Trade space exploration: New visual steering features

The Applied Research Laboratory at Penn State University has a long history of developing software tools to support decision-making within the conceptual stage of complex systems design. Previous research introduced a new approach to trade space exploration called Visual Steering. This approach combines exercising a design model and analyzing the results into a tightly coupled loop that lets decision makers rapidly explore the trade space in real time while simultaneously forming preferences so that the "best" design based on evolving preferences can be chosen. This paper expands upon previous work in Visual Steering by introducing new features that ARL has added to its ARL Trade Space Visualizer (ATSV) Exploration Engine, the interface software that facilitates the coupled loop between design and analysis critical for realizing the Visual Steering concept. Specifically, new wizards that facilitate easy linking between models and the ATSV Exploration Engine are described, and example models showing the wizards in use are presented.