Visualization of Avionic System Traces

Although there is a need to invest in various trace analysis techniques such as trace abstraction and correlation, it is usually challenging for software engineers to directly exploit the result of these analyses, unless the trace is represented in a graphical interface that permits effective exploration of its content. Trace visualization research has received renewed attention in recent years. In previous work, we studied the techniques embedded in 26 trace analysis tools that span over several years (from 1991 to 2008) of research in the field of trace analysis and exploration. We found that these techniques vary significantly in their design and include the use of graphs, UML-like diagrams, metaphors, space-filling methods, and many more. Also, existing tools employ several interaction features. However, it was not clear how these features and the visualization techniques can be applied to particular areas such as viewing run-time information generated from real-time avionic systems.

The objective of this research is to develop a visualization environment for representing traces generated from real-time avionic systems. The environment should support multiple views in order to provide effective support for various analyses across a wide range of maintenance tasks. The main practical result we expect to achieve is a working tool that incorporates various views of the systems behaviour. Examples of these views include a raw trace view, a profiling view, a trace abstraction view, a pattern view, a trace correlation view, and so on. Research needs to be carried on to determine which views are effective in helping engineers to rapidly understand the dynamics of real-time avionic systems. Research should also be conducted to determine the proper visualization techniques that need to be used (e.g., UML-like diagrams, Use Case Maps, etc.). Usability studies will be conducted involving software engineers from CAE and Opal-RT.