Visualizing antenna design spaces

ABSTRACT

This paper describes a long-term project exploring advanced visual interfaces for antenna design. MERL developed three successive prototypes that embodied an evolution towards larger scales and more concrete semantics for visualization of large sets of candidate designs and then winnowing them down. We experimented with multidimensional scaling and then collective line graphs before settling on linked scatterplots to visualize performance in a design space of up to 10 million antennas at a time. In the end, the scatterplot solution was most successful at balancing intelligibility with visualization of the space as a whole. The design allows for adding more 1D or 2D linked feature visualizations if needed, and it smoothly transitions to other "details on demand" views for final tweaking.

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INDEX TERMS

Primary Classification:
  H. Information Systems
  H.5 INFORMATION INTERFACES AND PRESENTATION (I.7)
      H.5.2 User Interfaces (D.2.2, H.1.2, I.3.6)
          Subjects: Graphical user interfaces (GUI)

Additional Classification:
  I. Computing Methodologies
  I.3 COMPUTER GRAPHICS
      I.3.6 Methodology and Techniques
          Subjects: Interaction techniques

  J. Computer Applications
  J.2 PHYSICAL SCIENCES AND ENGINEERING

General Terms:
Design, Human Factors, Measurement

Keywords:
antenna design, human-guided search, information visualization, line graphs, multivariate visualization