Study on effects of network characteristics on cooperation performance in a desktop CVE system

Abstract

The influences of network characteristics (e.g. latency, packet loss) on the task performance in desktop collaborative virtual environment (CVE) systems were studied. In the experiment, two remote partners worked together to manipulate shared virtual objects over a network, and a network emulator was utilized to simulate the real network. The task in the experiment was to minimize the time to transfer a frame through a rod with no collisions. The performance of human subjects was measured and analyzed quantitatively as a function of network latency and packet loss rate. The experiment results show that the delay had little effect on the task performance while the network latency was less than 200 ms and it was acceptable while the network latency was less than 500 ms; the packet loss had no effect on the task performance while there were 20 state update messages received and it was acceptable while there were more than 10 state update messages received.