Design of a Distributed Mixed Reality System for Construction Simulation

This paper describes the design of an outdoor Distributed Mixed Reality (DMR) system to support multi-user interaction of multi-users and virtual object manipulations in a construction simulation. The proposed DMR system is based on an interactive animation system of operating virtual cranes and extends previous work in a significant manner by considering engineering constraints. Our design integrates a Head-Mounted Display, a GPS receiver, a 3D motion sensor, and a portable computer to carry out a construction simulation which can be run in the outdoors. We describe and evaluate the system design challenges and possible solutions for simulating multi-user collaborative construction activities within the DMR environment. Several issues related to tracking and registration, modeling, user interaction, and mobile networking are discussed. The proposed system prototype is demonstrated using a case study which simulates the deck rehabilitation project of a bridge. Using this system, two users can collaborate to replace a section of the bridge deck by operating two virtual cranes and communicating with each other.