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On designing and testing distributed virtual environments
Author(s) -
Valadares Arthur,
Gabrielova Eugenia,
Lopes Cristina Videira
Publication year - 2016
Publication title -
concurrency and computation: practice and experience
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.309
H-Index - 67
eISSN - 1532-0634
pISSN - 1532-0626
DOI - 10.1002/cpe.3803
Subject(s) - computer science , scalability , correctness , distributed computing , overhead (engineering) , fault tolerance , context (archaeology) , domain (mathematical analysis) , human–computer interaction , operating system , paleontology , mathematical analysis , mathematics , biology , programming language
Summary Distributed real‐time (DRT) systems are among the most complex software systems to design, test, maintain, and evolve. The existence of components distributed over a network often conflicts with real‐time requirements, leading to design strategies that depend on domain‐specific and even application‐specific knowledge. Distributed virtual environment (DVE) systems are DRT systems that connect multiple users instantly with each other and with a shared virtual space over a network. DVE systems deviate from traditional DRT systemsx in the importance of the quality of the end user experience. We present an analysis of important, but challenging, issues in the design, testing, and evaluation of DVE systems through the lens of experiments with a concrete DVE, OpenSimulator. We frame our observations within six dimensions of well‐known design concerns: correctness, fault tolerance/prevention, scalability, time sensitivity, consistency, and overhead of distribution. Furthermore, we place our experimental work in a broader historical context, showing that these challenges are intrinsic to DVEs and suggesting lines of future research. Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.