Computer Technology
Real-time 3D Visualization
Cutting edge 3-D virtual reality technology from NASA used to program
and direct planetary explorer vehicles can visualize real-time data in
three dimensions.
Fourth Planet, Inc. of Santa Clara, California is a visualization company
that specializes in the intuitive visual representation of dynamic, real-time
data over the Internet and Intranets.
Founded in 1996, Fourth Planet has as its core a team formerly from
the Intelligent Mechanisms Group (IMG) at the Ames Research Center. Over
a five-year period, the then NASA researchers performed ten robotic field
missions in harsh climes--including underwater in Antarctica, the Kilauea
volcano, and Alaska's Mount Spurr--each test designed to mimic the end-to-end
operations of automated vehicles trekking across another world under control
from Earth. The core software technology used for these missions was the
Virtual Environment Vehicle Interface (VEVI), developed at Ames.
| Based on award-winning NASA telerobotics
software, VEVI4 is a powerful tool used to represent complex devices graphically
in a 3D environment. Depicted here is the Dante II vehicle during its descent
into Mount Spurr, Alaska. |
VEVI was selected as first runner-up in NASA's 1996 Software of the
Year Awards. VEVI is a modular operator interface for direct teleoperation
and supervisory control of robotic vehicles. It uses real-time interactive
3D graphics and position/orientation sensors to produce generic vehicle
control capabilities. VEVI has been used to control wheeled, legged, air
bearing, and underwater vehicles in a variety of environments.
Butler Hine, who was director of the IMG at Ames, and five others partnered
to start Fourth Planet. Their calling after leaving NASA is to bring together
three important and emerging technologies: Real Time Data, Network Computing,
and 3D Graphics and Data Visualization. Fourth Planet contends that the
convergence of these technologies will revolutionize the world of computing.
It is the mission of the start-up company to drive this revolution with
products and services that put real data, delivered in real time into compelling
and useful visual representations.
Not straying too far from Ames, Fourth Planet moved into the NASA/Ames
Technology Commercialization Center, a business incubator for start-up
companies. Situated in the incubator, Fourth Planet pays a reduced rent
and shares administrative cost for copiers, faxes and secretarial assistance.
Perhaps more importantly, the group is in residence with 29 other businesses
within the incubator, a hub of contacts and knowledge.
Fourth Planet has released VEVI4, the fourth generation of the award-winning
VEVI Ames software. VEVI4 is a cutting-edge computer graphics visualization
and remote control applications tool, available commercially for the first
time. VEVI4 can represent complex devices graphically in a 3D environment.
| Combining the technologies of 3D graphics
and real-time data collection, Fourth Planet's NetVision creates a virtual
representation of large scale, complex networks. |
NetVision is another Fourth Planet product. This package can allow large
companies to graphically view and analyze in virtual 3D space such things
as the health and performance of their computer network, locate a trouble
spot on an electric power grid, or evaluate a company's web of computer
links.
Other software products and services are forthcoming from Fourth Planet.
The world of visual computing is undergoing a major shift in technology,
explains Fourth Planet literature, "because seeing is understanding."
Once confined to universities and high-end research labs with big budgets,
the technologies of 3D computer graphics and data visualization are rapidly
becoming available to the world at large. In addition, the explosion of
the Internet has created an efficient and available infrastructure for
the delivery of real-time data.
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