Technical description
Tasks

The Co-VAR project is planned on the basis of 10 work-packages. The work breakdown has a logical structure, which is expressed in figure 2. There are 5 technical work-packages (Wp2, 3,4,5,6) that are related to Wp1: user needs and requirements. These 5 technical tasks can run in parallel since they are related to more or less different aspects of the same conceptual architecture. In order to guarantee smooth integration and conceptual convergence, Wp7 is dealing with issues that provide a flexible merging of the Wp-results of the technical work-packages. At the same time, Wp7 will support and prepare ‘next step’ functionality’s such as field evaluation of the designed concepts (Wp8) and also the necessary dissemination aspects (Wp9). The overall actions related to the global project management, are provided by a separate work-package Wp10. The project deliverables will be represented by 10 reports and 4 demonstrators to check the feasibility of the architectural concepts.

Workpackage 1: Modelling the User Needs and Requirements

Workpackage 2: Co-operation for content design

Workpackage 3: Indexed VAR database

Workpackage 4: Object interaction dependent simulations

Workpackage 5: Multi-platform support for translation engines

Workpackage 6: Multi-dimensional adaptive interface

Workpackage 7: Merging the conceptual modules

Workpackage 8: Field evaluation

Workpackage 9: Dissemination

Workpackage 10: Project Management
Situation in the ITEA Programma.
The realisation of Co-VAR will involve all the ITEA competencies that are pointed out in the ITEA "Rainbow Book". The figure below gives an overview of which work-packages correspond to which competences.
While being related to all six ITEA competencies, the Co-VAR project explicitly targets four of them. The contribution of this project to these competencies can be described as follows:

ITEA Competences

Co-VAR contribution

(1) Complex System Engineering

Design of a software design architecture for software-intensive multimedia and VAR applications. The architecture will make use of higher level semantics to improved search and retrieval strategies; auto adaptability features, heuristics to improve rendering processes, advanced interface technology.

(2) Extended Multimedia

Research into a more advanced usage and manipulation of 3D-multimedia (VAR) components in VAR development software: indexing VAR databases, automatic retrieval of VAR component interactions, exploitation in development user interfaces.

(4) Content Processing

Research into multi-user co-operation environments for VAR content generation, and, research into improving content rendering processes.

(5) User Interfaces

Research into the exploitation of advanced multimedia in user interfaces of development environments: 3D graphics and interaction, advanced display systems, speech technology.