摘要: |
Data display is a critical component for test and evaluation (T&E) environments in aircraft, space, and energy systems under test. Telemetry functions associated with these systems produce too much data for a single person to comprehend as alphanumeric information. Displays ease the task of interpreting raw measurands faster than the eye can fathom. Moreover, they depict when measurands are within safe and meaningful limits, show relationships between measurands, and spot trends. To assist with these efforts, data display systems provide a wide variety of customizable display objects, including strip charts, bar charts, vertical meters, round gauges, cross plots, tabular displays, orientation displays, and bit maps. Each display type can be tailored with respect to size, foreground and background colors, fonts, grids, and time and data format, to name a few. Each data display object has peculiarities of its own. Not only is there a wide range of parameters and attributes, but these values are often a function of the state of the data that they display. For example, the attributes of an object can change as the color of a curve or numeric value changes when a measurand approaches a limit or is out of a limit. In addition to processing algorithms that detect changes, large time scales make it easier to visualize trends. Dynamic 3-D models of objects under testing can be used to show orientation, as opposed to interpreting a table of numeric orientation values. Multiple objects can be grouped into a single window to form instrument panels. Windows can be created for a test plan that is used over and over either with the same measurands and processed parameters or with new ones as required. Measurands and parameters can be changed in real time. Similarly, attributes such as data limits can also be changed. Standard drawing and graphics tools may be used in creating process diagrams and embellishing control panels. Snapshots of events can be sent to color printers or saved to disk for inclusion in reports. Features, such as local disk and ring buffers that are associated with video displays and are independent of system archiving, give operators the ability to recreate data leading to an event of interest. This description illustrates how complex a singular data display system can be. To compound this situation, there is a variety of vendors offering software packages for data acquisition and display with such features, each requiring its own data display specification. Figure 1 shows a snapshot of a data display. |