As a basis for experiments using the OFELIA testbed, the OFERTIE partners are working on integrating the Real-Time-Framework (RTF) Library of the University of Münster with the Shark 3D Software of Spinor.
Parallelization and distribution with RTF
The Real-Time-Framework (RTF) Library of the University of Münster is a middleware technology for a high-level development of scalable real-time online services through a variety of parallelization and distribution techniques. RTF enables real-time services to adapt themselves during runtime to an increased/decreased user demand and preserve QoS by adding resources transparently for the users.The integrated monitoring and controlling facilities offer an open interface for the runtime resource management of Real-time online interactive applications (ROIA) services.
Creating real-time interactive 3d applications with Shark 3D
The Shark 3D Software of Spinor is a real-time 3D software consisting of a middleware and an authoring editor for efficiently creating interactive virtual worlds and real-time 3D ROIA applications (games and others) as well as software tools (e.g., custom real-time 3D editors).
Tesing with OFELIA – a prototype for the Internet of the future
The partners are currently preparing an experimental prototype of ROIA servers and clients based on Shark 3D integrated with RTF to connect via OFELIA, which itself acts as a prototype for a SDN enhanced Internet of the near future.
The intention of using application prototypes based on Spinor’s Shark 3D for experiments using the OFELIA testbed is to make the results more industry-relevant. Commercial software like Shark 3D usually has different requirements and characteristics than smaller single-purpose prototypes created from scratch.
More than the sum – combining RTF with Shark 3D
By integrating Shark 3D with RTF and its SDN module the experiment prototypes can benefit from various OpenFlow based SDN features:
- The experiment prototypes can benefit for example from flow labelling for different clients in RTF or depending on the properties and current state of RTF entities, for example based on the area of interest concept of RTF.
- The prototype can define QoS policies and link them to RTF concepts like entities, so that RTF can for example link the policies to individual flows.
- RTF can prepare and transfer high-level monitoring information about the 3D world controlled by the Shark 3D engine to the NCL, for example evaluate and prepare entity-based and client-based statistical information for the NCL.
- Architecturally, RTF helps bridging the need of the NCL for SDN-specific information on one side with knowledge about the 3D world controlled by Shark 3D and understood by RTF due to the entity concept or RTF, but not directly understood by the NCL, on the other side.
More generally, the benefit is that by being based on the generic and more high-level entity-based networking interface of RTF instead of using low-level TCP/UDP connections, the Shark 3D based prototype not only uses RTF as a single unified API for networking including SDN, but also automatically provides RTF with valuable high-level information about entities and their relationships in the 3D world, which in turn RTF can use for its SDN functions in communication with the NCL.
