2D Drawings as teaching tools

The ability to integrate diverse data types from multiple live and simulated sources, manipulate them dynamically and deploy them in integrated, visual formats and in mobile settings provide significant advantages.

However, despite all of its benefits, 3D graphics remain a niche application whose use is dominated by specialized 3D experts and simulation users. The specialized expertise required to import data, design and manipulate the 3D models, and to finesse the performance out of high end specialized computing platforms has restricted the wide-spread adoption and use of 3D.

The tools used for teaching in model based education are unable to sufficiently include complex details and realistic design that could enhance learning.  It could be argued that no advanced visualization is necessary to understand simple volumes, like small airspaces with no interactions or configurations.  Though partially acceptable, this idea swiftly loses strength as no commercial airspace is isolated, alone and disconnected.  Many complexities are associated to an airport or a cluster of airports, and with them, to the sectors involved.  Add to the equation military & civilian features, international boundaries, exercises, special situations, weather, instrumental procedures and some other factors… and we are in for a very complicated learning and training scenario.

Today, current teaching techniques rely on conventional instruments such as 2D CAD drawings, 99.9% of them plan, even though isometric and perspective are there as an option.  These traditional teaching approaches have their own drawbacks that lengthen learning curve, both for students and experienced staff.  2D drawings cannot address the issue of depth.  Any assembly detail needs to be complemented with plans, elevations and sections, normally not displayed in the same graphic.  Components in a 2D drawing could be expressed as lines, but the depth of such components cannot be represented.  Therefore, the difficulty to understand the details increases.  Almost all volumes assemblies have many components interconnected, and it is very difficult to represent and differentiate these details in 2D drawings.  Therefore, it is quite easy to miss out details.

If  they are ever used, isometric, axonometric and perspective drawings would address the issue of depth only to a degree.  The volumes involved quickly turn into a 3D puzzle that gets extremely complicated in few iterations.  So these views are useless in the air navigation services.

 

A few details are better represented but are limited to only 2 faces and the angles are fixed. Complicated assemblies still cannot be studied and fully understood using these representations.  And no color photographs, slides and site visits are available, as in air navigation we manage virtual volumes.  The depth aspect is the most serious drawback to the current techniques. Interactive 3D modeling seems to be the next logical step in enhancing the current teaching techniques given that it addresses the third dimension missing in 2D views and drawings.

 

3D Models basics

Adding the third dimension to view an assembly gives it a unique position in space and clarifies many of the details associated with its components, including georreferencing for locating the volumes in the real world.  Interactive 3D tools also allow manipulating the 3D view, which adds flexibility of viewing.  Using these tools, the 3D model can be rotated around any axis, and panned or zoomed in any direction.  Realistic rendering of the components representing the various materials is possible, which gives a “true depth” and “feel” of the model.  Texture mapping and dynamic lighting can create a realistic simulation of the structure and enhance the 3D object.  With 3D viewing tools, students are able to position and recognize the object with relation to others in the scene, enabling a better and more complete visualization and instigating an interactive learning process.  It is even possible to mimic the sequence of a sectors configuration merging into another one.  This enables better and complete visualization of the model, as compared to 2D drawings, since all 3dimensions are visible simultaneously allowing the students to make correlations between components.  And this is just the beginning, as 3D printing is already there…

Rendered models

As an end to this section, please check below the traditional data and flat drawings used to describe an ILS maneuver  to Poitiers – Biard, in France, and how it looks like in a static view from the Southeast, all information integrated, including Poitiers TMA, Poitiers SIV, La Rochelle SIV and Aquitaine SIV.  Some of the elements have been rendered in transparent mode for easier visualization, although the complementary, real experience is only attainable with a 3D viewer, like SketchUp viewer or in 3D PDF format (see “Products” and “Download” sections in this website).

Conclusions

Several studies point in the same direction.  3D technologies can be adopted and used to enhance model based education without significant investment in manpower or even computer systems, and yet able to achieve a more interactive learning environment.  This approach may not only be useful for institutional teaching and learning but also to various agencies involved in any design project.  A minor setback (that will diminish as more construction assemblies and components are modeled in 3D) is the initial time required to develop these assemblies in 3D and tailor them to a course curriculum.  Once an established database of 3D models is developed, less effort will be needed to adapt and utilize them for various purposes.

 

Most convenient is that we don’t need to develop high technology, complex and expensive computer intensive solutions, but rather to select and use any widely available off-the-shelf software (with little or no modifications required) that is capable of running on any standard PCs.  The central idea is that this method can be adopted without any difficulties by the ANSP and used as a tool to create a value added education for the students and professionals at any level.

 

And teleworking is here to stay, avoiding some commuting when available or recommendable.  Logging to Teams and downloading material from Google Drive is all that’s needed to setup a remote seminar, class or technical support.

Movility. Availability. Flexibility

Airspace-3d.com is the answer

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