Approximation of Optimal Voxel Size for Collision Detection in Maintainability Simulations within Massive Virtual Environments

• Published in: Computer graphics forum Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 13 - 23
• Main Authors: Borro, D., García-Alonso, A., Matey, L.
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: 9600 Garsington Road , Oxford , OX4 2DQ , UK Blackwell Publishing Ltd 01.03.2004
• Subjects: Aircraft industry; Airplane engines; Collision Detection; haptic device; I. 3. 6 [Computer Graphics]: Methodology and Techniques - Graphics data structures and data types; I. 3. 7 [Computer Graphics]: Three-Dimensional Graphics and Realism - Virtual Reality; Simulation; Studies; Virtual reality; voxel techniques
• ISSN: 0167-7055; 1467-8659
• DOI: 10.1111/j.1467-8659.2004.00002.x

This paper describes a Collision Method for massive virtual environments composed of millions of triangles. It has been applied in the aeronautics industry for maintainability simulations using virtual aircraft engine mock‐ups. The method performs well and has a good interactive frame rate even when it is used for computing force feedback with haptic devices. Space sorting problems chiefly related to voxel techniques, such as memory requirements and optimal voxel size, have been solved. We use advanced memory structures and hashing techniques. To find the optimal voxel size, several analytical solutions have been proposed and compared. These solutions are based on the performance cost function of the algorithm used. Experiments have been undertaken to verify these analytical solutions.