Case Studies

Miniature Probes Carried by Atmospheric Currents

A Tecplot generated animation shows simulated miniature airborne probes over North America. The probes are being tested as a way to map atmospheric winds. A future network of probes has the potential to expand our understanding of the Earth's system and improve weather forecast accuracy and efficiency well beyond current capability. Resulting improvements in forecast accuracy will translate directly into cost benefits for weather-sensitive industries worldwide, and mitigate the risk factors associated with life-threatening weather phenomena.

The probe positions are tracked using a Lagrangian particle model embedded within a Computational Fluid Dynamics code known as the Advanced Regional Prediction System. The animation represents probe positions at three-hour intervals from June 15, 2001 through July 9, 2001. The animation is created by writing a short Tecplot macro to animate simulation time-steps. Animations like this are only possible with Tecplot's unique set of visualization and animation capabilities.

ENSCO, Inc.
ENSCO has been providing engineering services and advanced technology solutions for government agencies and private industry since its founding in 1969. From signal processing algorithms that make international treaty monitoring efforts more effective to railroad track monitoring equipment that makes train travel safer, ENSCO’s technology helps make the world a safer place. Other examples include:

• designing sophisticated computer models that make NASA launches more reliable.
• developing monitoring systems that safeguard government facilities and national landmarks.

In addition to supporting these ongoing programs, ENSCO also focuses on developing new technologies and applying them to real-world problems. For example, the miniature airborne probes in the animation are being tested as a way to map atmospheric winds. This knowledge could be useful to the airline industry as a means of predicting fuel consumption, or to the U.S. military as a means of tracking the dispersal of chemical, biological or radiological threat clouds.

Global Environmental Micro Sensors
A feasibility study is currently underway at ENSCO to study Global Environmental Micro Sensors (GEMS). The GEMS concept features an integrated system of miniature airborne probes designed to remain suspended in the Earth’s atmosphere. Environmental measurements are taken as the probes are carried by atmospheric currents. The two-year study is funded by the NASA Institute for Advanced Concepts. The goal is to examine the potential performance and cost benefits of GEMS and develop a technology roadmap that will help NASA integrate GEMS technology into future missions and programs.

The principal investigator on the GEMS study is Dr. John Manobianco, ENSCO’s director of Advanced Micro and Nanotechnology. An 11-year veteran of ENSCO, Manobianco is a member of the company’s Strategic Business Development division. His primary charge is to create new business opportunities focused on micro and nanotechnology relating to wireless probes and probe networks.

ENSCO's conceptualization of GEMS illustrating both a global and local distribution of probes with communication and networking between probes and data collectors. Image courtesy of ENSCO, Inc.

The Simulation and Tecplot
By definition, the GEMS feasibility study is concerned with the future application of airborne wireless probes. This technology is not operational today. As such, it is imperative that Manobianco and his team use 3-D modeling and simulations to test their hypotheses and support their conclusions. Equally important is the need to generate presentation quality graphics that can be used to communicate their findings to NASA and other research organizations. To accomplish these tasks, Manobianco relies heavily on data visualization software.

“I have used data visualization software for most of my career and I have a pretty good understanding of what I need,” Manobianco said. “Initially, VIS5D, a freeware package from the University of Wisconsin, and the General Meteorological Package (GEMPAK), a NASA-development product, served my needs quite well, but over time they evolved into products that require quite a bit of programming. I simply don’t have the time or desire to become a programmer. I needed a product that was useful to me out-of-the-box — that’s why I selected Tecplot.”

Manobianco said that Tecplot’s graphical user interface is very intuitive, making it quick and easy to create the graphics and visualizations he needs. Specifically, he likes Tecplot’s 2- and 3-D visualization functionality coupled with the software’s iso-surface and overlay capabilities. “We routinely construct weather maps based on simulated data,” he said. “Tecplot’s ability to overlay contour maps is invaluable.”

Support for Linux is another reason Manobianco selected Tecplot. “Constructing advanced 3-D models of atmospheric winds or Category 5 hurricane simulations require very large data sets,” he said. “As such, I need a powerful computing environment, capable of crunching the voluminous data and rendering the visualizations. I chose a Linux-based workstation as my hardware, so I needed a data visualization package that supports Linux. Once again, Tecplot fit the bill.”

Benefits of Tecplot
As with most engineers and scientists that focus on discovery, not the gritty detail of corporate finance, Manobianco finds it difficult to put a dollar figure on the benefit Tecplot has brought to his organization. He does have a way, however, of putting a fine point on the subject.

"The GEMS project is a two-year feasibility study, meaning it is fully funded for two years. After that time, we very much hope for additional funding to continue our research. There are only two ways to make sure that happens: perform flawlessly and communicate effectively. Our experiments must be insightful and comprehensive. Just as important, the presentations of our findings to our customer must be compelling and convincing. Tecplot is used extensively in each of these areas. Needless to say, I consider Tecplot to be an invaluable tool — one that delivers huge benefits to my work and my employer.”

Probe positions 15.125 days after the model initialization time. Probe altitude (km) is denoted by the color legend showing altitude range from 1-18 km above ground level.

Tecplot
Dr. Fife and his group typically use Tecplot to generate all of their scientific plots. This consists mostly of plasma physics phenomena in both 2- and 3-D. He feels Tecplot excels at plotting multiple data sets simultaneously, generating 3-D surface plots, and creating contours with continuous color ranges.

Dr. Fife adds, "Tecplot allows us to explore many types of XY, 2- and 3-D data to look for consistency between computational model results, and what we expect from physics."

Credits and Acknowledgments:
ENSCO, Inc.
Mark L. Adams
Randolph J. Evans
Jonathan L. Case
Joseph Dreher
David A. Short

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