Game-Engine-Assisted Research platform for Scientific computing (GEARS) in Virtual Reality

Brandon K. Horton; Rajiv K. Kalia; Erick Moen; Aiichiro Nakano; Ken-ichi Nomura; Michael Qian; Priya Vashishta; Anders Hafreager

SoftwareX (Jan 2019)

Game-Engine-Assisted Research platform for Scientific computing (GEARS) in Virtual Reality

Brandon K. Horton,
Rajiv K. Kalia,
Erick Moen,
Aiichiro Nakano,
Ken-ichi Nomura,
Michael Qian,
Priya Vashishta,
Anders Hafreager

Affiliations

Brandon K. Horton: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Rajiv K. Kalia: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Erick Moen: Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Electrical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Aiichiro Nakano: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Biological Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Ken-ichi Nomura: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Corresponding author at: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA.
Michael Qian: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Priya Vashishta: Collaboratory for Advanced Computing and Simulations, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Computer Science, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Physics & Astronomy, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA; Department of Materials Science and Chemical Engineering, University of Southern California, Los Angeles, CA 90089-0241, USA
Anders Hafreager: Department of Physics, University of Oslo, 0316 Oslo, Norway

Journal volume & issue: Vol. 9
pp. 112 – 116

Abstract

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The Game-Engine-Assisted Research platform for Scientific computing (GEARS) is a visualization framework developed at the Materials Genome Innovation for Computational Software (MAGICS) center to perform simulations and on-the-fly data exploration in virtual reality (VR) environments. This hardware-agnostic framework accommodates multiple programming languages and game engines in addition to supporting integration with a widely-used materials simulation engine called LAMMPS. GEARS also features a novel data exploration tool called virtual confocal microscopy, which endows scientific visualization with enhanced functionality. Keywords: Virtual reality, Real-time simulation visualization, Molecular dynamics, LAMMPS

Published in SoftwareX

ISSN: 2352-7110 (Online)
Publisher: Elsevier
Country of publisher: Netherlands
LCC subjects: Science: Mathematics: Instruments and machines: Electronic computers. Computer science: Computer software
Website: http://www.journals.elsevier.com/softwarex/

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