Participants shared a virtual environment and communicated using digitized audio and video. The system has been designed for use over a trans-Atlantic ATM link so that Caterpillar engineers from geographically remote locations can collaborate in designing Caterpillar products. Participants saw the videos of the other participants integrated with the virtual environment. For example, when an engineer's viewpoint was behind the vehicle fender, the video image was rendered behind the fender, as seen from the local site.
All sites see the vehicle move as it is driven by the engineer at a remote site.
In this initial test phase, a local ethernet was used for the network. The quality of audio, video, and interactive response was very good, allowing natural communication between participants. In this snapshot, the local site looks into the service bay as participants at 2 remote sites discuss visibility issues. View from the cab of the front-end loader. It is a part of the Distributed Video Production project, sponsored by the European Union as ACTS project AC089.