Implementation of a Human Avatar for the MARG Project in Networked Virtual Environments

The objective of the ongoing MARG project is to animate human motions captured by 15 MARG sensors in wireless networked virtual environment (NVES). Three avatars were developed previously, but none of them met all the desired requirements. The first one was overly simplistic and did not implement H-Anim standards. The other two were created using laser-scanned data and followed the H-Anim standards, but one had its adjacent joints broken and the other was capable of rotating only one joint. Therefore, the cartoon-type humanoid, Andy, was developed to meet the needs of the MARG project. The humanoid Andy implements H-Anim standards using built-in X3D humanoid nodes and is capable of controlling all its 15 joints in NVES. Another need of the MARG project was a wireless network interface for real-fl me data streaming. A concurrent client- server program implementing multitasking using TCP and UDP protocols was developed for this purpose. Using WiSER24OO.IP serial adapters between the MARG sensors and the server program adds a wireless capability to the project. The server program converts the raw MARG sensor data to quatelnions using the Quest algorithm. Multiple clients are supported by the system. Each client program receives the motion data and updates the humanoid Andy.Naval Postgraduate School Monterey CA is the author of 'Implementation of a Human Avatar for the MARG Project in Networked Virtual Environments' with ISBN 9781423514992 and ISBN 1423514998.