B. Spence, Dept. of Electr. Eng., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK
L. Tweedie, Dept. of Electr. Eng., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK
H. Dawkes, Dept. of Electr. Eng., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK
Hua Su, Dept. of Electr. Eng., Imperial Coll. of Sci., Technol. & Med., London, UK
We present two novel visualisation tools: the Influence Explorer and the Prosection Matrix. These were specifically created to support engineering artifact design and similar tasks in which a set of parameter values must be chosen to lead to acceptable artifact performance. These tools combine two concepts. One is the interactive and virtually immediate responsive display of data in a manner conducive to the acquisition of insight. The other, involving the precalculation of samples of artifact performance, facilitates smooth exploration and optimisation leading to a design decision. The anticipated benefits of these visualisation tools are illustrated by an example taken from electronic circuit design, in which full account must be taken of the uncertainties in parameter values arising from inevitable variations in the manufacturing process.
Index Terms:
data visualisation; CAD; engineering graphics; interactive systems; user interfaces; circuit CAD; functional design; visualisation tools; Influence Explorer; Prosection Matrix; engineering artifact design; interactive display; optimisation; electronic circuit design; manufacturing process
Citation:
B. Spence, L. Tweedie, H. Dawkes, Hua Su, "Visualization for functional design," ieee_infovis, pp.4, 1995 IEEE Symposium on Information Visualization (InfoVis '95), 1995