Group-to-Group Collaboration Using the Access Grid

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Group-to-Group Collaboration Using the Access Grid
Allan Spale, Research Assistant Vikas Chowdhry,
Research Assistant Melissa Golter, Research
Assistant
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History

• November 1998
• Futures Laboratory Group at Argonne National
  Laboratory creates the Access Grid
  1
• 1999
• EVL begins participation in the Access Grid
  community 2
• Today
• 104 Access Grid nodes nationally and
  internationally
• Some sites have multiple Access Grid nodes
  (including EVL)
  
  
  6

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Nodes

• Spaces for people
• Specially designed physical audio-visual spaces
• Support interactions with people locally and
  across the network
• Additional high-end video and audio equipment
• Create a favorable user experience

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Nodes

• Spaces for people
• Have many visual displays to allow for viewing
  many video streams and other applications
• Types of furniture and furniture arrangement are
  important

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Node Components

• Required hardware and software
• Video conferencing software
• Microphones
• Cameras
• Computers
• And more

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Node Components
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Venues

• Nodes meet in virtual spaces
• Junction of interconnected video and audio
  streams
• Computing resources enabling human interaction
• Future Computational grid applications/data
• Enables a variety of collaborations
• Large-scale distributed meetings (conferences)
• Work sessions
• Seminars, lectures, training
• Any collaboration benefiting from live video and
  audio
• 3

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Future

• Human interface to the grid
• Computing resources are organized into the grid
• Access Grid enables human communication over the
  grid

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Version 2.0 Architecture

• 5

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Community

• Industry
• Boeing, Ford Motor Company, Johnson Johnson,
  Microsoft, Motorola
• Educational and Research Institutions
• 75 nationwide sites
• Private, public, and government-funded
  institutions
• 15 international sites
• Australia, Brazil, Canada, China, Germany, Italy,
  Japan, Korea, Netherlands, United Kingdom
• 6

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Meetings

• Sizes of meetings
• One or two other sites
• Small group of sites (primary design point)
• Large group of sites
• Sharing of applications and data helps create
  collaborative work sessions

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Videoconferencing

• One or two other sites
• CAVE application (YG) seminar to plan an art
  installation
• University at Buffalo, Indiana University
• Informal meetings, discussions
• Technical help for fixing Access Grid node
  problems

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Videoconferencing

• Small group of sites
• Virtual News Conference Academic Excellence for
  All Urban Students (EVL hosted 15 attendees from
  the CPS system)
• NSFs Urban Systemic Initiative improved math and
  science scores

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Videoconferencing

• Small group of sites
• NSF CISE Grand Challenges in e-Science Workshop
  (EVL hosted conference had 30 attendees)
• Discussions about the utilization of high
  performance computing will help advance science
  and engineering

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Videoconferencing

• Large group of sites
• Chatauqua 1999, 2000 (EVL presented VR work,
  Chatauqua 2000)
• The first large scale Access Grid meeting ever
  conducted.
• SC Global 2001 (EVL attended)
• Live from certain Denver venues of Supercomputing
  2001
• Remote international and national sites in
  attendance

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Videoconferencing

• EVL applications
• Videotape on video stream (no audio)
• Integration of Polycom into the Access Grid
• Overlays
• Art

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Remote Computer Access

• Virtual Network Computing (VNC)
• Created by ATT Laboratories
• Displays the desktop of the computer
• Can remotely control a computer
• Advantages
• High resolution still images
• Better than viewing compressed video streams of a
  still image

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Shared Slide Presentation

• DPPT (Distributed PowerPoint)
• Created by Argonne National Laboratory
• Uses MS PowerPoint plus additional software
• Remote site commands local slides changes
• Disadvantages
• Animations cannot be run
• Audience cannot see a remote mouse pointer
• RPPT (Remote PowerPoint)
• Overcomes disadvantages of DPPT

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Video-On-Demand

• Voyager
• Developed by Argonne National Laboratory
• Allows the recording and playback of
  videoconferences
• Used by EVL to record students masters thesis
  defense
• Future improvements
• Synchronized recording and playback of data
  streams
• Data from scientific instrumentation, audio, and
  video

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Continuum

• Group-to-Group Collaboration
• Distributed, collaborative work environment
• Advanced collaboration, computation, and
  visualization technologies
• Access Grid, AGAVE, Access Grid-to-Go and VVP,
  AccessBot, TeraVision, tiled high-resolution
  displays
• Investigators
• Dr. Jason Leigh, Kyoung Park, Atul Nayak, Mitch
  Theys
• 13

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Continuum Components
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Continuum

• Access Grid Augmented Virtual Environment (AGAVE)
• Uses a low-cost PC workstation and two projectors
• Collaborators share immersive 3D stereoscopic
  content 15, 16

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Continuum

• Access Grid-to-Go Pocket PC platform
• Purposes
• View streaming visualizations from immersive
  environments
• Attend meetings remotely
• Monitor remote equipment
• Future
• Audio reception
• Video and audio transmission

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Costs

• Equipment cost 42,625-46,665
• Computing equipment 12,455
• Network equipment 750
• Other equipment (monitors, KVM switch) 1,800
• Audio configuration
• Small 6,524
• Large 10,564
• Video cameras (4 Sony EVI-D30) 5,196
• Projectors (3 Epson 710c) 15,900
• Cabling and mounting costs extra 18

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Alternate Node

• Mid-level specifications
• Computer Pentium III 845 MHz, Windows 2000, 786
  MB RAM
• Network 100 Mbps, multicast
• Audio PC Speakers, echo cancellation unit,
  microphone
• Video 1 camera and capture card
• Display 1 large display screen (could substitute
  with projector)
• Software Access Grid-in-a-Box Software
• Entry level software from VRVS of Cal Tech.19

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Evaluation and Deployment

• Access Grid Documentation Project (AGDP)
• Access Grid Node Minimum Requirements
• http//www.accessgrid.org/agdp/guide/min-req.html
• Access Grid Hardware Specification
• http//www.accessgrid.org/agdp/guide/spec.html
• Building an Access Grid Node
• http//www.accessgrid.org/agdp/guide/building-an-a
  ccess-grid-node.html

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Support

• Access Grid Documentation Project (AGDP)
• http//www.accessgrid.org/agdp/
• E-mail
• Technical help mailing list ag-tech_at_mcs.anl.gov
• Individuals at different institutions
• Interactive help
• Chat rooms
• Videoconferencing

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Questions and Comments
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References

1. http//www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/fl/accessgrid/ag-retreat
   -2001/proceedings-retreat/stevens-theaccessgridpro
   ject.pdf
2. http//www-unix.mcs.anl.gov/web-mail-archive/lists
   /ag-tech/1999/06/msg00000.html
3. Text from http//www.accessgrid.org/
4. Image from earlier version of the Access Grid
   Media Handout produced by Argonne National
   Laboratory
5. Image and concepts from Open Architecture and
   Interfaces for Access Grid 2.0 (Ivan Judson--
   Argonne National Laboratory) in
   http//www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/fl/accessgrid/ag-retreat
   -2002/proceedings/judson.pdf
6. Complete list at http//www-fp.mcs.anl.gov/fl/acce
   ssgrid/ag-nodes.htm
7. Image from http//calder.ncsa.uiuc.edu/ACCESS/Even
   ts/Pics/2001-06-28_nsf/nsf18.jpg
8. Image from http//www.evl.uic.edu/activity/templat
   e_act_project.php3?indi148
9. Image from http//www.evl.uic.edu/activity/templat
   e_act_project.php3?indi142
10. Image from http//www.evl.uic.edu/activity/NSF/pre
    sent.html
11. Image from http//archive.ncsa.uiuc.edu/alliance/c
    hautauqua/Ohio2000/chautauquaday3/plenarysession/p
    ages/P6150100.htm
12. Image courtesy of Bob Huebert of Artic Region
    Supercomputing Center
13. Text and images from http//www.evl.uic.edu/cavern
    /continuum/indexmain.html
14. Image from http//www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/continuum
    /thinkbig.jpg
15. Text from http//www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/agave/
16. Text from http//www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/papers/AGA
    VE.pdf
17. image from http//www.evl.uic.edu/cavern/agave/AGA
    VE.ppt
18. Text from http//www.accessgrid.org/agdp/guide/spe
    c.html
19. http//www.vrvs.org