3d network simulator for HMIs

Anyone here have any hmi screens at your place of work?
I've been given a medium level complexity project to design and
build an HMI subsystem. This subsystem will be used by operators
to help them visualize, interpret and react to real-time events on
the network. This network will break down the network into things
called "nodes"... each node has a kind of autonomous operation
or process of its own. The hmi will display all the nodes using in
a kind of point cloud cad model, this will let the operator touch
one of these "balls" in order to interact with it. This interaction is
sort of based upon you the operator looking at all the balls nodes
in a combined simulation. The lines that form the dot-to-dot will
serve to show either a dependency (two balls closer together)
or a relationship (two or more balls at a greater distance).
IMO, what the company and hundred programmers showed
me was basically a stick man or some kind of dot to dot with some
random khz kv being thrown in for surprise I don't know. My
idea for that was to make the balls larger.. this to show greater
load/capacity whatever the data between nodes should reflect
upon the next ball,.. but I didnt tell them that one yet. <g>

http://www.scribd.com/doc/5945421/netvis

If you find any papers or grapics how to show visualize network
data please email them to me asap johnscheldroup@xxxxxxxxx

P.S. anything with layers like in autocad and datasets (parametric data??)
also anything that explains how a point cloud can reference a flat plane
above or below the simulation, like for example a flat plane that is the
unique ISP address of each node, so data that flies away from that point
on the ISP plane to somewhere on the point cloud is sort of like this spacial
address of the node.. follow what I'm saying...

John


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