CIVS Receives Naval Engineering Education Consortium Research Grant

Purdue University Northwest’s Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation (CIVS) has been awarded a 2019 – 2020 research grant under the Naval Engineering Education Consortium (NEEC) program, through the Department of the Navy, Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NSWC Crane). The project, “Visualization of Repair Operations Management for Networked Systems Resilience,” will research and develop visualization approaches to help efficiently find solutions for optimizing repair operations and mitigating network failure, for a model-based decision support system.

The research team includes faculty both from Purdue University Northwest, who provide expertise in advanced visualization technologies and machine learning applications, and from Purdue West Lafayette, who developed a prototype software to model and analyze networked systems and potential responses to disruptions.

CIVS Director and Professor Chenn Zhou, Ph.D., Principal Investigator (PI), and PNW Associate Professor Bin Chen, Ph.D., co-PI, will lead efforts to develop a user-friendly, visualization-based system interface, while West Lafayette faculty Seokcheon Lee, Ph.D., and Shimon Nof, Ph.D., co-PIs, will lead software advancement and integration of real-world network component characteristics.

CIVS to Enhance Repair Operations Management through Visualization

“Because the physical components of networked systems can be subject to breakdown or failure, and digital communications can be disrupted, ensuring the sustainable operation of networked systems means having viable repair strategies in place,” Zhou explained. “This also calls for decision making about resource use—such as which personnel of all those available would best be dispatched to fix particular problems, and which problems are of the greatest priority to fix.

“Our colleagues at West Lafayette have developed a generalized decision-making program, which tests various response strategies to network disruptions and is meant to help achieve an optimal response strategy. Our collaborative goal is to create a user interface that visually represents complex information in intuitive ways and enables users to have back-and-forth interaction with this system, being able to incorporate their particular knowledge-resources into the system.”

Bryan Woosley, Ph.D., NSWC Crane University Liaison and NSWC Crane NEEC Coordinator, described the initiative as follows: “Through the NEEC program, we can tap into research labs and support academic connections and projects that help drive technology advancements and resolve challenges important to both Navy and civilian applications. NEEC also provides opportunities for students to gain experience and skills in research areas and technologies of interest to the Navy—and opportunities for both students and faculty to become aware of internships and civilian careers in the Naval Sea Systems Command.”

Center for Innovation through Visualization and Simulation

Purdue University Northwest’s CIVS is an interdisciplinary applied research center that combines advanced simulation techniques with 3D visualization and virtual reality/augmented reality/mixed reality technologies to produce innovative solutions in response to real-world industrial, research, and community challenges. Further information about CIVS is available online at www.pnw.edu/civs.

NSWC Crane

The Naval Surface Warfare Center, Crane Division (NWSC Crane), is a naval laboratory and a field activity of the Naval Sea Systems Command (NAVSEA), through which NSWC Crane is responsible for multi-domain, multi-spectral, full-life-cycle support of technologies and systems that enhance sustainability and capabilities for modern naval service operations.

Any opinions, findings, and conclusions or recommendations expressed in this material are those of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of the Naval Engineering Education Consortium.