AIR: Next-generation Graphics in the Cloud

Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh PA

Investigators

Abstract

The proposal seeks to establish a means to do high performance 3-D multiviepoint gaming in the cloud as a foundation for a fundamental change in the gaming industry now dominated by specialized hardware local to each gamer. The approach uses PLASM (Parallel Lighting and Animation Subscription Model), an architecture for multi-viewpoint computer graphics designed for large-scale computer systems, to exploit graphics computations across multiple users drawing on cloud data center and computational resources. The proposed method has the potential to achieve orders-of-magnitude increases in graphics computation at constant hardware cost for multiple concurrent users. The PI intends to create a startup company around this technology which has the potential to be disruptive to the current gaming solutions. The license by usage time suggested seeks to obtain a market share of the current 3B playing hours per week of gamers. PLASM has the potential to be enabling to the migration of other important graphics applications to the cloud computing environment including real time interactive maps, e-design, visualization and medicine involving multiple users and collaborators. The effort is linked with Project Olympus at CMU school of computer science aimed at bridging research and commercialization.