Npsnet: A Network Software Architecture For Large Scale Virtual Environments

This paper explores the issues involved in designing and developing network software architectures for large scale virtual environments. We present our ideas in the context of NPSNET-IV, the first 3D virtual environment that incorporates both the IEEE 1278 Distributed Interactive Simulation (DIS) application protocol and the IP Multicast network protocol for multi-player simulation over the Internet. Key Words: Virtual reality, networked virtual environments, large scale distributed interactive simulation, DIS, IP Multicast. I. Introduction The construction of large scale virtual environments has been a long-stated goal of virtual environment (VE) proponents and now is a major objective of both commercial and government organizations. We define large scale environments as those that support more than a 1000 concurrent dynamic entities or players. However, there exists major technical challenges which will require new network software architectures for distributed VEs. This paper exa..