Data Visualisation - Scientists and researchers at oil & gas exploration companies, universities biotechnology, engineering and aerospace companies sort through billions of bytes of gathered, observed and measured digital data. Visualisation allows opinions to be formed, removing the data bottleneck of tabular numerical analysis and reducing the time to discovery. Visualisation is already well established in the oil & gas exploration industry for reducing exploration costs and is becoming a standard scientific research tool in many other areas.

As growing organisations become rich in digital assets they aspire to faster decision-making, improved quality and greater market share for their products, whilst reducing costs and time to market. Visual Technology Services' knowledge in this field will empower organisations to transform digital data into interactive, real-time visualisation content for use in a desktop or immersive 3D environment, by providing customers with a comprehensive advisory service covering design, implementation and support of the complete visualisation solution.

The HR Wallingford special project involved 3D hydrodynamic modelling and numerical code development applied to real-world applications such as marine, coastal, estuary, flood risk and river flow modelling. HR Wallingford is a world-class research consultancy in civil engineering hydraulics and water environments. Working closely within the Hydrodynamics and Metocean group, the project involved reporting and communication to senior management over research and appraisal of state-of-the-art 3D hydrodynamic modelling techniques and model codes. In addition the project involved aspects of scientific data management, graphics and reporting work-flow with advanced scientific data visualisation tools.

As a research & development project for Oxford Visual Geosciences (formerly IGM Ltd.) (www.geoexpress.co.uk) a new interactive visualisation technique was developed for mapping borehole televiewer images onto 3D borehole positioned cylinders. The technique employs dynamic geometry generation to represent measured assay data values along the borehole as variable radii, as well as image correction and orientation texture-mapping methods.

Under a development project for Oxford nanoScience Ltd. (www.oxfordnanoscience.com) and Imago Scientific Instruments (www.imago.com) the PoSAP 3D Atom Probe Analysis Software was upgraded, released and maintained. New data analysis methods, visual presentation, interpretation and interaction techniques were developed. Large data handling and memory efficiency improvements were also introduced. The PoSAP software is part of the three dimensional atom probe microscope, a commercial nanotechnology analytical technique for characterising materials at atomic scale.

As a development project for Advanced Visual Systems Inc. (AVS) (www.avs.com) a new interactive visualisation technique was developed called "illuminated lines". As shown in the short animation, CFD flow streamlines are illuminated by a light source and halos are added to improve depth differentiation with closely packed lines. The technique was coded in OpenGL within the AVS/Express system with a white paper available on request. The illuminated line system is now supported and shipped to 1000's of AVS customers.

Visual Technology Services assisted in development of the pre & post-processor GUI for the commercial mechanical engineering analysis software AUTODYN from Century Dynamics Ltd. The interface allows users to set-up problems, run simulations and review results from explicit large displacement hydrodynamics codes. The simulation and visualisation data structures include 2D and 3D coupled Lagrange finite element meshes, Euler meshes, and mesh-free methods in one easy to use interface.

A complete engineering post-processor GUI was developed for the Microwave analysis code from KCC Ltd., before they merged with Flowmerics EMC. A template framework provided a starting base for expansion, with user interface, file i/o, visualisation, graphics and full event-driven architecture, based on AVS/Express. As a client start-up project for Advanced Visual Systems, the GUI included 3D interactive review of all analysis results, including complex vector fields, and surface currents on shell elements within the microwave field. The example shows surface current on a CPU heat sink, with the field sampled using vector cone glyphs.

For a number of years the fluid dynamics code CFX post-processor from AEA Technologies (now part of ANSYS) was based on work started in the UK as an engineering visualisation product development project. Here an unstructured tetrahedral mesh solution for an industrial mixing chamber is shown, with isosurface set at a critical flow field value.

As a development project for iX imaging plc A complete GUI application was created to manage data acquisition, image processing and review for a direct X-ray sensor technology. As a Windows application based on the MDI scheme, the application provided technical control and data processing for device testing and evaluation within medical and industrial laboratory environments. Linear Tomographic Reconstruction algorithms were employed for a moving X-ray beam in addition to 2D image processing techniques.

CGNS (CFD General Notation System) is a new industry standard for the transport of Computational Fluid Dynamics data. As a development project for Advanced Visual Systems, a fully operational and supported data interchange facility was developed for the AVS/Express software product. Large model validation was carried out in cooperation with Fluent Inc. and CD Adapco (STAR-CD). The interface is now shipping and in use around the world with AVS/Express versions 6.0 - 6.2.

Using Finite Element techniques coupled with electric field and electron transport through semiconductors simulation, TCAD (Technology CAD) is a critical step in the design of modern microelectronic devices. As a development project with TMA, then acquired by AVANT! and now Synopsys Inc. , the Taurus & Raphael TCAD simulation tools are accessed using a full interactive 2D and 3D GUI. The interface is available as "Taurus-Visual" from Synopsys worldwide to the microelectronics industry.