1. Vision Statement: CAVE(tm) Technology: A Bridge Between Research and Education.
2. CAVE(tm) Event Chronology
3. Background of CAVE(tm) Proposal
4. Project Management Plan
5. VT-CAVE as a partner in the NCSA-PACI Alliance / Virginia Tech / Two-page PACI Proposal

• First University visit to NCSA to discuss possible partnership, October 30, 1995.
• NCSA-VT Partnership Proposal submitted December 1, 1995, accepted January 12, 1996.
• University White Paper on for the NSF-ARI CAVE Proposal, January 20, 1996
• NSF-ARI CAVE Proposal submitted on February 20, 1996.
• Phone call from NSF on July 19, 1996, announcing that the project was funded but budget was cut from $1.1M to $850K for equipment aquistion only with university cost sharing at $797K, TOTAL Budget $1.65M.
• Meeting of CAVE proposal CoPIs, July 28, 1996.
• Contacted many companies who provide or would develop CAVE software.
• Memorandum sent to the Virginia Tech Research Division requesting the formation of a University Cost Center for the cost recovery of planning, operating, and maintenance.
• CAVE Proposal was announced to the University on August 29, 1996.
• The CAVE Proposal funds were received on August 30, 1996.
• First CAVE steering committee meeting, September 26, 1996.
• The P.O. for the SGI Onyx Rack CAVE computer was sent out on September 30, 1996.
• NCSA CAVE Paternship (PACI) proposal meeting October 10-11, 1996.
• The SGI Onyx Rack CAVE system was delivered on October 11, 1996.
• The SGI Onyx Rack CAVE system was operational on January 13, 1997.
• ACITC Visualization and Animation Group floor plans completed, January 31, 1997
• Purchase order for installing SGI Power License software submitted, February 10, 1997.
• Negotiations on lease continue for temporary off-campus CAVE location, February 10, 1997.
• Pyramid shipped CAVE peripherals, shipment should arrive, February 14, 1997.
• Off-campus CAVE site is proposed to be ready August, 1997? June 1 1997.
• Lost $800K PACI funding because of no progress on CAVE setup, June 1 1997.
• Decided to locate CAVE at WPI, Inc. in the VT CRC in order to work more closely with industry and to recover lost funds, August 1997.
• CAVE training at NCSA for Virginia Tech faculty & students, July 21-25, 1997.
• Creation of Virtual Prototyping and Simulation Technology, Inc. (VPST) Inc. at the WPI Building, September 1997.
• Hired Mr. John Kelso to facilitate remote site CAVE development and provide assistance in CAVE training and programming: November 1, 1997.
• Pyramid comes to Virginia Tech to build CAVE, December 1-5, 1997.
• CAVE system administrator refuses to cooperate with Pyramid; causes delay in CAVE construction, December 2, 1997.
• Students with CAVE projects in ESM4984 attend NCSA's CAVE Boot Camp Training, December 3-7, 1997.
• New CAVE system administrator completes CAVE configuration; CAVE operational, December 17, 1997.
• Student CAVE projects for ESM4984 presented in CAVE, December 18, 1997.
• Received PACI funding (two-page proposal)
• Faculty / student access to CAVE by Hokie Passport system installed, February 1998.
• CAVE Schedule installed on web server, January 15, 1998.
• VT-CAVE / VPST Grand Opening, April 17, 1998.
• PACI-Alliance98 meeting, April 27-30, 1998.
• CAVE floor with motion base designed, completed, and approved July 13, 2000
• CAVE system moved to new ACITC building August 13, 2000
• CAVE computer operational, September 2000
• CAVE floor with motion base construction began January 9, 2001
• CAVE floor with motion base completed February 16, 2001
• CAVE floor modified, CAVE frame and carpet installed March 8, 2001
• Final Report to NSF, March 14, 2001
• CAVE system operational in ACITC Building as originally proposed, March 26, 2001 (only took 4.5 years)

The CAVE proposal was motivated by the formation of the ACITC Visualization Laboratory. I was given the responsiblility to be the ACITC Visualization Author and assigned the task to plan, organize, and implement a University Visualization Laboratory in collaboration with the other ACITC "authors".

Over the last year there have been many ACITC planning meetings, but more important, I have met with many faculty and staff across all disciplines on campus who were interested in using visualization tools in their research and education programs but only in their remote laboratories and not in a central facility on campus. I concluded that whatever resources are located in the ACITC would have to complement existing remote laboratories across campus and not be seen as competing for university computing resources. I thought that CAVE technology could be a useful platform for both the on- and off-campus visualization user community.

Because of my long standing with NCSA I talked with them about the possibility of extending our past academic affiliation into a CAVE partnership. NCSA was interested in much more because of our proposed ACITC project so they requested that Virginia Tech administrators and faculty visit NCSA and we discuss future collaborations. I planned a visit and Virginia Tech visited NCSA on October 30, 1995. Virginia Tech submitted a proposal to become partner in the NCSA-SGI Power Grid Alliance. The proposal was accepted by NCSA.

With the support of NCSA, university officials, and ACITC authors we were confident that a NSF-ARI CAVE Proposal would also be well supported by the university visualization community. This support was particularly strong not just because of the multidisciplinary value of CAVE technology but mostly because of EVL/NCSA efforts to create the CAVE simulator as well as provide links to existing 3D modeling software, such as Autodesk's AutoCAD and 3DStudio. With these tools in place CAVE users can use existing turnkey software to develop CAVE format files at their remote sites. Developing CAVE interfaces remotely would also make more effective use of CAVE time. With these remote site tools in place the VT-CAVE proposal was well supported by the existing visualization community, that had already been using the Laboratory for Scientific Visual Analysis.

The NSF-ARI CAVE Proposal was accepted July, 1996.

The NSF NCSA-PACI Proposal was funded January, 1998.