LiveView3D: Real Time Data Visualization for the Aerospace Testing Environment

This paper addresses LiveView3D, a software package and associated data visualization system for use in the aerospace testing environment. The LiveView3D system allows researchers to graphically view data from numerous wind tunnel instruments in real time in an interactive virtual environment. The graphical nature of the LiveView3D display provides researchers with an intuitive view of the measurement data, making it easier to interpret the aerodynamic phenomenon under investigation. LiveView3D has been developed at the NASA Langley Research Center and has been applied in the Langley Unitary Plan Wind Tunnel (UPWT). This paper discusses the capabilities of the LiveView3D system, provides example results from its application in the UPWT, and outlines features planned for future implementation. horough aerodynamic analysis of any proposed vehicle configuration requires a careful assessment and understanding of the off-body flow physics, on-body surface flow properties, and structural aeroelastic characteristics. Although computational fluid dynamics (CFD) and finite-element modeling (FEM) codes can now provide predictions of these aerodynamic characteristics, a significant portion of vehicle aerodynamic assessment is still accomplished by wind tunnel testing. A number of different optical diagnostic techniques currently exist for measuring the flow and structural properties of wind tunnel models under test 1 . Extracting knowledge from these extensive data sets, often gigabytes per test condition, requires efficient and revealing data visualization methods. Most data produced by currently available optical instrumentation techniques are processed off-line, and full analysis may not occur until weeks or months after the test. However, the cost of wind tunnel operations and the complexity of interrelated aerodynamic phenomena being investigated are pushing the requirement of real-time data visualization and analysis. Real-time data visualization can dramatically improve the knowledge and understanding of the physical processes and aerodynamic behavior occurring during a test. This knowledge and understanding can then be used to alter the test matrix to focus on conditions of interest, thus maximizing the test value while contributing to minimizing the test cost. The LiveView3D software and data visualization system has been developed to provide the ability to view data from wind tunnel instrumentation systems in an interactive virtual environment in real time. LiveView3D is an extension of the Virtual Diagnostics Interface (ViDI) technology 1 previously developed for pre-test planning and post-test data visualization. The primary distinction between ViDI and LiveView3D is that ViDI is a “usage methodology” of commercially available software, and LiveView3D is a custom-written software package that utilizes ViDI technology. ViDI is predominantly used for pre