Interactive Timeline Approach for Contextual Spatio-Temporal ECT Data Investigation

This paper presents a novel approach to a complex process of electrical capacitance tomography (ECT) measurement data analysis. ECT is frequently employed for non-invasive monitoring of industrial process phenomena. Proposed methodology is based on the premeditated integration of the spatial and temporal relations inherent in the measurement records into the workflow of the analysis procedure. We propose a concept of interactive timeline that enables arranging data visualization according to the user’s current focus along the process of analysis. We evaluated the proposed method using a prototype system in a task-based user study conducted with a group of domain experts. The evaluation is based on gravitational silo flow measurement datasets. Proposed prototype system enables diverse data manipulation in a more natural way allowing the user to switch back and forth between space and time domains along the data analysis trail. Experiments with the prototype system showed that the accuracy and completion times have significantly improved in comparison to the performance measured in the baseline condition. Additionally, the participants reported decreased physical load with improved efficiency measured with NASA task load index. Finally, a short discussion coupled with directions for the future of interactive spatio-temporal ECT measurement data analysis conclude the paper.