Real time visualization of sensor data in aircraft

In-flight tools for monitoring sensor data and subsystem status on aircraft provide warning for crews when the electronic signal falls outside of an established norm. The data is presently translated by trained personnel via on-screen algorithms to enable trouble shooting at the site of the discrepancy. Through the process of animated representation of data flowing through the bus systems, visual representation the effects of the failure and the prediction of the probable failed component or subsystem are available without the present interaction required to navigate through these algorithms. Data is additionally stored, mined, and used as a prognostic for future component or subsystem failures. The result is a tool that is easier to monitor and that is increasingly accurate in the prediction of failure prior to actual occurrence. Using this application, less training is required for personnel to interpret data from the sensors, both in-flight and during maintenance cycles. The paper addresses the creation process for this application, examining software tools that were considered and rejected as well as the processes that are being used to build the application. It examines both failures and successes in structuring the software and will examine the process of data mining for prognostic software. As every driver or aircraft pilot crosschecks his panel of instruments he looks at two types of instruments, those that indicate real-time information like the speedometer or airspeed indicator, and those that indicate out-of-bounds information usually seen as red lights or fuel low warning lights. Whether analog or digital, information is presented in such a way that the viewer may quickly know when something has gone wrong. It would be more useful for the driver or pilot to know when something is in the process of going wrong, and to be able to correct problems before they actually occur.