Document Type
Dissertation
Disciplines
1.2 COMPUTER AND INFORMATION SCIENCE, Computer Sciences
Abstract
Real time ray tracing is a growing area of interest with applications in audio processing. However, real time audio processing comes with strict performance requirements, which parallel computing is often used to overcome. As graphics processing units (GPUs) have become more powerful and programmable, general-purpose computing on graphics processing units (GPGPU) has allowed GPUs to become extremely powerful parallel processors, leading them to become more prevalent in the domain of audio processing through platforms such as CUDA. The aim of this research was to investigate the potential of GLSL compute shaders in the domain of real time audio processing. Specifically regarding real time ray tracing tasks. To do this a number of GLSL compute shaders were created, along with a C++ Vulkan application with which to execute them. These shaders facilitate the propagation of audio, using ray tracing, through a virtual environment, and implement 3D space partitioning and ray intersection prediction in order to gauge the effectiveness of these optimisations for this task. Statistically significant results show that the GLSL compute shaders successfully propagated audio through a virtual environment, returning results to the host system in real time, within 30 milliseconds. However, while this capability was shown, significantly detailed virtual environments prevented results from being returned in real time. Indicating a potential for future research and optimisation.
Recommended Citation
Buggy, J. (2023). Evaluating the Performance of Vulkan GLSL Compute Shaders in Real-Time Ray-Traced Audio Propagation Through 3D Virtual Environments. [Technological University Dublin].
Creative Commons License
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Publication Details
A dissertation submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements of Technological University Dublin for the degree of M.Sc. in Computer Science (Advanced Software Development) March 2023.