Hybrid 2D and 3D Visual Analytics of Network Simulation Data

We present a visualization architecture to support 2D and 3D visual analytics applications. The architecture is designed to be data-flow-oriented and reconfigurable such that several diverse visualization components can operate as one integrated system. Our prototype application allows users to visually analyze the results of a complex 3D network simulation data both on large high-resolution display and HTC Vive Head Mounted Display. The network simulation outputs variables describing various characteristics of network connectivity between the moving nodes on the ground and in the air interacting in a dynamically changing 3D environment. Our system uses 2D charting tools to visualize the statistical relationships between simulation variables. We developed a Unity application to animate the network simulation in a virtual environment showing the timevarying results in a 3D environment. The Unity application runs on a complete-immersive Head Mounted Display device. The 2D visualization framework running on our Large High-Resolution Display system supports multiple coordinated views across all the different 2D visualization components including a 2D map. Preliminary results show our data-centric design provides a usercentric visualization tool that can greatly enhance the analytical process and speed up the derivation of insights from data.