Project - Blake Howe - P-2001-04-S - Featured Project - A Cohesive Framework for the simulation of natural diasters using Environmental Agents

P-2001-04-S
A Cohesive Framework for the Simulation of Natural Disasters using Environmental Agents

By Blake Howe- Jan 04 - Present

Committee: Dr. Tulio Sulbaran (Chair), Prof. Desmond Fletcher, Prof. Doris Kemp

Project Abstract

Intelligent agents, situated within a virtual environment (VE), need the ability to navigate and decide on a course of action. The problem lies in the fact that there is a lack of libraries and methodologies for implementing realistic behaviors. According to Winikoff there is a clear lack of processes methodologies, and libraries to prevent this. The objective of this project is to develop a methodology that will aid developers in the implementation of realistic characteristics in environmental agents such as flood, fire, and storms and implement a library to show it is feasible. The results of this project will be a methodology for representing realistic behavior of agents in simulations and a library to show this concept is viable. This could potentially lead the way to a more open framework in simulations and help improve the quality of simulations that involve fire by allowing developers to extend a generic component instead of starting from scratch.

Fire Simulation Screen Shots

Virtual Reality Environment

Step1: Requirements

This simulations requires the Microsoft JVM freely available here http://java-virtual-machine.net/download.html

The simulation requires the Cortona VRML plug-in freely available here http://www.parallelgraphics.com/products/cortona/

You will have to disable Suns java virtual machine and enable the Microsoft plug-in by opening internet explorer click Tools, click the advanced option, scroll down until you see Java (SUN) virtual machine uncheck the box next to it. Then check the boxes under Microsoft virtual machine.

Viewing Recommendations

This simulation is best viewed on a screen resolution of 1027 x 768.
Wide-screen if possible

Machine Recommendations

2 GHZ Processor
512 Megs of RAM
32 Megs or better Open GL Graphics Card

Step2: Launch VR Fire Simulator

Terrains
     - Southern Rough (Pine)
     - Hardwood (Oak)
     - Light Logging
     - Medium Logging
     - Heavy Logging

Last Modification: Thursday September 29, 2005 11:21 AM
Originally Developed by: Dr. Tulio Sulbaran - Email: Tulio.Sulbaran@usm.edu - Nov 2004
The University of Southern Mississippi. AA/EOE/ADAI
http://www.icee.usm.edu