Three-dimensional tools for telemetry visualization and analysis

Monitoring of spacecraft and robotic activities, both in realtime and after the fact, can benefit from the use of three-dimensional visualization tools and spacecraft models. The simple case of animating a robot model based on a telemetry stream provides an intuitive understanding of the robot's activities that far exceeds that available through dials, graphs, and other common widgets. The addition of such widgets into the three-dimensional environment, in conjunction with the robot model, enhances understanding while focusing attention on critical areas. The design and architecture of visualization tools for analyzing spacecraft state were developed to facilitate the association of telemetered data channels to the three-dimensional model of the spacecraft or robot. In addition, the development of custom indicators for any data channel helps to produce a tool geared to maximizing the understanding of the spacecrafts state. Indicators can be enabled or disabled to allow an operator to locus on key data values for a specific activity. In addition to the three-dimensional visualization capabilities, standard graphing and plotting tools allow review of telemetry histories and playback of histories through the animation within the 3D environment. These capabilities allow for rapid assimilation of spacecraft activities and state. In addition to telemetry histories, the results of pre-activity simulations can be visualized and then visually compared to actual telemetry to verify correct performance. For in-situ missions, models of the local terrain can be included and interactions between the robot and the terrain analyzed. The three-dimensional capabilities presented enhance the understanding of robotic and spacecraft activities and state to improve operations, reliability, and safety.