Digital Twin of Ohio Highway. Training Simulation for snowplow

Ming Tang led the team that constructed six large-scale Ohio highway digital twins for snowplow drivers. The road models, which are 70 miles long and span three Ohio counties, were based on real-site GIS and TOPO data.

“Evaluate Opportunities to Provide Training Simulation for ODOT Snow and Ice Drivers”. Phase 2. Ohio Department of Transportation. PI: John Ash. Co-PI: Ming Tang, Frank Zhou, Mehdi Norouzi, $952,938. Grant #: 1014440. ODOT 32391 / FHWA Period: 01.2019-03.2022.

“Evaluate Opportunities to Provide Training Simulation for ODOT Snow and Ice Drivers”. Phase-1. Ohio Department of Transportation. PI: Jiaqi Ma. Co-PI: Ming Tang, Julian Wang. $39,249. ODOT 32391 / FHWA. Period: 01.2018- 01.2019.

 

 

Lorain County. District 3. 

Hoicking Mountain District 10.

City of Columbus-south A

 

City of Columbus-West B

City of Columbus-North. C

 

Publications

Raman, M., Tang, M3D Visualization Development of Urban Environments for Simulated Driving Training and VR Development in Transportation Systems. ASCE ICTD 2023 Conference. Austin. TX. 06. 2023

publication in Urban Rail Transit journal

Paper published in the Urban Rail Transit journal

This paper describes an innovative integration of eye-tracking (ET) with virtual reality (VR), and details the application of these combined technologies for the adaptive reuse redesign of the Wudaokou rail station in Beijing. The objective of the research is to develop a hybrid approach, combining ET and VR technologies, as part of an experimental study of how to improve wayfinding and pedestrian movement in crowded environments such as those found in urban subway stations during peak hours. Using ET analysis, design features such as edges, and color contrast are used to evaluate several proposed rail station redesigns. Through VR and screen-based ET, visual attention and related spatial responses are tracked and analyzed for the selected redesign elements. This paper assesses the potential benefits of using ET and VR to assist identification of station design elements that will improve wayfinding and pedestrian movement, and describes how the combination of VR and ET can influence the design process. The research concludes that the combination of VR and ET offers unique advantages for modeling how the design of rail transit hub interiors can influence the visual attention and movement behavior of those using the redesigned station.  This is especially true for crowded conditions in complex interior spaces. The use of integrated ET and VR technology is shown to inform innovative design approaches for facilitating improved wayfinding and pedestrian movement within redesigned rail stations.

Full paper: download PDF, read HTML

Check out Tang’s eye-tracking research with transit hub design studio ARCH4002, Spring 2018.

Mixed Reality for medical data

Grant: “Magic School Bus for Computational Cell”,  the Arts, Humanities, & Social Sciences and Integrated Research Advancement Grants. (AHSS)  UC.  $8,550. PI: Tang. Co-PI: Zhang. T. 2016

The AR & VR project for medical model. Animated heart. magic school bus project at the University of Cincinnati.

 

Funded by the 2017 AHSS and Integrated Research Advancement Grant at UC. Magic School bus for Computational Cell” project constructed a mixed reality visualization at the College of DAAP and College of Medicine by integrating virtual reality (VR) and augmented reality (AR) for molecular and cellular physiology research. The project employed state-of-the-art VR and AR software and hardware, which allows for creative approaches using holographic imaging and computer simulation. This project expanded our cutting-edge research in space modeling & architecture visualization to the new computational cell field, including the creation of 3D models of the intestine tubes, and envisioning cell changes through agent-based simulation.

PI: Ming Tang. Associate Professor. School of Architecture & Interior Design, College of DAAP.

Co-PI:Tongli Zhang. PhD. Assistant Professor. Department of Molecular and Cellular Physiology. College of Medicine.

Data Managment: Tiffany Grant. PhD. Research Informationist. Health Sciences Library. College of Medicine.

the web3D model is here.

Robotic drawing

Robotic controlled drawing. some experiments at DAAP, UC. Check more info at Robotic Lab. 

 

 

paper accepted at CAADRIA conference

Ming Tang’s paper From agent to avatar: Integrate avatar and agent simulation in the virtual reality for wayfinding is accepted at the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA) 2018 conference in Beijing, China.  This paper describes a study of using immersive virtual reality (VR) technology to analyze user behavior related to wayfinding, and integrated it with the multi-agent simulation and space syntax. Starting with a theoretical framework, the author discussed the constraints of agent-based simulation (ABS) and space syntax to construct the micro-level interactions within a simulated environment. The author then focuses on how cognitive behavior and spatial knowledge can be achieved with a player controlled avatar in response to other computer controlled agents in a VR environment. The multi-phase approach starts with defining the Avatar Agent VR system (AAVR), which is used for capturing an avatar’s movement in real time and form the spatial data, and then visualize the data with various representation methods. Combined with space syntax and ABS, AAVR can exam various avatars’ wayfinding behavioral related to gender, spatial recognition level, and spatial features such as light, sound, and architectural simulations.

Check out the full paper there:

Tang, M. From agent to avatar: Integrate avatar and agent simulation in the virtual reality for wayfinding. Proceedings of the 23rd International Conference of the Association for Computer-Aided Architectural Design Research in Asia (CAADRIA). Beijing, China. 2018.