Some remarks on delay effects in motion synchronization in shared virtual environments

Abstract

This paper addresses the motion synchronisation problem in shared virtual environments in the presence of communication delays. More precisely, we consider the case of multiple users interacting with the same dynamics. Unlike the conventional synchronization, the technological attempt we are interested in pursues a more robust and better synchronization that gives an almost concurrent evolution of motions between the distributed systems in absolute time-frame (earth's time). Physically, the existence of time delay prevents immediate information exchange, which disables concurrent motions between the distributed systems. Using the delay information available, the proposed controller preserves natural local dynamics and compensate for de-synchronization error caused by mismatched initial conditions. Various robustness issues, like the delay margin or the stability boundaries computation in the space defined by the controllers' parameters are also presented. Finally, simulation tests are conducted in order to validate the considered methodology.