Virtual-Environment-Based Instrument Development Technology

Nowadays developers of instruments are facing more and more pressures from the market, since the development cycle has to be shortened, and the flexibility of the whole development process needs to be increased. To meet such demands, this paper presents the concept of virtual-environment-based instrument development technology, which is implemented by constructing the instrument in a virtual environment (VE) with appropriate hardware and software supports. This supplies a novel and effective method for the development of instruments, since the user can implore the instrument to be designed before it is made in a 3D virtual environment, and networked development can be easily implemented. Based on the author´s previous works on virtual reality(VR), virtual instrument(VI), test and simulation technology, this paper systematically discusses the concept and models of virtual- environment-based instrument development technology, including its theoretical model and simulation model, and finally an example is given to show its initial effect. The conclusion is that virtual- environment-based instrument development technology can become practical and useful in instrument development.