A pipeline virtual environment architecture for multicore processor systems

Abstract

We present a novel architecture to develop Virtual Environments (VEs) for multicore CPU systems. An object-centric method provides a uniform representation of VEs. The representation enables VEs to be processed in parallel using a multistage, dual-frame pipeline. Dynamic work distribution and load balancing is accomplished using a thread migration strategy with minimal overhead. This paper describes our approach, and shows it is efficient and scalable with performance experiments. Near linear speed-ups have been observed in experiments involving up to 1,000 deformable objects on a six-core i7 CPU. This approach’s practicality is demonstrated with the development of a medical simulation trainer for a craniotomy procedure.