" Cluster 2004 Abstract: TeraVision : A Distributed, Scalable, High Resolution Graphics Streaming System

TeraVision : A Distributed, Scalable, High Resolution Graphics Streaming System

Rajvikram Singh, et. al


In display-rich collaborative visualization environments, users often face the need to stream the graphical output of individual computers or entire visualization clusters to remote displays. The video streams in such environments are typically in excess of resolutions of 1024x768 pixels at 20 frames-per-second and place considerable load on the transmitting and receiving machines. This paper presents TeraVision as a scalable platform-independent solution which is capable of transmitting multiple high resolution video streams from a variety of video sources to a range of display technologies. The unique capability of this concept is that it is a flexible hardware- and software-based solution, where no modifications have to be made at the source or destination machines to enable them to transmit or receive video. The work of streaming these high-resolution video streams is also off-loaded to dedicated systems, leaving the source machines, generating the graphics, free for pure computation. This paper focuses on how TeraVision supports cluster-driven tiled-displays and stereoscopic systems that are capable of generating multiple video streams, Issues addressed include: how to synchronize all the individual video streams that form a single larger stream; how to scale and route streams generated by an array of MxN clusters to fit on a display driven by XxY displays; and how TeraVision exploits a variety of transport protocols depending on the networking environment in which it is used. Results from experiments conducted over gigabit local-area networks and in wide-area, international networks (between Chicago and Amsterdam), are presented. Finally, we will propose the Scalable Adaptive Graphics Environment (SAGE) - which will be a necessary architecture to be able to support future collaborative visualization environments with potentially hundreds of megapixels of continuous display resolution.

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