3-D VOLUMETRIC LASER DISPLAY WORKSTATION FOR 3-D AERODYNAMIC FLOW-FIELD ANALYSIS

CURRENT VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUES FOR FLOW-FIELD VISUALIZATION RELY ON 3D GRAPHIC PROJECTIONS ONTO A TWO-DIMENSIONAL CRT BASED DISPLAY. THIS CREATES A SERIOUS PROBLEM BECAUSE A COMPREHENSIVE UNDERSTANDING OF COMPLEX 3D AERODYNAMIC DATA CAN ONLY BE OBTAINED BY ANALYZING IT IN A FULL 3D CONTEXT. IN ADDITION, CURRENT ANALYSIS TECHNIQUES DO NOT FULLY UTILIZE THE CAPABILITIES OF GRAPHIC WORKSTATIONS FOR INTERPRETING AND RENDERING A THREE-DIMENSIONAL DATABASE. A NEW 3D VOLUMETRIC LASER DISPLAY SYSTEM AND VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUES THAT EXPLOIT THE CAPABILITIES OF THIS DISPLAY IS PROPOSED. THE DISPLAY SYSTEM CONSISTS OF A RASTER SCAN LASER BEAM ARRAY WHICH IS MODULATED BY A MULTIPLE CHANNEL ACOUSTO-OPTIC MODULATOR (AOM) AND SYNCRONIZED WITH A ROTATING TRANSLUCENT HELIX SURFACE. A KEY FEATURE OF THIS DISPLAY IS THAT IT CAN BE VIEWED FROM ALL ANGLES, WITH THE NAKED EYE. DISPLAY CAPABILITIES INCLUDE HIGH SPATIAL RESOLUTION, MULTIPLE COLORS AND REALTIME ANIMATION. PHASE I EFFORT WILL CONSIST OF A DETAILED DESIGN OF THE 3D LASER DISPLAY SYSTEM INTERFACED TO A GRAPHIC WORKSTATION. VOLUME RENDERING TECHNIQUES THAT EXPLOITS THE CAPABILITIES OF THIS NEW DISPLAY WILL BE DEVELOPED AND THEIR APPLICABILITY TO A REPRESENTATIVE SUBSET OF STEADY, THREE-DIMENSIONAL, AERODYNAMIC DATA WILL BE DEMONSTRATED.