"Cloud gaming is a new service based on cloud computation technology which allows games to be run on a server and streamed as video to players on a thin client. Commercial cloud gaming systems, such as Onlive, Gaikai and StreamMyGame remain proprietary, limiting access for game developers and researchers. In order to address these shortcomings, we developed an open source Unity3d cloud-based game system called Uniquitous that gives the game developers and researchers control of system and content. Detailed experiments evaluate performance of three main parameters: game genre, game resolution and game image quality. The evaluation results are used in a data model that can predict in-game frame rates for systems that have not been tested. Validation experiments show the accuracy of our model and allow us to use the model to explore cloud-based games in a variety of system conditions."

With the increasingly rapid adoption of vehicles with autonomous features, concerns over human driver and passenger safety in such vehicles have greatly increased, especially in regards to autonomous driving features such as Tesla’s Autopilot. In order to improve current

Im Rahmen dieser Masterarbeit soll eine open-source und frei verfügbare Simulation eines Ökosystems in Unity konzipiert, implementiert und evaluiert werden, welche skalierbar, erweiterbar und grafisch anpassbar ist. Hierfür wird ein theoretisches Konzept vorgestellt, welches danach in Unity implementiert wird. Dafür werden bewährte Dokumentationsformen wie UML-Diagramme benutzt, um eine Erweiterbarkeit möglichst einfach zu gestalten. Darüber hinaus wird eine Gamification der Simulation stattfinden, welche gleichzeitig quantitativ ausgewertet wird, um Hypothesen zur Leistung, der Benutzbarkeit sowie der Einschätzung der Visualisierung zu klären. Es wurde eine Problemanalyse sowie der aktuelle Forschungsstand und nötige Grundlagen erläutert. Darüber hinaus findet eine Zielgruppenanalyse statt, bei der vier Hauptgruppen vorgestellt werden, wobei lernende Personen einen besonderen Stellenwert haben. Anschließend wird der aktuelle Forschungsstand vorgestellt, zusammen mit den grundlegenden mathematischen Modellen zur Simulation selbst. Darüber hinaus werden biotische und abiotische Faktoren erklärt und wie diese modelliert sind. Die Umsetzung eines Prototyps findet in der Unity Engine statt und resultiert in einer Anwendung, welche von Personen aus der Zielgruppe „lernende Personen“ erprobt wird. Diese können nach der Anwendung dazu Fragen beantworten. So neigen zum Beispiel Personen aus dieser Zielgruppe eher dazu, dass die Anwendung unterhaltsam sein solle anstelle von lehrreich. Besitzen aber zugleich einen hohen Anspruch an gestellten Aufgaben und Visualisierung. Die simulierende Leistung liegt bei circa 10.000 Agents, welche Pflanzen oder Tiere sind, zusammen mit einem anpassbaren Klima- und dynamischen Zeitsystem zusammen mit Datenvisualisierung, wie zum Beispiel der Bodenfeuchte und dessen Veränderung über die Zeit.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis Glossar 1 Einleitung 2 Problematik und Definitionen 2.1 Problemanalyse 2.2 Zielgruppenanalyse 2.2.1 Industrie 2.2.2 Öffentliche Einrichtungen 2.2.3 Bildungsbereich 2.2.4 Hypothesen 2.2.5 Beschreibung aus Sicht von Benutzenden 2.3 Definitionen und Begriffe 2.3.1 Simulation 2.3.2 Biologische Ökosysteme 2.3.3 Simulation eines Ökosystems 2.3.4 Agent 2.3.5 Gamification 2.4 Aktueller Stand 2.5 Fokus der Simulation 2.6 Thematische Abgrenzung 2.6.1 Marine Ökosysteme 2.6.2 Teile der Flora 2.6.3 Teile der Fauna 2.6.4 Stoffkreislauf und Rolle des Destruenten 2.6.5 Chemische Wechselwirkungen 2.6.6 Verhaltensweisen von Agents im Vergleich zu Tieren 3 Modellierung der Simulation 3.1 Mathematische Grundlagen 3.1.1 Knoten, Kanten und Graphen 3.1.2 Raycast 3.1.3 Quaternionen 3.1.4 Hashset 3.1.5 Symmetric Dictionary 3.1.6 Zufall 3.1.7 Perlin Noise 3.1.8 Zeit 3.1.9 Sonnenwinkel 3.2 Grafik 3.3 Abbildung von biologischen Vorgängen 3.3.1 Reaktion auf Grundlage von Neuronen 3.3.2 Grundbedürfnis 3.3.3 Eigenschaften 3.3.4 Fortpflanzung und natürliche Mutation 3.3.5 Selektion 3.4 Zeit 3.5 Umwelt 3.5.1 Pflanzen 3.5.2 Boden 3.6 Eventsysteme 3.6.1 Zeitevents 3.6.2 Klima-Events 3.6.3 Benutzerevents 3.6.4 Taskevents 3.7 Gamification 4 Implementation in Unity 4.1 Unity Engine 4.1.1 Unity-Engine Vorstellung 4.1.2 Benutze Unity Funktionen 4.1.3 Unity Render-Pipeline 4.2 Abbildung des geplanten Systems 4.2.1 Klassenübersicht 4.2.2 Simulationsverwaltung 4.2.3 Zeitbehandlung 4.2.4 Klimasimulation 4.2.5 Player Controller 4.2.6 Aufgabenverwaltung 4.2.7 Agentcontroller 4.2.8 Laufzeitanalyse 4.3 Benutzeroberflächen und Design 4.3.1 Aufbau und Oberflächenkonzeption 4.3.2 Umsetzung der Oberfläche 5 Evaluation 5.1 Definitionen und Rahmenbedingungen 5.2 Definitionen der Fragen 5.3 Auswertung 5.3.1 Statistische Auswertung 5.3.2 Hypothesenuntersuchung 5.3.3 Freitextanalyse 6 Abschluss 6.1 Zusammenfassung 6.2 Auswertung 6.3 Ausblick Literaturverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis Anhang / In the context of this master thesis, an open source simulation of an ecosystem in Unity is to be designed, implemented and evaluated. This system has to be scalable, expandable and graphically adaptable for any potential use cases. For this purpose, a theoretical concept will be presented which will be implemented in Unity. Proven forms of documentation such as UML diagrams are used in order to make extensibility as simple as possible. Furthermore, a gamification of the simulation will take place, which will be evaluated quantitatively at the same time in order to clarify hypotheses on performance, usability and the assessment of the visualisation. A problem analysis as well as the current state of research and necessary basics were explained. In addition, a target group analysis is carried out, in which four main groups are presented, with special emphasis on learning people. The current state of research is then presented, together with the basic mathematical models for the simulation itself. Furthermore, biotic and abiotic factors are explained and how they are influenced by other factors. The implementation of a prototype takes place in the Unity Engine and results in an application that is tested by learning people. After the tasks of the application, they can answer questions about it and could give Feedback. For example, people from this target group tend to want the application to be entertaining instead of educational. At the same time, they have high expectations of the tasks and visualisation. The simulating performance is about 10.000 agents which are plants or animals, together with an adaptable climate and dynamic time system together with data visualisation such as soil moisture and its change over time.:Abkürzungsverzeichnis Glossar 1 Einleitung 2 Problematik und Definitionen 2.1 Problemanalyse 2.2 Zielgruppenanalyse 2.2.1 Industrie 2.2.2 Öffentliche Einrichtungen 2.2.3 Bildungsbereich 2.2.4 Hypothesen 2.2.5 Beschreibung aus Sicht von Benutzenden 2.3 Definitionen und Begriffe 2.3.1 Simulation 2.3.2 Biologische Ökosysteme 2.3.3 Simulation eines Ökosystems 2.3.4 Agent 2.3.5 Gamification 2.4 Aktueller Stand 2.5 Fokus der Simulation 2.6 Thematische Abgrenzung 2.6.1 Marine Ökosysteme 2.6.2 Teile der Flora 2.6.3 Teile der Fauna 2.6.4 Stoffkreislauf und Rolle des Destruenten 2.6.5 Chemische Wechselwirkungen 2.6.6 Verhaltensweisen von Agents im Vergleich zu Tieren 3 Modellierung der Simulation 3.1 Mathematische Grundlagen 3.1.1 Knoten, Kanten und Graphen 3.1.2 Raycast 3.1.3 Quaternionen 3.1.4 Hashset 3.1.5 Symmetric Dictionary 3.1.6 Zufall 3.1.7 Perlin Noise 3.1.8 Zeit 3.1.9 Sonnenwinkel 3.2 Grafik 3.3 Abbildung von biologischen Vorgängen 3.3.1 Reaktion auf Grundlage von Neuronen 3.3.2 Grundbedürfnis 3.3.3 Eigenschaften 3.3.4 Fortpflanzung und natürliche Mutation 3.3.5 Selektion 3.4 Zeit 3.5 Umwelt 3.5.1 Pflanzen 3.5.2 Boden 3.6 Eventsysteme 3.6.1 Zeitevents 3.6.2 Klima-Events 3.6.3 Benutzerevents 3.6.4 Taskevents 3.7 Gamification 4 Implementation in Unity 4.1 Unity Engine 4.1.1 Unity-Engine Vorstellung 4.1.2 Benutze Unity Funktionen 4.1.3 Unity Render-Pipeline 4.2 Abbildung des geplanten Systems 4.2.1 Klassenübersicht 4.2.2 Simulationsverwaltung 4.2.3 Zeitbehandlung 4.2.4 Klimasimulation 4.2.5 Player Controller 4.2.6 Aufgabenverwaltung 4.2.7 Agentcontroller 4.2.8 Laufzeitanalyse 4.3 Benutzeroberflächen und Design 4.3.1 Aufbau und Oberflächenkonzeption 4.3.2 Umsetzung der Oberfläche 5 Evaluation 5.1 Definitionen und Rahmenbedingungen 5.2 Definitionen der Fragen 5.3 Auswertung 5.3.1 Statistische Auswertung 5.3.2 Hypothesenuntersuchung 5.3.3 Freitextanalyse 6 Abschluss 6.1 Zusammenfassung 6.2 Auswertung 6.3 Ausblick Literaturverzeichnis Abbildungsverzeichnis Tabellenverzeichnis Anhang

In this thesis, we present research on synthesizing autonomous driving with shared autonomy using Unity Engine. Adaptive Cruise Control (ACC) is considered as level 1 autonomous vehicle, which has been studied by academia and commercialized by industry. Cooperative Adaptive Cruise Control (CACC) system is an expansion of ACC, in which communication is set up between members to share driving information. Shared autonomy is a subject about human-computer interactivities. In our research, we developed a highly customizable 3D environment. We can simulate various driving scenarios and analyze the performance of different driving methods from human driving to CACC. The result of simulation proves the safety and efficiency of CACC, and the project also provides a potential of assisting the improvement of autonomous vehicles.

This master thesis is focused on visualization of virtual objects in the real space. The introductory section provides a brief description of Kinect and Unity technologies. Moreover, similar state-of-the-art projects are outlined with regard to the used methodics of interaction. Subsequently, a review of useful libraries is provided. On the basis of these information, the methodics of my project is formu-lated. The subsequent part of the thesis deals with the implementation of experi-mental application in the C# programming language. Finally, the application is evaluated and there is a discussion of its pros and cons.

With the multi-layered flocking system it is possible to simulate flocks that contain different types of agents that can be of various different sizes (variations in bounding radius and height). In the original implementation, the multi-layered flocking system uses a metric distance to find the nearest-neighbours of agents. However, results from real life field studies suggest that animals interact with each other in a flock using a topological distance. The goal of this thesis is therefore to implement a version of the multi-layered flocking system that uses a topological distance for interaction between agents. This is done by adapting two methods that are used to find the k-nearest neighbours (kNN), namely the original spatial partitioning method (OSP method) and the enhanced spatial partitioning method (ESP method), to work with the multi-layered flocking system. The aim is to compare the performance of these methods in terms of query time for four different flocking scenarios (standard, obstacle, follow and steer away). The implementation contains two types of agents of two different sizes. In the standard scenario all agents move together as a flock. The obstacle scenario is similar to the standard scenario with the addition that the simulation space contains stationary obstacles. In the follow scenario the smaller sized agents follow the bigger sized agents, and in the steer away scenario the smaller sized agents steer away from the bigger sized agents. An evaluation of how different numbers of kNN affect the collective motion (polarization, extension and frequency of collisions) of the flock in the four different scenarios is also done. The evaluation was performed by implementing the multi-layered flocking system in the Unity game engine, and running simulations with flocks of different sizes (125-3125 agents) and using different numbers of interacting kNN (k=5,10,15,20) for each of the scenarios. The results show that the ESP method on average is at least twice as fast compared to the OSP method in all four flocking scenarios, and the improvement in performance in query time did not differ much between the scenarios. Moreover, a value of k=10 was shown to be a good compromise between having fast kNN query times for the ESP method, but still having flocks of agents moving in a collective manner. / Med ett flerskiktigt flockningssystem är det möjligt att simulera flockar som innehåller olika typer av agenter som kan vara av olika storlekar (variation i begränsningsradie och längd). I den ursprungliga implementeringen av det flerskiktigt flockningssystem används ett metriskt avstånd för att hitta de närmaste grannarna till agenterna. Resultat från fältstudier tyder dock på att i verkligheten interagerar djur i en flock med varandra genom ett topologiskt avstånd. Målet med denna avhandling är därför att implementera en version av det flerskiktigt flockningssystem som använder ett topologiskt avstånd för att hitta de närmaste grannarna till agenterna. Detta görs genom att anpassa två metoder som kan användas för att hitta en agents k-närmaste grannar till det flerskiktigt flockningssystem. Dessa två metoder kallas den ursprungliga spatiala partitioneringsmetoden (OSP metoden) och den förbättrade spatiala partitioneringsmetoden (ESP metoden). Syftet är att jämföra prestandan mellan dessa två metoder, vilket mäts i tid som det tar att hitta de k-närmaste grannarna för varje metod. Jämförelser genomförs för fyra olika typer av scenarion (standard, hinder, följ och styr ifrån). I standard scenariot rör sig alla agenter tillsammans som en flock. Hinder scenariot liknar standard scenariot med tillägget att simuleringsmiljön består av ett antal stationära hinder. I följ scenariot så följer de mindre agenterna de större agenterna, och i styr ifrån scenariot så försöker de mindre agenterna fly från de större agenterna. Vidare görs en utvärdering av hur olika antal k-närmaste grannar påverkar den totala flockens samlade rörelse (polarisering, förlängning och frekvens av kollisioner) för de olika scenarierna. Utvärderingen görs genom att implementera det flerskiktiga flockningssystemet med de ovan nämnda k-närmaste grannar metoderna i spelmotorn Unity. Ett flertal simuleringar genomförs sedan för de fyra scenarierna och dessa består av olika flockstorlekar (125-3125 agenter) och använder olika värden på k (k=5,10,15,20). Resultaten visar att ESP metoden i genomsnitt är dubbelt så snabb jämfört med OSP metoden. Dessutom visades ett värde på k=10 vara en bra kompromiss mellan att snabbt hitta de k-närmaste grannarna när ESP metoden används, men också ha flockar av agenter som rör sig kollektivt.

Volumetric clouds are often used in video games in order to improve the realism or graphical quality of the game. However, in order to achieve real-time rendered clouds, optimizations have to be implemented as part of the rendering algorithm. These kinds of optimizations improve the performance, but can also have a negative impact on the visual quality of the clouds. This thesis investigates the use of bilinear interpolation for the purpose of improving the performance of a volumetric cloud renderer, while trying to avoid any substantial reduction in visual quality. This is extended by looking at the effect of adaptively sampling the pixel colors. The renderer itself is created in Unity3D using a ray marching algorithm. As part of the literature study, this research also explores different ways of measuring visual quality within real-time rendering. As a result of this, the thesis uses the Structural Similarity Index Measure to measure the visual quality. The research found that utilizing bilinear interpolation to ray march every eighth pixel results in a performance gain of 45%. However, it also reduces the visual quality of the volumetric clouds. This is counteracted by using adaptive sampling to interpolate only where the standard deviation of pixel colors is below a threshold. We cannot, however, determine the optimal value of this parameter, since it depends on the requirements of the renderer. Instead, it has to be determined on a case-by-case basis. / Volymetriska moln används i spel för att uppnå realism och förbättra den grafiska kvaliteten. Men för att uppnå realtidsrendering så måste optimeringar göras. Dessa typer av optimeringar förbättrar prestandan av programmet, men kan också försämra den visuella kvalteten. Den här studien undersöker hur en optimering baserad på bilinjär interpolering kan användas för att förbättra prestandan av volymetriska moln, utan att försämra den visuella kvaliteten i någon större utsträckning. Studien tittar även på hur adaptiv sampling av pixlarna påverkar optimeringen. För att utföra detta renderas molnen i Unity3D med hjälp av en ray marching-algoritm. Som del av litteraturstudien utforskas även olika sätt att evaluera visuell kvalitet inom realtidsrendering. Utifrån denna använder studien måttet Structural Similarity Index Measure för att mäta visuell kvalitet. Studien fann att den bilinjära interpoleringen resulterade i att prestandan ökade med 45% när endast var åttonde pixel är beräknad med ray marching, och resten interpoleras. Dock reduceras även den visuella kvaliteten av molnen. Detta kan motverkas med hjälp av adaptiv sampling. Då interpoleras endast pixlar där standardavvikelsen av de kringliggande pixlarna är under ett fördefinierat värde. Vi kan däremot inte definiera ett universiellt optimalt värde på detta värde. Det beror på att det optimala värdet beror på kraven vi har på programmet. Dessa kan variera från program till program. Därför måste detta bestämmas individuellt för varje program.

In the area of steering behaviours of autonomous agents and crowd simulations, there is a plethora of methods for executing the simulations. A very hard-to-achieve goal of crowd simulations is to make them seem natural and accurately reflect real-life crowds. A very important criterion for this goal is to have the agents avoid collisions, both with each other and with the environment. A less important, but important nonetheless, criterion is to not let the time taken or distance covered to reach the goal in the simulation be too high, compared with when not implementing collision avoidance. This paper proposes and explores a novel method of enhancing vector field-based steering with rule-based deviations to implement collision avoidance. This method is called ’DevVec’ (’Deviation + Vector Field steering’). The rules which are used for the deviations are extracted from a user survey, and they describe what the agent should do in different collision avoidance scenarios. The viability of DevVec is tested by comparing it with another already established method, called ’Gradient-based Steering’, in terms of fulfilling the criteria mentioned above. Both methods are used to simulate pedestrians moving throughout different scenes. The results suggest that DevVec has potential, but would require additional time and resources, and perhaps a few changes in future works to be presented in its best possible version. / Inom ämnesområdet för styrbeteenden hos autonoma agenter och simuleringar av folkmassor finns det många metoder för att framställa dessa simuleringar. Ett väldigt svåruppnåeligt mål för denna typ av simuleringar är få dem att verka naturliga och verklighetstrogna. Ett viktigt kriterie för detta mål är att få agenterna att undvika kollisioner, både med varandra och med den kringliggande omgivningen. Ett mindre viktigt, men viktigt oavsett, kriterie är att inte låta en agent ta för lång tid eller gå för långt för att nå sitt mål i simuleringen, i jämförelse med när de inte försöka undvika hinder. Denna studie presenterar och utforskar en ny metod som utökar en vektorfältsbaserat styralgoritm med regelbaserade avvikelser för att ta hänsyn till att undvika kollisioner. Denna nya metod kallas för ’DevVec’ (’Deviation + Vector Field steering’). Reglerna som används för avvikelserna är framtagna från en enkät, och de beskriver vad en agent borde göra vid olika kollision-scenarion. Användbarheten av DevVec prövas genom att jämföra den med en redan etablerad metod som kallas för ’Gradientbaserad styrning’, med avseende på de ovan nämnda kriterierna. Båda metoderna används för att simulera fotgängare i olika omgivningar. Resultaten antyder att DevVec har potential, men att det krävs ytterligare tid och resurser, och troligtvis några ändringar i framtiden för att framställa den bästa möjliga versionen.

This study analyses different methods of maintaining a consistent state between two peers in a real time fighting game played over a network. Current methods of state management are explored in a comprehensive literature review, which establishes a baseline knowledge and theoretical comparison of use cases for the two most common models: delay and rollback. These results were then further explored by a practical case study where a test fighting game was created in Unity3D that implemented both delay and rollback networking. Networking strategies were tested by a group of ten users under different simulated network conditions and their experiences were documented using a Likert-style questionnaire for each stage of testing. Based on user feedback it was found that the implemented rollback strategy provided an overall better user experience. Rollback was found to be more responsive and stable than the delay implementation as network latency was increased, suggesting that rollback is also more fault tolerant than delay.

The use of procedural content generation is becoming more and more popular in the video game industry. With games such as Minecraft or No Man’s Sky we have seen the potential of PCG in video game creation but also its challenges. In fact, while the processing power and memory capabilities of our machines are unceasingly growing, human capability for content creation doesn’t seem to be able to follow the same pace. Game developers had then to come up with several techniques and methods that will help them generate lots of content for their games while still keeping a certain level of control on the output. Urbis Terram is a procedural city generation tool for Unity3D that allows the creation of complete cities to be used in video games or simulations made with this engine. The goal of this thesis is to tackle the technical challenge of designing and implementing a PCG tool that will help game developers to quickly generate terrains, road networks and allotment spaces for buildings and other urban areas. The goal is to have a unique complete city generation tool that can enable quick game design iterations and can be used to create complex virtual worlds.