Running SDT
The process of running SDT consists of several steps:
- Startup
- User Interface Configuration (UIcfg) Selection
- Data Selection and Acquisition
- Data Browsing
- Shutdown
Each of these steps will be described below.
Startup
Starting SDT from the UNIX command line is easy; at your prompt, type
sdt. As part of its operation, sdt will generate several
diagnostic output files (at a minimum, the files generated will be as
follows: errdqh, errfast, errUI, outdqh, outfast, outUI).
Most users will run SDT from a particular sub-directory in which these
files will reside, along with any personal UIcfg files (see UIcfg
below).
There is currently a limit of one SDT session per machine imposed by
the sdt script. This limit was originally set up to deal with lack of
resources on early-1990's era workstations, as well as ownership
problems with shared memory (?). It may be eliminated in the future.
Many users will receive a warning about support of OpenWindows code
going away. Ignore it.
User Interface Configuration Selection and Modification
Once SDT starts (a process that can take up to a minute), a control
window will popup. Two of the possible selections are of initial
interest. If you wish to build a new User Interface configuration
(UIcfg) from scratch, then you would choose the `Add Window' button.
Rather than do that, you can use one of the stock UIcfg files included
with the FAST SDT/IDL distribution in order to get started (that's
what we all did to learn!). WHERE TO GET THE STOCK UICFGS, HOW TO
COPY THEM TO THE SDT OPERATING DIECTORY. Such pre-existing UIcfg
files are accessed via the `Configuration' button. Selecting
`Configuration' pops up a selection window. Clicking on the desired
UIcfg in the Configuration list, and then clicking on the Select
button will tell SDT which UIcfg you wish to work with. If you
inadvertently end up in the Configuration selection, then you can
escape using the Dismiss button.
If the data supporting the time interval that the chosen UIcfg was
last looking at is still on-line, then SDT will ask one if one wishes
to look at that data (the Okay selection), or bring up the raw UIcfg
with empty plot panels (the `RawPlots' option) , or cancel one's
request for the given UIcfg (the `Cancel' option). If one is
returning to the analysis of a previously acquired time interval, one
usually chooses the `Okay' option, while if one is just beginning to
analyse a new time interval, one choses the `Raw Plots' option.
Each UIcfg consists of a set of data channels to acquire and display,
along with all the stylings for each channels panel within the SDT
display window, as well as the particular timespan or orbit that the
UIcfg was last used to view. Data channels are referred to as DQIs
(data quantity identifiers) or DQDs (data quantity descriptors); both
acronyms are used interchangeably in the documentation for SDT and the
IDL data anlysis routines. The channels included in a particular
UIcfg can be modified using the Main and Plot Menus of the SDT Plot
Window; such operations will be discussed in detail below.
Saving and Deleting UIcfgs
When one has created a new UIcfg, or made modifications to an existing
one, one will want to save that UIcfg. This is done by typing the
name of the UIcfg in the space provided in the Configuration Manager
window, and clicking on the Save button.
If one wishes to remove a UIcfg from the list of possible choices (and
delete the file corresponding to that UIcfg from disk), one can select
the UIcfg by clicking in the selection list window, then pushing the
Delete button.
Data Selection and Acquisition
Once you have chosen a UIcfg in SDT, you then need to select and
acquire the data that you will browse using that UIcfg. This is done
via the Data Manager utility, accessible through the Main Menu of the
SDT Plot Window. You access the Main Menu on SDT by right-clicking
with your mouse in any of the space outside of the plot panels of the
SDT window (the neutral space). Data Manager allows you to load data
from mass storage (CD-ROMs (local or on the jukebox at UCBSSL) or hard
drive) to your local data directory so that SDT can see the data. You
can look for data on the basis of orbit number, timespan, or more
complex search criteria (operational or geophysical). Once one has
specifed the parameters of one's data request, one pushes the `Submit
Query', and waits for Data Manager to report back on the results of
the query.
Now for some unfortunate, but necessary jargon and acronyms. The data
from FAST is organized into bundles of channels known as APIDs. Each
APID consists of several different fields quantities, or a particular
type of particle data, or spacecraft ephemeris/housekeeping data. SDT
determines which APIDs are required to provide the DQIs selected in
the UIcfg, and passes that information to Data Manager. Data Manager
then determines where to acquire the desired data from (on-line
storage, local or remote CD-ROMs), and reports back how many of the
requested files are currently available on-line, and how many will
need to be transfered.
Select `List Files ...' to see a list of the files to copy, and select
`Get Files' to tell Data manager to go ahead and copy the files to
your local data directory (this can be a good point at which to get
some coffee...). Once Data Manager finishes copying the files, then
`Dismiss' the file list, and click either of the `Return to SDT' buttons
on the main Data Manager window.
SDT will then redraw, and state that it's getting data from the
decommutator (meaning it's pulling data from the files and translating
it). SDT's progress on this task will be shown by an updating
percentage in the title bar of the SDT window. You can freely zoom in
on particular timespans while the decommutation process is happening
(see Browsing below).
If you add a new plot panel to your UIcfg
during a SDT session, the data for that plot panel may not be
available from the APIDs loaded to support your original data request,
and you will get an empty plot panel because of this. If this occurs,
one needs to return to Data Manager, resubmit the query, load any
additional data files necessary to support the additional channels of
data, and then return to SDT to continue with one's browsing of the
data.
Browsing Data
Now that one has set up the Plot Window by selecting a UIcfg, and
acquired some data to look at using Data Manager, one is ready to
begin browsing around using the facilities available through the Plot
Window of SDT.
There are two menus that are used within the Plot Window of SDT in
order to change the time interval that is being examined, along with
the stylings of the individual plot panels within the Plot Window.
The Main Menu is accessed by right-clicking anywhere within the
neutral space surrounding the plot panels in the Plot Window. The
Plot Menu for an individual plot panel is accessed by right-clicking
within a particular plot panel. Each sort of menu allows one to
perform a variety of useful operations that will be described in some
detail below. More details can be found in the following document:
/disks/fast/software/delivery/docs/SdtUse.
A basic set of operations that one needs to know in order to used SDT
effectively is as follows:
- Zooming and Panning
- Adding, Deleting, and Rearranging Plot Panels
- Plot Panel Stylings
- Printing
Zooming and Panning
One can zoom in on particular time intervals using the zoom function,
accessed through the Main Menu.
To zoom in on a particular time interval, one first left-clicks on the
beginning of the time interval anywhere in the neutral space
surrounding the plot panels. One then middle-clicks on the end of the
time interval. The selected time interval will be denoted by vertical
red lines across all of the plot panels on the page. Selecting the
`Zoom' option of the main menu brings up a sub-menu; selection of `In' on
that sub-menu expands the selected time interval to fill the entire
width of the Plot Window.
To zoom out, select a region of the plot window as if one were zooming
in. By selecting Zoom-Out from the Main Menu, one then compressed the
current time interval to fit into the selected width of the Plot
Window, the remainder of the Plot Window being filled with the data
from surrounding times.
One can also zoom to a specific timespan using the Zoom-Text option; a
dialog box appears in which the exact date and time of the start and
ends of the desired time interval can be specified.
If one left- or middle-clicks within a plot panel, rather than in
the neutral space surrounding the plot panels, then one can
accidentally zoom one plot panel independent of the other plot panels.
This is usually counter-productive, leading to the data from different
channels being out-of-sync. One can recover from this sort of an
error by selecting the Zoom-All option. This zooms all of the plot
panels out to the full timespan available for the dataset under
display.
One can specify the number of plot panels to display within the Plot
Window using the Plots/Page option on the Main Menu.
One can page up
and down through the plot panels using the slider bar on the side of
the Plot Window. One can also use the Up Arrow, Down Arrow, Page Up,
and Page Down buttons of the numeric keypad in order to pan up and
down through the plot panels a panel or a page at a time. One can
also use the Left and Right Arrows to pan through the data a time
interval at a time, or access the same functionality via the `Pan'
option of the Main Menu.
One can prevent the redrawing of the Plot Window by selecting the
`Lock/Unlock' toggle from the Main Menu; by locking the display, then
panning up or down, one can avoid time-consuming redrawing of the Plot
Window on slower workstations.
Adding, Deleting, and Rearranging Plot Panels
One can add, delete, or rearrange the plot panels making up a given
UIcfg using options available on the Main and Plot Menus. To add a
new plot panel, select Add Plot on the Main Menu. One will be
presented with a series of sub-menus where the spacecraft
(FAST) and particular type of data (Fields-Survey,
ESA-Burst, etc.), and then particular channel (or DQD) of that
sort of data (V1-V4_S, ESA_Energy, etc.). Once the type of
data is selected, one is free to select as many different DQDs of that
sort of data at one time as one wishes, speeding the construction of
new UIcfgs.
Once the new DQDs have been selected, click on `Done,. SDT will then
state that it is acquiring new data from the decommutator. It is
often the case that when one adds a new DQD that data was not loaded
as part of the original data acquisition, and rather than a new plot
panel full of new data, one receives instead an empty plot panel.
This indicates that either the given DQD is not available in the given
Fields, ESA, or TEAMS mode for the time span or orbit at hand, or that
the APID corresponding to the new DQD was not loaded in the original
data request. After checking the Mode Sheets and Mode Tables to
insure that the given DQD is actually available, one needs to resubmit
the data request via Data Manager, and wait while more data files are
downloaded to your DATA_DIR.
The order of plot panels can be rearranged using the Rearrange Plots
option of the Main Menu. This option allows one to select blocks of
plot panels and move them up or down through the UIcfg until things
are just right.
Plot panels can be removed from the UIcfg either individually or in
blocks using the Delete option of the Plot Menu. Right-clicking
within a given plot panel brings up the menu, and selecting Delete
will bring up a sub-menu, allowing one to select multiple plot panels
to delete (Multiple), cancel the deletion (Dismiss), or delete the
current panel (Delete).
Plot Panel Stylings
The Plot Menu accessible by right-clicking within a given plot panel
allows one to modify a variety of parameters that control how the data
from a particular channel will be displayed. Most of the options are
straightforward, and control obvious properties of the panel such as:
point/line style yaxis and zaxis (for spectrogram-type data) limits,
lin/log, etc. pitch angle, energy, or mass/charge selection for
particle data (ESA and TEAMS).
Note that none of the setting of the plot panel options affects what
data is available for more detailed data analysis using IDL.
Printing
The Print and Print Setup options of the Main Menu allow one to print
the contents of the Plot Window to a printer or file in a variety of
formats (postscript, gif, etc.), as well as save those printing
parameters for later use. These control panels brought up by these
menu options are straightforward, and allow for the selection of
printing versus saving to file, output format, file name, plotting
density (in the case of postscript; reduces the pixel density of the
output at the expense of resolution).
Shut Down
Because SDT is a complex ensemble of programs, it pays to shut it down
in a controlled fashion. The details of recovering from an
uncontrolled shutdown can be found in the SdtUse, under
`Cleanup By Hand', and basically consist of ways to ensure that all
the shared memory allocated by SDT is properly returned to the
operating system.
One can exit from SDT in a controlled fashion using the Exit option of
the Control Window. One will be prompted as to whether one wishes to
save the changes (if any) that one has made to the current UIcfg (plot
panels, timespan, etc.), or if one wishes to quit without saving the
changes. Selecting Cancel allows one to select the Configuration-Save
option; one can then select Quit and exit normally.
AUTHORSHIP
SDT, the supporting software for basic calibration and data analysis,
Data Manager, and the SDT/IDL interface have been written over the
course of nearly a decade of work by the following authors: Ken
Bromund, Jon Loran, Winston Teitler, Jack Vernetti (UCBSSL).
Webpage maintained by Webster.
