Chris Greenhalgh's Home Page
I'm a Professor in the School of Computer Science at Nottingham University, working in the Mixed Reality Laboratory.
Contents:
- Research
- Teaching
- UG & MSc projects
- G53SRP: System and Realtime Programming
- G64UBI: Ubiquitous Computing
- G52CON: Concepts of Concurrency
- Admin
- Contact Details
Research
Interests
Professor Greenhalgh’s research interests centre on distributed systems support for multi-user interactive applications. In common with the Mixed Reality Lab as a whole, his focus is on supporting everyday activities and situations (including home, work, leisure and entertainment) with networked, mobile and embedded devices and systems. His particular concern is with software infrastructure and the development of deployable systems. He is currently driving the development of the Equator Integrated Platform (EQUIP), the Equator IRC’s adaptive software architecture for ubiquitous computing and mobile applications. Its second version (EQUIP2), released in 2006, has already been used to support several public performances, experiences and trials across of number of research projects. He is also technical director of the Digital Records for e-Social Science node of the National Centre for e-Social Science, with overall responsibility for the Digital Replay System (DRS) analysis tool (formerly known as Replaytool).
PhD Students
PhD students, present:
- Fernando Martinez, Jitti Niramitranon (with Professor Mike Sharples, School of Education/LSRI),
- Sirisha Gollapudi (with Prof. Charlie Hodgman, School of Biosciences),
- Tom Lodge (with Prof. Steve Benford),
- Adriano Galati (with Prof. Graham Kendall);
and past: Bartosz Wietrzyk (Dr Milena Radenkovic), Alastair Hampshire, Milena Radenkovic, Jim Purbrick, Ivan Vaghi
System-related pages
Current: EQUIP2, The Digital Replay System (DRS) (on SourceForge).
Past, oldest to most recent: MASSIVE-1, MASSIVE-2/CVE, MASSIVE-3, EQUIP v1 (Old stuff), EQUIP, ECT and EQUIP2 on SourceForge,
History
I obtained my PhD at Nottingham (in Large Scale Collaborative
Virtual Environments).
I mainly work in the Mixed Reality
Lab. In the past I have spent a lot of time designing/writing
multi-user VR systems,
especially doing
system-level distributed, graphical and collaborative stuff. I then
spent quite a lot of time working on Grid/e-Science. Now I am mostly
working on ubiquitous & mobile systems and
applications/experiences, and on replay/analysis tools for e-social
science.
- In terms of CVEs:
- I designed and wrote the MASSIVE-1 virtual reality tele-conferencing system;
- Then there was/is MASSIVE-3.
- Within the Equator IRC:
- I led the development of a more general distributed application framework w. pattern-based data sharing (Java & C++) called EQUIP (EQUATOR "Universal Platform").
- This is used as the distribution support for the EQUATOR Computer Toolkit (ECT).
- I am now working on EQUIP2, which has good support for J2ME and J2EE applications.
- Within the National Centre for e-Social Science
Digital
Records node
- I lead the design and development of
DRS
(Digital Replay System), formerly known as Replaytool (developed
jointly with Mike Fraser at Bristol in the VidGrid pilot
project).
As well as working on EQUATOR,
I am also working on the EPSRC/DTI Participate project
(mass participation) and EU IPerG
project (Pervasive Gaming). I am technical director of the National Centre for e-Social Science
Digital
Records node at Nottingham. I also have a little involvement in the
EU Inscape project.
I was PI for the EQUATOR-associated eScience project "Advanced
Grid Interfaces for Environmental Science in the Lab and in the Field".
Also on the eScience side, I led Nottingham's involvement in the myGrid EPSRC eScience Pilot
Project (the application domain for which is bioinformatics). I was a
co-investigator of the VidGrid e-social
science pilot project. I was
principle investigator of an EPSRC-funded project considering the realisation and use of persistence in CVEs.
I was a co-investigator on the EPSRC-funded project Multimedia
Networking for Inhabited-TV and was extremely heavily involved in
the
linked BT-funded project Network
Architectures for Inhabited-TV. In my "spare time" I also had some
involvement in the EU eRENA
and COVEN
projects.
I also worked on the EPSRC-funded "HIVE"
project which led to MASSIVE-3.
The MRL (and CRG before it) has a strong tradition of engagement
with the public, especially through collaborations with artists and
performers. Check out “Avatar
Farm” (based on MASSIVE-3) and "Out
Of This World" (MASSIVE-2),
live,
public Inhabited-TV experiments. Also DesertRain
(MASSIVE-2), a
mixed reality
performance/installation, and Can
you see me now? and Uncle
Roy All Around You for more mobile/on the streets experiences (all
joint with Blast Theory).
Most recently, Day
of the Figurines (Barcelona, Berlin & Singapore, 2006) has been
the first public outing(s) for EQUIP2.
My PhD thesis was published by Springer (a consequence of
winning the
1998 BCS/CPHC Distringuished Dissertations in Computer Science
competition):
"Large Scale Collaborative Virtual Environments", Chris Greenhalgh,
ISBN 1-85233-148-8, London: Springer-Verlag, 1999. I suspect that it is
no longer available. My submitted thesis (missing some corrections and
an index compared to the springer one) is here.
Teaching
Projects
Here are some ideas for UG and MSc dissertations: Project ideas.
Modules
In 2009/10 I am teaching:- System and real-time programming (G53SRP), Autumn Semester (course page)
- Ubiquitous Computing (G54UBI), jointly with Andy Crabtree, Spring Semester (course page available on WebCT, which is also accessible via the University Portal)
- Concepts of Concurrency (G52CON), jointly with TBA, Spring Semester (temporary course page; should be available on WebCT shortly after 20100125)
In the recent past I have also taught:
- Internet and Web Services (G52IWS)
- Advanced Computer Communications (G53ACC)
Tutees
My personal tutees, past and present.GH57 Interactive Systems Design MSc
Andy Crabtree has now taken over as the CS Course Director for the GH57 Interactive Systems Design MSc.
The old (2008/9) Project/Dissertation handbook (module code G64IDS) is available here: ISD Project/Dissertation Handbook (G64IDS)
Admin
My school admin roles for 2008/9:- GH57/ISD Course Director and Project Coordinator (see above)
- Senior Tutor (e.g. responsible for the personal tutor system in CS)
- Academic Web Coordinator - acadmic input and prioritisation for school web site(s) development
- Information Strategy Group member
Some past roles:
- UG Extenuating Circumstances chair