques of virtual maintenance[M].Beijing: National Defense Industry Press, 2008: 219-277.[6] Yang Yu-hang, Su Man-di, QiaoHui. Complex equipment maintenance training simulation system[J].Journal System Simulation, 2008, 20(11): 2885-2892.[7] Cui Han-guo.The distributed equipment virtual maintenance simulation system based on VRML[J].Computer Simulation, 2003, 20(3): 15-17.。
Computer games have become an integral part of modern entertainment,offering a wide range of features that cater to diverse interests and skill levels.Here is an overview of the functionalities that are commonly found in computer games:1.Interactive Storytelling:Many games feature intricate narratives that unfold as the player progresses through the game.Players often make choices that affect the storyline, leading to multiple endings and immersive experiences.2.Realistic Graphics:Advancements in technology have allowed for the creation of stunning visuals in games.Highdefinition textures,realistic lighting,and detailed character models contribute to a more engaging and believable gaming world.3.Multiplayer Capabilities:Online multiplayer features enable players to compete or cooperate with others from around the globe.This includes competitive modes like deathmatches,cooperative missions,and even largescale battles in massively multiplayer online games MMOs.4.Customization Options:Players can often personalize their gaming experience by customizing characters,weapons,and even game settings.This allows for a unique playstyle tailored to individual preferences.5.Achievements and Rewards:Many games incorporate a system of achievements or trophies that players can earn by completing specific tasks or challenges.These rewards can be a source of pride and motivation to explore all aspects of the game.6.Modding Support:Some games offer modding support,allowing players to create and share their own content,such as new levels,characters,or game mechanics.This can greatly extend the life of a game and offer new experiences beyond the original design.7.Virtual Reality VR Integration:With the advent of VR technology,some games offer a fully immersive experience where players can interact with the game world in a threedimensional space,using VR headsets and controllers.8.Esports and Competitive Gaming:Certain games are designed with competitive play in mind,leading to the rise of esports,where professional gamers compete in tournaments with large prize pools and global audiences.9.CrossPlatform Play:Modern games often support crossplatform play,allowing players on different devices,such as PCs,consoles,and mobile devices,to play together seamlessly.cational Content:Some computer games are designed with educational purposes, teaching players about history,science,or problemsolving skills in an engaging and interactive way.11.Accessibility Features:To cater to a wider audience,including those with disabilities, many games include accessibility options such as colorblind modes,adjustable controls, and screen reader compatibility.12.Dynamic Environments:Some games feature dynamic environments that change based on player actions or realworld time,adding an extra layer of realism and immersion.13.Save and Load Systems:Players can save their progress at any point and return to it later,allowing for flexible play sessions and reducing the frustration of losing progress.14.InGame Economies:Many games feature ingame economies where players can earn, trade,or purchase virtual goods,sometimes even with realworld currency.15.Regular Updates and DLC:Developers often release updates and downloadable content DLC to expand the game,fix bugs,and introduce new features,keeping the game fresh and engaging for players.These features not only enhance the gaming experience but also demonstrate the versatility and creativity of the gaming industry,ensuring that there is something for everyone in the world of computer games.。
居民室内发生燃气火灾,有人员被困,急需破门救助等。
常规处置方法:毁锁器开门法、无齿锯锯切法、无火花 工具。
常规处置步骤:接警一到场一了解情况一警戒一气体 探测一快速研判处置方案一选择处置方法一细水雾稀释 降温一破拆防盗门一灭火救援与人员救助一任务结束。
(2)实战训练方法。
结合防盗门消防破拆模拟训练装 置的功能,消防救援人员执行此类任务时,需根据可燃气 体泄漏情况、防盗门受热情况、烟雾情况等,研判救援方 法。
因此,模拟训练装置需要发烟模块、温度感应模块、可燃气体模拟模块和计时模块同时启动,方可供消防救援人 员开展各类防盗门破拆救援操法的实战训练。
注意事项:处置前确认关掉燃气总阀,做好个人防护 和水枪掩护;破门后要注意预防轰燃发生,做好个人防护。
4结语针对消防救援人员执行防盗门破拆的任务日益增多 的情形,但缺乏专用、有效的防盗门破拆训练装备,普通防 盗门作为破拆训练对象存在功能单一、效果不显著等问 题,应用多功能场景交互模拟和实战训练应用技术,研制 了一种新型防盗门消防破拆模拟训练装置。
该装置可根 据实战需求,模拟各种防盗门破拆救援的真实工况,有效 开展4大类科目中的3种锁具和4种门面破拆操法的模 拟训练,同时该装置也可应用于防火门门面破拆的实战训 练,可进一步提高我国消防救援人员开辟救生通道的实战 能力。
参考文献:[1] 张磊.阮桢.多锁点防盗门消防破拆模拟训练装置的设计[】].消防科学与技术,2018,37(3): 388-390.[2] 张磊,赵成.浅析H内防盗门消防破拆技术与装备现状[C]//2016中国消防协会科学技术年会论文集.北京:中国科学技术出版社.2016: 318-320.[3] 王振群,刘忠喜.防盗门破拆问题初探[C]//2013中国消防协会科学技术年会论文集.北京:中国科学技术出版社,2013:354-357.[4] 蒋飞,韩峰,王建中.反恐行动中利用空气冲击波破除防盗门的研究[J].中国人民公安大学学报(自然科学版),2010,(2):91-93.[5] 艾军.特警突击行动中爆破破拆防盗门技术研究[J].中国人民公安大学学报(自然科学版),2011,(6):19-24.Research on fire breaking simulation trainingdevice of anti-theft doorZHANG L e i,RUAN Zhen,HONG Y i n g-z h e n g(Shanghai Fire R e s e a r c h Institute of M E M,S h a nghai 200438, China)Abstract: Against p r o b l e m s of the fire rescue a n d breaking sim u l ation training device of anti-theft d o o r such as the single function |•科技信息. ( NFPA99《医疗卫生设施规范》i \NFPA 99《医疗卫生设施规范》是与卫生保健j j服务或系统风险水平相关的标准。
Computer games have become an integral part of modern entertainment,offering a wide range of experiences from actionpacked adventures to strategic challenges and immersive simulations.Here is an essay discussing the various aspects of computer gaming.The Evolution of Computer GamesThe history of computer games dates back to the1950s,with simple textbased games evolving into the complex,graphically rich experiences we enjoy today.Early games like Pong and Space Invaders laid the foundation for the industry,which has since grown to include genres such as roleplaying games RPGs,firstperson shooters FPS,and massively multiplayer online games MMOs.The Impact on SocietyComputer games have had a profound impact on society.They have become a significant part of popular culture,influencing movies,music,and even fashion.Furthermore,they have been used as educational tools,helping to develop problemsolving skills,strategic thinking,and handeye coordination.The Benefits of GamingGaming offers numerous benefits.It can be a source of relaxation and stress relief, allowing players to escape from the pressures of daily life.Additionally,it can foster a sense of community,as many games are designed to be played with others,either competitively or cooperatively.The Challenges of GamingDespite its benefits,computer gaming also presents challenges.Issues such as addiction, where players spend excessive time gaming to the detriment of other aspects of their lives, have been a concern.There are also debates about the impact of violent games on behavior,although research findings on this topic are mixed.Technological AdvancementsThe technology behind computer games is constantly evolving.With advancements in graphics,artificial intelligence,and virtual reality,games are becoming more realistic and immersive.This has opened up new possibilities for storytelling and gameplay,pushing the boundaries of what can be achieved in a digital environment.The Future of GamingLooking ahead,the future of computer gaming is promising.With the rise of cloud gaming and the integration of augmented reality,players can expect even more innovative and interactive experiences.The gaming industry will likely continue to grow, offering new opportunities for creativity and engagement.ConclusionIn conclusion,computer games are more than just a form of entertainment they are a cultural phenomenon that continues to evolve and influence the world in various ways. As technology progresses,the experiences offered by computer games will only become more sophisticated,offering players new challenges and opportunities for enjoyment.It is essential to approach gaming with a balanced perspective,recognizing both its potential benefits and the need for responsible engagement.。
一种能够批处理的林火行为空间模拟系统孙萍;吴秀平;金森;于宏洲;朱朦;王晓红【摘要】A forest ifre behavior space simulation system with batch processing capacity was developed to overcome the shortcoming of existing ifre behavior modeling software that they can not conduct multiple simulations at one time. The system incorporates two most commonly used forest ifre behavior models (the Rothermel model and the Canadian Fire Behavior Prediction Model) and can use fuel data either from the American National Fire Danger Rating System or from the Canadian Fire Behavior Prediction System. The software allows users to conduct multiple simulations with different parameters, environmental variables set by users at one time and to optimally estimate fuel parameters under constraint defined by users. The system can improve simulation efficiency and provide probability distribution of modeled forest ifre behavior, which would be a useful tool for studying on ifre behavior and effects of ifres on ecosystem.%针对现有林火空间蔓延模拟软件输入参数后只能模拟一次,无法批处理多次模拟的不足,开发了具有批处理功能的林火行为空间模拟系统。
介绍美军仿真训练系统的书籍-回复美军仿真训练系统是美国军队使用的一种先进的训练工具,它通过模拟真实的战场环境和战斗场景,使士兵们能够在虚拟情况下进行实际的战斗推演和训练。
这样的系统不仅能够提高士兵们的实战能力,还能够降低实际战斗中的风险和成本。
有关美军仿真训练系统的书籍也有很多,下面将为大家介绍一些相关著作。
1.《虚拟的战争:美国军事训练中的仿真技术》(Virtual War: Simulating U.S. Military Training)这本书是由美国军事历史学家、战略研究专家詹姆斯·皮尔森(James Pearson)所著,是一本较早关于美军仿真训练系统的著作。
书中详细介绍了美军使用仿真技术进行训练的历史背景、发展过程和相关技术,以及这些技术在实际战争中的应用。
它提供了一个全面的视角,帮助读者了解美军仿真训练系统的发展趋势和在战争中的作用。
2.《虚拟战争学:仿真训练系统的应用和发展》(Virtual Warfare: Applications and Developments in Simulation Training)这本由美国退伍军人、作家罗伯特·詹金斯(Robert Jenkins)撰写的书籍主要介绍了美军仿真训练系统的应用和发展。
书中详细讲述了美军如何利用仿真技术来提高士兵们的实战能力和决策水平,同时也讨论了相关技术在其他领域的应用。
通过举实例和详细分析,读者能够深入了解虚拟战争学的理论和实践,并对其在未来的发展方向有更深入的思考。
3.《优化作战:美国军队的虚拟战争模拟器》(Optimizing Combat: The Virtual Warfare Simulator of the U.S. Military)这本书由美国战略研究专家、军事学者杰夫·哈里斯(Jeff Harris)撰写。
他详细介绍了美国军队如何利用虚拟战争模拟器来优化作战效果,提升士兵们的战斗技能和决策能力。
9楼神经科火灾模拟训练英文版Title: Fire Drill Simulation Training on the 9th Floor Neurology DepartmentThe purpose of this document is to outline the procedures and guidelines for conducting a fire drill simulation training on the 9th floor neurology department. The simulation training is essential to ensure the safety and preparedness of staff, patients, and visitors in the event of a fire emergency.Preparation:1. Notify all staff members, patients, and visitors about the upcoming fire drill simulation training.2. Designate a fire drill coordinator to oversee and coordinate the training.3. Review the emergency evacuation plan and procedures with all staff members prior to the drill.4. Conduct a walkthrough of the floor to identify emergency exits, fire extinguishers, and other safety equipment.Execution:1. Activate the fire alarm to signal the start of the drill.2. Instruct staff members to follow the evacuation plan and proceed to the nearest exit in an orderly manner.3. Assign specific roles to staff members, such as assisting patients with mobility issues or conducting a sweep of the floor to ensure all areas are evacuated.4. Provide training on how to properly use fire extinguishers and other safety equipment.5. Conduct a headcount at the designated assembly area to ensure all staff members, patients, and visitors have safely evacuated the building.6. Debrief all participants on their performance during the drill and provide feedback on areas for improvement.Evaluation:1. Review the effectiveness of the fire drill simulation training and identify any areas that need improvement.2. Update the emergency evacuation plan and procedures based on the feedback received during the drill.3. Conduct regular fire drill simulation training to ensure that all staff members are prepared to respond to a fire emergency.In conclusion, conducting a fire drill simulation training on the 9th floor neurology department is crucial for maintaining a safe and secure environment for all individuals in the event of a fire emergency. By following the outlined procedures and guidelines, staff members can effectively respond to a fire emergency and ensure the safety of all occupants on the floor.。
虚拟现实技术在游戏行业中的应用研究(英文中文双语版优质文档)Virtual Reality (VR for short) technology is a simulation experience technology realized through computer technology and equipment, which allows users to obtain an immersive feeling. In recent years, with the continuous development of computer technology and hardware equipment, virtual reality technology has been widely used in various fields, among which the game industry is one of the most typical application fields. This article will deeply discuss the application research of virtual reality technology in the game industry, including technical principles, game design, user experience and other aspects.1. Technical principleThe core technologies of virtual reality technology are image processing and head-mounted display devices. Its main process includes steps such as scene modeling, image rendering and user interaction.First of all, scene modeling is an important link in virtual reality technology, which mainly uses computer technology to build a virtual environment, including scenes, characters, objects, etc.Secondly, image rendering is another core link in virtual reality technology, which mainly uses computer graphics technology to render the virtual environment so that it can be displayed realistically.Then, user interaction is another important link in virtual reality technology, which mainly realizes the interaction between users and the virtual environment through handles, eye movements, and voice.2. Game DesignVirtual reality technology brings more possibilities to game design. Compared with traditional games, virtual reality games can bring players a more realistic gaming experience and improve the game's playability and fun.In the design of virtual reality games, the following points need to be paid attention to:1. Scene design: Scene is one of the most important elements in virtual reality games. When designing a scene, it is necessary to consider the fidelity and interactivity of the scene, and strive to make the player immersive.2. Task design: Tasks are one of the core elements in virtual reality games. When designing a task, it is necessary to consider the difficulty of the task, the player's sense of accomplishment, and the reward mechanism to improve the playability of the game.3. Character design: Characters are one of the important elements in virtual reality games. When designing a character, it is necessary to consider the character's appearance, actions, and abilities to improve the fidelity of the character and the player's sense of substitution.3. User experienceUser experience is an aspect that must be paid attention to in the development of virtual reality games. The goal of virtual reality games is to allow players to feel immersive, so user experience needs to be considered from many aspects.1. Comfort: In virtual reality games, players need to be immersive, but an overly realistic experience may also cause discomfort such as motion sickness. Therefore, it is necessary to consider the player's comfort level in game development, and reduce discomfort such as motion sickness through design and adjustment.2. Operation experience: Virtual reality games need to realize the interaction between the user and the virtual environment through handles, eye movements, voice, etc., so the convenience and ease of operation need to be considered to improve the user experience.3. Game scene: The game scene is one of the most important elements in virtual reality games. It needs to present a realistic game scene through scene design, sound effects, light and shadow, etc., so that players can get an immersive feeling.4. Social experience: In virtual reality games, players can interact with other players through the Internet, so it is necessary to consider the importance of social experience and design related social functions, such as voice chat, friend system, etc., to improve the sociability of the game and fun.4. Future developmentThe application of virtual reality technology in the game industry has achieved great success, but with the continuous development of technology, the application of virtual reality technology in the game industry will usher in more development opportunities in the future.1. Technological innovation: In the future, virtual reality technology will pay more attention to technological innovation, such as higher definition, more realistic image rendering technology, more natural user interaction experience, etc., which will make the experience of virtual reality games even better.2. Industry integration: With the continuous development of the application of virtual reality technology in the game industry, virtual reality technology will also be integrated with other industries in the future, such as sports, education, medical care, etc., to bring people a more comprehensive experience and application.3. New game types: The application of virtual reality technology in the game industry will promote the innovation of game types, such as more realistic role-playing games, more exciting action games, etc., bringing more fresh game experiences to players.4. Multi-platform support: In the future, virtual reality technology will be more widely supported on different platforms, such as PCs, hosts, mobile devices, etc., which will make the popularity and application of virtual reality games more extensive.In short, the application of virtual reality technology in the game industry has broad prospects and potential. Future development will pay more attention to technological innovation, industry integration and innovation of new game types, and will also be more widely used in multi-platform support. These developments will bring better virtual reality gaming experience and broader application scenarios.虚拟现实(Virtual Reality,简称VR)技术是一种通过计算机技术和设备实现的仿真体验技术,可以让用户获得身临其境的感觉。
Interactive Simulation of Fire in Virtual Building EnvironmentsRichard Bukowski Carlo S´e quinComputer Science DepartmentUniversity of California,BerkeleyAbstractThis paper describes the integration of the Berkeley ArchitecturalWalkthrough Program with the National Institute of Standards andTechnology’s CFASTfire simulator.The integrated system createsa simulation based design environment for buildingfire safety sys-tems;it also allowsfire safety engineers to evaluate the performanceof building designs,and helps make performance-basedfire codespossible.We demonstrate that the visibility preprocessing and spa-tial decomposition used in the Walkthru also allow optimization ofthe data transfer between the simulator and visualizer.This opti-mization improves the ability to use available communication band-width to get needed simulation data to the Walkthru in the best or-der to visualize results in real time;an appropriate communicationmodel and data structures are presented.General issues arising inthe integration of environmental simulations and virtual worlds arediscussed,as well as the specifics of the Walkthru-CFAST system,including relevant aspects of the user interface and of the visualiza-tion and simulation programming interfaces.A recommendation ismade to structure future simulators in such a way that they can selec-tively direct their computational efforts toward specified spacetimeregions of interest and thereby support real-time,interactive virtualenvironment visualization more effectively.CR Categories:I.3.2[Computer Graphics]:Graphics Systems—Distributed/Network Graphics;I.3.6[Computer Graphics]:Methodology and Techniques—Graphics Data Structures andData Types;I.3.6[Computer Graphics]:Methodology andTechniques—Interaction Techniques;I.3.7[Computer Graph-ics]:Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism—Virtual Re-ality;I.6.7[Simulation and Modeling]:Simulation SupportSystems—Environments;J.6[Computer-Aided Engineering]:Computer-Aided Design.Keywords:Virtual/Interactive Environments,Scientific Visual-ization,Simulation,Virtual Reality,Interactive Techniques,Infor-mation VisualizationWe are attempting to realize some of these advantages for the benefit offire safety in architectural environments.We are in the process of integrating the National Institute of Standards and Tech-nology’s(NIST)Consolidated Model of Fire and Smoke Transport (CFAST)[15]into the Berkeley Architectural Walkthrough(Walk-thru)system[17,10].CFAST currently provides the world’s most accurate simulation of the impact offire and its byproducts on a building environment.Integrated into the Walkthru,it provides real-time,intuitive,realistic and scientific visualization of building con-ditions in afire hazard situation from the perspective of a person walking through a burning building.The viewer can observe the natural visual effects offlame and smoke infire hazard conditions; alternatively,scientific visualization techniques allow the user to “observe”the concentrations of toxic compounds such as carbon monoxide and hydrogen cyanide in the air,as well as the temper-atures of the atmosphere,walls,andfloor.Warning and suppres-sion systems such as smoke detectors and sprinkler heads can be observed in action to help determine their effectiveness.This tech-nology can be used to improvefire safety by helping engineers and architects evaluate a building’s potential safety and survivability through performance-based standards(i.e.how well the building protects its occupants from thefire).With more development,it could also be used to help train personnel infirefighting techniques and rescue operations by presenting them with practice situations that are too risky to be simulated in the real world.While the combination of virtual reality and environmental simu-lation constitutes a framework for very powerful tools,it also raises many implementation challenges.Among these challenges are in-teraction with the virtual world,setting up and dynamically chang-ing simulation conditions from within the virtual world to a simula-tor,designing“visualization-oriented”simulators,transporting sim-ulation results to the visualizer,integrating the simulator’s results with the virtual environment,and visualizing those results in a way that is useful to the user;either descriptively,in the case of scientific visualization applications,or realistically,in the case of training or entertainment applications.These problems are compounded by an additional desire to distribute both the virtual environment and the simulation over multiple computers–potentially connected by rel-atively high-latency,low-bandwidth networks such as the Internet–when attempting to simulate and visualize large buildings with hun-dreds of rooms.In this paper,we present an approach to the problem of dis-tributed simulation-visualization data management that is optimized for denselyoccluded polyhedral environments(i.e.buildings)based on the Walkthru and CFAST programs.Walkthru has already ad-dressed some of the problems of distributed visualization and of the interaction between the user and the virtual world[16,11,4].We show that the basic virtual environment structure used in the Walk-thru,a spatial subdivision of the world into densely occluded cells with connecting portals,can be put to good use for simulation data management.In addition to optimizing the visualization task,it is also useful for optimizing bandwidth requirements between a vi-sualizer and simulator,both for communicating scenario informa-tion to the simulator and for communicating simulated states back to the ing this structure,we can minimize bandwidth re-quirements for arbitrarily large visualizations and simulations,and relieve the visualization and simulation designers of the complexity of the data management problem.The solution is extensible to mul-tiple distributed visualizers and simulators operating on one virtual world.It also suggests an important attribute of future simulation design for simulation developers who wish to make“virtual reality-oriented”real-time simulators:the ability to partition a simulation effort so as to concentrate computation on parts of the environment of immediate interest to the observer(i.e.those parts that affect the areas which are currently being viewed).This issue is also being studied by other groups at Berkeley[5].In section2,we discuss the simulation/visualization data man-agement problem in the context of other related work in virtual en-vironment simulation.In section3,we present an overview of the two components of the system,Walkthru and CFAST,the issues in-volved in combining these two programs,and more generally,issues in combining visualization software with simulation software in a densely occludedbuilding environment.In section4,we present the most important abstract representations for the exchange of simu-lation data and the corresponding communication system.Section 5explains the APIs and functionality provided to the visualization front end,the user,and the simulator.Finally,in section6,we dis-cuss some of the details of the internal workings of the simulation data management system.2RELATED WORKThe most frequent application of virtual reality technology so far has been visualization of static spatial environments.The major-ity of current virtual worlds are nearly static environments with a few movable objects and avatars inside.The most common appli-cations of these systems are either peer-to-peer simulation of the user’s interaction with other users or simulated entities,or systems that use physics to make the world seem more“real”to an immersed user.Some more famous examples of the former include the Iowa driving simulator[7],where the user’s vehicle interacts with other independently-simulated road vehicles,and the department of de-fense’s NPSNET[13,19],where“units”of military vehicles engage in simulated combat on static terrain.Each simulated unit(or vehi-cle)communicatesits status to each other unit,but since the environ-ment(i.e.the terrain)isfixed,the communication requirements are bounded by the number of simulation entities,not the size of the en-vironment.Though these systems may be doing some actual phys-ical simulations,because only a few“detail objects”in the world are actually changing,the amount of data being transferred is rela-tively small.Other systems are typically concerned with the physics of everyday object interaction,such as impenetrability and colli-sions[9,6,14];they have been used to evaluate the ergonomics of environments like kitchens,automobiles,or work spaces.In these systems,simulations are typically limited to objects being directly manipulated,and the computations are simplified so that they can be done directly in the visualization environment without seriously loading down the computer.On the other hand,many virtual-reality visualization systems have been built to allow the user to perform and interact with com-plex physical simulations,but they tend not to involve what we would consider“interactive simulation;”that is,the user is sim-ply exploring precomputed data,without being able to interactively change the conditions under which that data was derived,and ob-serve the results of their tampering.NASA’s virtual windtunnel[2], in which airflow around a particular object is calculated,is a well documented example of this approach.An observer can enter a “black void”in which the object is suspended,insert“ink”sources to produce streamers alongflow lines,and view the airflow compu-tations from within the air space around the object.This system vi-sualizes a precomputed computationalfluid dynamics solution,and only allows the user to explore the space of the computed solution, without the ability to interactively modify the object or wind condi-tions for which the solution was generated.The architectural community is very interested in full-scale in-teractive environmental simulation of planned environments from the point of view of an immersed human observer.Parameters of interest include lighting,temperature,and airflow throughout an entire building,and the computations can become very complex. Some architecturalfirms have constructed non-interactive,prede-fined video-tape visualizations comprising many moving people [18].Realistic world simulation,where the environment itself ischanging based on a reasonable subset of physical and chemical laws,and under the possible influence of user-initiated changes to the scenario set-up,is a much more difficult bining such simulations with immersive visualization by one or more active ob-servers adds particular challenges with respect to synchronization and data management.For systems that do offer interactive,real-time scientific visual-ization of complex simulations,the data transmission problem is well documented[3,8,10].As the simulated system grows more complex,the amount of data needed to describe the full simulation state of the system in each time step can easily exceed the avail-able bandwidth between simulator and visualizer.Efficient encod-ings,even lossy compression,have been employed to alleviate this communications bottleneck[8].Another approach is to run the vi-sualizer on the same(super)computer that performs the simulation, thereby hopefully gaining access to any needed data for visualiza-tion on demand in less than a frame time.However,this requires that the observer be physically close to the simulation engine,or that there exist a fast video link between the visualizer and the display screen used by the observer[9].The video link approach also re-quires an extremely low-latency command line from the observer to the simulator to make the user’s normal movements and interac-tions with the environment reasonably responsive.In such a set-up it might be more difficult to realize a collaborative environment in which individual observers can sign on at will from anywhere in the country at any time.Densely occluded interior environments such as buildings,boats, planes,or caves offer certain advantages for immersive environ-mental simulation.They can take advantageof the same kind of pre-processing that has already been demonstrated in the context of vi-sualization of static models[17].Only those simulation results that affect the currently visible set of spaces need to be transmitted to the visualizer.A cell-based decomposition of the densely occluded world allows an effective estimation of a tight yet still conservative superset of the data which is absolutely necessary for visualization at any moment in time.As long as the number and complexity of the cells visible at any time remains bounded,the size of the whole world model can be,in principle,arbitrarily large–as long as there is sufficient(super)computer power to keep the ongoing simulation up-to-date.3PROBLEM FORMULATIONThefirst problem we faced was to combine two existing large and relatively well-developed programs into an integrated system that leaves room for growth and experimentation.We will now briefly introduce the two preexisting systems and define the key integration issues.3.1Walkthru and CFASTThe Berkeley Walkthru program was designed to support real-time interactive visualization of large(several million polygons),densely occluded building models at interactive frame rates(greater than10 frames per second).To accomplish this goal,the Walkthru subdi-vides the“world”into rectilinear cells,connected by portals.In a preprocessing step,the system associates with each cell the set of all other cells that can be seen by an observer from any point within that cell.From this information,plus constraints on how quickly the observer can move through the database,the Walkthru can compute a set of cells for each frame that tightly,but conservatively,bound the set of cells visible in the next few frames.There are only two types of object in the Walkthru:“major occluders,”which are two-dimensional wall,ceiling,orfloor polygons,whose planes define cell boundaries;and“detail objects,”which are3D models of build-ing contents(such as furniture and lightfixtures),and which are as-sociated with the cells that intersect the object’s bounding box.Dur-ing each frame,the detail objects and major occluders incident to any visible cell are drawn,and visibility is reevaluated from the new position.If the user wishes to voluntarily disallow changes in major occluders by the database editor and any in-use simulators during a visualization run,many visibility relationships can be precomputed for the database.Otherwise,the update rate of the visibility com-putations is easily quick enough to support relatively small-scale changes in the visibility structure of the world(i.e.punching some new holes in walls,or opening a new shaft in thefloor or ceiling).In the last few years,Walkthru has provided a testbed for several ap-plications including database construction[4],large scale radiosity computation[16],and scalable distributed walkthroughs with up to thousands of simultaneous users[11].This technology can now be leveraged into support for distributed virtual environment simula-tion.NIST’s CFAST is the world’s premier“zone model”fire chem-istry and physics simulator.Similar to the Walkthru,it assumes an environment composed of rectilinear3D regions(called“volumes”) which are interconnected by portals(called“vents”).Within each volume,physical quantities such as gas species concentrations,raw fuel density,combustion byproducts,atmospheric pressure and tem-perature,and wall,ceiling,andfloor temperature are tracked.A system of differential equations monitors theflow and exchange of these quantities through vents into adjoining volumes.Although CFAST’s building partition concept is analogous to the Walkthru’s cell structure,CFAST does not require similarly precise geome-try.V olumes have afloor and ceiling height as well as length and width,but only the area of the volume(length times width)is rele-vant.V olumes are also not positioned in3D space;only their size and height matters,and their connectivity through vents.Similarly, the exact X and Y location of the vents is irrelevant to the physics and is not represented;only orientation(horizontal or vertical)and cross-sectional area of the vent are needed,as well as the height at which it connects to the two prismatic volumes.As in the Walk-thru,walls andfloors are differentiated from“detail objects”such as furniture.Wall specifications include material and thickness infor-mation.The furniture database contains no geometry,but does in-clude mass,materials,chemistry,and ignition and combustion detail curves for each type of object.Objects will ignite at predefined tem-peratures and burn as separatefires,producing appropriate physical and chemical effects on the environment.Otherfire-related objects, such as sprinklers and HV AC ducts,affect the physics of the situa-tion in realistic ways,but their only geometric component is posi-tional information.Thus,the geometry of the CFAST situation can be derived from a Walkthru model,but the Walkthru model contains much more geometric information than CFAST represents;like-wise,the unadorned Walkthru database contains none of the chem-ical,material,or“building systems”information(i.e.in-wall duct-work,piping,and wiring)needed by CFAST.CFAST’s main engine is a differential equation solver,computing flows of physical quantities and chemical species over time in the upper and lower parts of each volume.The formulation of the prob-lem as a set of differential equations makes it feasible to create a par-allelized version of CFAST,but this has not been done yet.CFAST provides large quantities of physical and chemical information,in-cluding concentrations of each of10chemical species,combustion products,temperatures of atmosphere,walls,floors,and ceilings, ignition times of objects,toxicology results,and many other physi-cal and chemical quantities for each volume per time point.While our system was designedspecificallyto integrate the Walk-thru with CFAST,we attempted to make the combining framework sufficiently general to be useful for any environmental simulation one might want to do in a densely occluded world.Throughout this paper,we will refer to a generic“visualizer”and a generic“simula-tor;”for this project,the reader may infer“Walkthru”for visualizerCell ACellB1Cell B2Cell C1Cell C2Cell C3Door Pab PbbDoor PbcDoor Pac1Pc1Pc2Window WcDoor Pac2Figure 2:How Walkthru (top)and CF AST (bottom)would “see”the same model.The Walkthru model contains detailed geometric infor-mation,but little else;the CF AST model is geometrically much sim-pler,but contains chemical and materials information that Walkthru lacks.and “CFAST”for simulator,but should keep in mind that the de-scribed framework is designed to be useful for other visualization and simulation engines.3.2Integration of Visualization and SimulationGiven CFAST and Walkthru,and with consideration to future visu-alization/simulation integration efforts,we are assuming the follow-ing model for our system:We have a simulator and a visualizer,each of which operates on a cell-and-portal style environmental database.This database may be arbitrarily large,i.e.,we could be operating on a building that will not fit into memory,and each of the two component systems can deal with the paging problem in its own way.However,due to occlusion,the visible “working set”of volumes will be tractable for any ob-server position.There is a mapping between the volumes of the vi-sualization database and the simulation database,but the two are not be expected to be the same (i.e.a simulator “cell”might cover mul-tiple visualizer “cells”,or vice versa).Presently,we do not support arbitrarily complex geometric mappings between the two databases;we assume that one or more visualizer cells correspond to one sim-ulator cell.We assume that the visualizer will transmit any setup information needed to begin simulation before issuing the start com-mand.Furthermore,the visualizer may provide a front end by which the scenario being simulated may be changed on-the-fly.For exam-ple,the user may start a wastebasket fire in some room and then ex-plore how the spread of the fire is influenced by opening or closing various doors or windows in the visualizer,thus repeatedly chang-ing the situation being simulated.In such a case,the visualizer musttransmit an update to the simulator in real time,and the simulator should recalculate previously computed simulation results that are affected by the change,as well as alter the course of the simula-tion in progress.CFAST explicitly supports opening and closing of vents at certain times in the model;however,we can make other interactive modifications by “restarting”CFAST in the middle of a run.We store the internal state of the solver at each time point,and,if necessary,“roll back”the simulator to the time of the modifica-tion by resetting the appropriate internal state if a change is made to the simulation conditions at a previously-computedsimulation time.The solution is rather brute-force,as it requires complete recompu-tation of all conditions from that point forward.Hopefully in the future CFAST will directly support interactive modification with-out requiring discarding all simulation results past the time of the change.Either one or both of the two component systems may be dis-tributed,and may be operating on computers connected by any-thing from a LAN to a potentially high-latency,low-bandwidth net-work such as the Internet.We would also like to be able to attach and detach visualizers to a simulation in progress,to allow multi-ple observers to independently observe different portions of the data from the ongoing simulation.Each component system maintains its own world database during operation.The simulator generates data about subsequent world states observing relevant dependen-cies.CFAST operates with a fixed time step and produces its re-sults in time slices that span all volumes in the database;these con-tain the current values of all the variables that are being tracked,and some derived quantities such as aggregate toxicity.Only a subset of that information will be of relevance to the visualizer at any par-ticular time.We refer to a discrete piece of simulated information that is associated with one time slice and one spatial cell,a simula-tion “chunk.”These chunks might be generated in different order depending on the demands of the visualizer.The bottleneck in getting simulation data to the visualizer for ren-dering in real time may be in one of two places:either the simulator is too slow to generate data in real time,or the communication pro-cess between the simulator and visualizer has insufficient bandwidth to transmit the necessary chunks in a timely fashion.The simula-tion speed bottleneck is likely to hold for single-CPU simulations of reasonably sized databases;CFAST on a single 150MHz R4400can only simulate about 16cells (depending on degree of intercon-nection and density of furniture)in real time.Our goal in this situ-ation is to increase the simulator’s potential effectiveness by letting it know what areas of the world are of current interest to the visu-alizer.Specifically,the visualizer will inform the simulator of the currently visible cells and of the cells that may become visible in the very near future.The simulator can then concentrate on calculat-ing and shipping the corresponding chunks with priority.In the near future,we expect simulator technology to improve;simulators will become faster,and their designs will evolve to provide better sup-port for interactive visualization.Recent work has shown that this can be a promising approach for modeling the dynamics of physical structures [5].In the specific case of CFAST,NIST is working on a version that will be able to concentrate its computational efforts on critical areas of the simulation,improving the speed and poten-tial size of the simulation.We are also considering parallelizing the CFAST core for the Berkeley Network of Workstations (NOW)[1].For the case where communication bandwidth is the bottleneck,the framework provides mechanismsthat are easy to use and that op-timally exploit the available bandwidth,while hiding communica-tions concerns from the simulation designer.Of course,it is not pos-sible to guarantee that all needed simulation chunks will be at the vi-sualizer in time:the user might jump to a different part of the build-ing or suddenly advance the time slider far into the future.To min-imize the visible discontinuities associated with such a switch,we use a “just-in-time”chunk transmission scheme.Our scheme keepsthe communication channel in a state of near-starvation,allow-ing unanticipated“emergency”chunks to be sent through a nearly-empty transmission queue.This approach minimizes latency in the emergency case while still transmitting chunks at the highest possi-ble rate for the channel.4KEY ABSTRACTIONSThe key primitives that define the interactions between simulator and visualizer are the Simulation Data Set and the Real-Time Chan-nel over which this information gets exchanged.In this section we define these two abstractions.4.1The Simulation Data SetIn order to provide efficient data exchange between simulator and visualizer,we need a general structure for simulation data that can be easily managed and which isflexible enough to accommodate any information that a particular simulator may want to convey to the visualizer.This structure,called the simulation data set,which holds all simulation results,is organized in a three-level hierarchy as a set of sets.At the top level,it is indexed by simulation time.At the second level(i.e.within a particular timeslice)it is indexed by an identifier corresponding to one of the volumes into which the two databases are partitioned.At the third level,each spacetime volume contains a set of one or more integer-indexed subvolumes which to-gether provide an arbitrarily sized data subspace for each volume. The leaf nodes of this hierarchy are the aforementioned“simulation chunks;”they arefixed-size data structures that represent part of the simulation output for a particular volume at a particular simulation time.The structure of a chunk is user-definable,so it can be easily modified to accommodate different simulator models.Because the system has a known mapping between simulator volume IDs and Walkthru cells,the visualizer can transmit desired simulation time and cell visibility information to the simulator,allowing the latter to determine exactly which chunks still need to be transmitted.We do not currently manage distributed simulations,since the lat-est version of the CFAST code is unable to operate in parallel.How-ever,assuming that any multicomputer simulator subsystem would be able to distribute the problem appropriately,the chunks gener-ated by the separate simulators are easily recombined via simple set unions.Furthermore,since the subsystem controller knows how the problem is distributed,it should also be able to appropriately dis-tribute the visibility lookaheaddata provided by the simulation man-ager.4.2The Basic Communication MechanismA simple and robust communications model is critical to both the performance and ease of use of a system that will be used to inte-grate a visualizer and a simulator for real time operation.Our com-munication model is based on a primitive we call a real-time chan-nel(RTC).This is a2-way,buffered,asynchronous mechanism that can operate in either a nonblocking polling or an interrupt-driven mode.Each channel has two separate2-way byte streams:a data stream for most communication,and a command stream,intended to be used relatively infrequently,for user commands and simulator status packets that need to arrive quickly.The interface to a channel is independent of the specific low-level mechanism used(currently either Internet-or Unix-domain sockets),and provides the ability to send either single-integer“commands”or arbitrary-length“pack-ets”across either of the two streams.A server mechanism is pro-vided that allows a simulator to open a server port on a machine and wait for connections,which will launch an instance of a simulator connected to an instance of a channel.Channels can be opened lo-cally or over a network;the appropriate low-level protocol is auto-matically selected by the system when it connects.5PROGRAMMING,INTEGRATION,AND USER INTERFACESWith the data format and the basic communication mechanism de-fined,we now look at the system’s interface and functionality from the point of view of both visualization designer and simulation de-signer.Figure3:A diagram of how the system components connect simu-lator to ponents in bold outline are created by the simulator designer;components in dotted outline are provided by the integration framework.5.1Visualizer User Interface ConstructsThe visualizer’s user interface needs to allow the user to connect and disconnect the simulator,as well as to control the progress of “visualization time.”The selection of which volumes are being vi-sualized is determined simply by“walking”to the appropriate area. We provide a standardized simulator controller consisting of a panel with simulator connection and status controls,a time slider bar that covers the timespan of the currently running simulation,and a set of VCR-style controls(play,reverse play,fast forward,reverse,and pause)that allows the user to control the rate at which time passes. The slider bar may be directly manipulated to change the current viewing time to any desired value;the VCR controls alter the“time velocity”of the user in simulation time(Play is velocity1,Fast For-ward and Rewind are10and-10respectively,Pause is velocity0, etc.).The portion of the slider corresponding to data that has been computed by the running simulation is colored green;the portion corresponding to the as yet unsimulated timespan is colored red. This provides immediate feedback to the user about how far the sim-ulation has progressed.The slider is prevented from entering the red region.The controller also includes a tool intended to mitigate the inher-ent“burstiness”of most simulations,including CFAST.This tool, called the autopause mechanism,will automatically“pause”the vi-sualization time in two cases.At the beginning of the simulation run,it allows the simulator to get a certain distance ahead of the current visualization time,in order to provide a buffer of data that allows the visualization to proceed smoothly if the simulation out-put becomes bursty.Second,at any time,if the visualization time。