We describe an aircraft design problem in high dimensional space, with D typically being 10 to 30. In some respects this is a classic optimization problem, where the goal is to find the point that minimizes an objective function while satisfying a set of constraints. However, evaluating an individual point is expensive, and the high dimensionality makes many approaches to solving the problem infeasible. The difficulty of the problem means that aircraft designers would benefit from any insights that can be provided. We discuss how simple visualizations have already proved beneficial, and then describe how visualization might be of further help in the future.
Clifford A. Shaffer, Duane L. Knill, Layne T. Wats