Kaiserslautern - Fachbereich Informatik
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User interfaces for large distributed applications have to handle specific problems: the complexity of the application itself and the integration of online-data into the user interface. A main task of the user interface architecture is to provide powerful tools to design and augment the end-user system easily, hence giving the designer more time to focus on user requirements. Our experiences developing a user interface system for a process control room showed that a lot of time during the development process is wasted for the integration of online-data residing anywhere but not in the user interface itself. Furtheron external data may be kept by different kinds of programs, e.g. C-programs running
a numerical process model or PROLOG-programs running a diagnosis system, both in parallel to the process and in parallel to the user interface. Facing these specific requirements, we developed a user interface architecture following two main goals: 1. integration of external information into high-level graphical objects and 2. the system should be open for any program running as a separate process using its own problem-oriented language. The architecture is based on two approaches: an asynchronous, distributed and language independent communication model and an object model describing the problem domain and the interface using object-oriented techniques. Other areas like rule-based programming are involved, too. With this paper, we will present the XAVIA user interface architecture, the (as far as we know) first user inteface architecture, which is consequently based on a distributed object model.
For the online collision detection with a multi-arm robot a fast method for computing the so-called collision vector is presented. Manipulators and obstacles are modelled by sets of convex polytopes. Known distance algorithms serve as a foundation. To speed up the collision detection dynamic obstacles are approximated by geometric primitives and organized in hierarchies. On-line, the here introduced Dynamic Hierarchies are adjusted to the current arm configuration. A comparison with previous methods shows an increased acceleration of the computations.
Gauss Frame Offsets
(1992)
Virtual Reality (VR) is to be seen as the superset of simulation and animation. Visualization is done by rendering. The fundamental model of VR accounts for all phenomenons to be modelled with help of a computer. Examples range from simple dragging actions with a mouse device to the complex simulation of physically based animation.