Evaluation of Open Source Tools and Development Platforms for Data Analysis in Engine Development

Typical software that is used for engine test result analysis include spreadsheet (MS Excel) and statistical software (Minitab, MS Excel), data modelling applications (MS Excel, Matlab), and post processing tools for plots, tables etc. Open source software has come a long way since its inception, and is now at a stage where it can provide a suitable alternative to many commercial software packages for data analysis. The paper will describe the areas of concern and the inherent benefits to using open source software. It evaluates the feasibility of incorporating these open source tools into data analysis packages for Engine Development by breaking down the process of data analysis into specific software requirements and then evaluating each of the open-source alternatives against these requirements. The paper will conclude by describing a practical strategy when converting an existing data analysis process over to its open-source equivalent.