Objective The PING project intends to specify, develop and demonstrate a flexible and scalable architecture for large-scale interactive multi-participant applications on the Internet and to contribute to standards in this field. The PING architecture will be developed as an object-oriented software framework which will be validated by a suite of network trials. The main technical challenge of the project is to maintain a globally consistent shared environment for a large population of geographically dispersed users while maintaining real-time interactivity and seamless navigation. The PING infrastructure will feature a scalable network and persistence architecture, real-time consistency protocols, network latency hiding techniques and reactive programming tools.Objectives:The PING project seeks to specify, develop and demonstrate an open and scalable architecture for large-scale interactive shared virtual world applications on the Internet which can support persistent environments involving several thousands of simultaneous participants dispersed geographically over large distances. The PING project will build a run-time infrastructure consisting of communication, storage and real-time simulation components. PING will also provide programming facilities for designing active object behaviour at a high-level of abstraction. The project lays the emphasis on openness and interoperability and will actively contribute to standardisation efforts. Different scalability enabling techniques exploiting the spatial and semantic structure of large-scale virtual worlds will be used in order to provide each user with a consistent view of the shared environment while maintaining interactivity and seamless navigation.Work description:The PING project consists of several concurrent threads of work which focus on different issues at the application and system level. A workpackage is in charge of designing the software framework and of integrating the different infrastructure components detailed below while maintaining architectural consistency between them. The design and development of the infrastructure is covered by three workpackages. The first one focuses on object and event management. It will specify an object model as well as spatial structuring and object grouping policies adapted to large-scale shared interactive virtual worlds. The project will design and implement consistency models which provide both causal and real-time guarantees despite the latency of the communication. Communication aspects of the run-time infrastructure are covered by a second workpackage. The project will design and develop a scalable and flexible network architecture combining the best features of server-based and distributed multicast-based approach. This network architecture will not be monolithic but will be closely integrated with the application semantics. The workpackage on object behaviours will build programming facilities for the design of high-level object behaviours within synthetic environments. It will adopt a reactive programming model well adapted to continuous interaction of virtual objects with their environment. The Trials and Validation workpackage is central within the PING project structure since it will drive the development of the aforementioned infrastructure components by an analysis of multi-user interactive application requirements, it will validate the PING technology through a thorough suite of network trials.Milestones:T0+6: Requirement analysis and state of the art evaluation;T0+12: Specification of the platform architecture and infrastructure;T0+24: Release of the platform.The project aims to provide a open and flexible platform which can be used for a wide range of multi-participant interactive applications on the Internet. The success of the project will be judged by its contribution to standards for interactive shared virtual worlds and by the performance and scalability of the platform as assessed by the network rails carried out over the course of the project. Fields of science natural sciencescomputer and information sciencesinternetnatural sciencescomputer and information sciencessoftwaresoftware applications Programme(s) FP5-IST - Programme for research, technological development and demonstration on a "User-friendly information society, 1998-2002" Topic(s) 1.1.2.-4.4.2 - Large scale shared virtual and augmented environments Call for proposal Data not available Funding Scheme CSC - Cost-sharing contracts Coordinator FRANCE TELECOM EU contribution No data Address 6 PLACE D'ALLERAY 75505 PARIS 15 France See on map Total cost No data Participants (8) Sort alphabetically Sort by EU Contribution Expand all Collapse all ASSOCIATION POUR LA RECHERCHE ET LE DEVELOPPEMENT DES METHODES ET PROCESSUS INDUSTRIELS France EU contribution No data Address BOULEVARD SAINT-MICHEL 60 75272 PARIS 6 See on map Total cost No data ECOLE NATIONALE SUPERIEURE DES MINES DE PARIS France EU contribution No data Address BOULEVARD SAINT MICHEL 60 75272 PARIS See on map Total cost No data GROUPE DES ECOLES DES TELECOMMUNICATIONS France EU contribution No data Address 46, RUE BARRAULT 75634 PARIS 13 See on map Total cost No data INSTITUT NATIONAL POLYTECHNIQUE DE GRENOBLE France EU contribution No data Address 46 AVENUE FELIX VIALLET 38031 GRENOBLE CEDEX 1 See on map Total cost No data KALISTO ENTERTAINMENT France EU contribution No data Address 8 QUAI DES CHARTRONS 33000 BORDEAUX See on map Total cost No data SWEDISH INSTITUTE OF COMPUTER SCIENCE Sweden EU contribution No data Address ISAFJORDSGATAN 22 164 29 KISTA See on map Total cost No data THE UNIVERSITY OF LANCASTER United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address Bailrigg LA1 4YR LANCASTER See on map Total cost No data THE UNIVERSITY OF READING United Kingdom EU contribution No data Address WHITEKNIGHTS RG6 6AH READING See on map Total cost No data
