TIDE Level-Zero Processing Options Summary: The software will initially run stand-alone. Eventually, it will be executed from a Web Page or IDL Window. The program will require two input files. Currently, the user is prompted for each filename. The first file contains the start date/time and the stop date/time for data processing on the first and second lines. The times are always in UT. The line format must be one of the following: mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss mm/dd/yy hh:mm:ss UT mm-dd-yy hh:mm:ss mm-dd-yy hh:mm:ss UT The remaining lines in the file contain a single digit filetype, a space, and the filename including its complete directory path, for each file to be processed. If ancillary data is to be included in the processing, all ancillary data files must be listed before the level-zero data files. Allowable file types are currently: 1 TIDE level-zero data files 2 POLAR orbit CDF data files For each file type, the files must be in chronological order. This file can be manually created but will most likely be created during a database query and/or a request for files from the CD-ROM cauche. The second file is the level-zero parameter file. It contains all the information the software needs to process and display the data. The file will initially be created from a stand-alone C program but eventually, the file will be created from a Web page or an IDL widgets program. Several standard processing parameter files will be available for use locally or on the web. You will probably end up with several parameter files, each handling specific processing requests. Software will be available to modify existing parameter files. The user can select any or all processing options. If output files (whether binary, text, gif, or postscript) are created, the filename will be standard, tyymmddhhmm_hhmm.ftype, where t is short for TIDE, yymmdd is the start date and hhmm_hhmm are the start_stop hour and minute in UT. The ftype extensions will reflect the content of the file. Extensions for some file options have not been determined. Existing input and output file extensions are: cent energy, angle centroids (on-board moments) cg_en energy chromogram image cg_pol polar angle (channel) chromogram image cg_spn spin angle chromogram image de direct-event data dmp hex or decimal telemetry data major frame byte dumps dpnnn data product hex dumps, where nnn is the data product id number eng engineering (housekeeping) text data err error/message file hk housekeeping byte data ip instrument parameter text file ipb instrument parameter data structure binary file lz level-zero data files created at MSFC mom moments (ion density, velocity, temperature) mss ion count rates file parm level-zero processing file If the file contains graphics output, a second extension, either .gif or .ps, will be added. The error/message (.err) file is always created. It contains the time, file location, and type of problem incountered in processing the telemetry. The binary and text files are created to allow data analysis not included in the level-zero processing. GSFC's level-zero data files contain a days worth of data. Whenever less data is requested from the data archive, a level-zero file (.lz) will be created that contains just the requested information. The file will have the same format. TIDE Level-Zero Processing and Display Options: 1 - TIDE Science Mode Ion Count Rates 2 - TIDE/PSI Engineering (Housekeeping) Data 3 - TIDE Instrument Parameters 4 - TIDE Moments (on-board and/or standard) 5 - TIDE Direct-Events 6 - TIDE Calibration Mode Singles and Masses (flight only) existing calibration data will be handled separately 7 - database processing / summary plots / instrument health 8 - telemetry data dumps TIDE Level-Zero Processing and Display Sub-Options: TIDE Science Mode Count Rates ----------------------------- 1 - spectrogram plots The major horizontal (hor) axis will always be time, the major vertical (ver) axis will be either mass or channel with any or all of them plotted. The minor axes (hor/ver) will be either spin/energy or energy/spin. 2 - chromogram plots For all 4 options, the parameter file will contain the red/green, green/blue, and either the min.red/max.blue or the red/blue color boundaries. The major hor axis will always be time. 1 - color based on polar angle The major (ver) axis is always mass with any or all of them plotted, the minor hor/ver axes will be either spin/energy or energy/spin. 2 - color based on spin angle The major (ver) axis is always mass with any or all of them plotted, the minor hor/ver axes will always be channel/energy. 3 - color based on energy The major (ver) axis is always mass with any or all of them plotted, the minor hor/ver axes will always be channel/spin. 4 - color based on mass The major (ver) axis is always channel with any or all of them plotted, the minor hor/ver axes will be either spin/energy or energy/spin. 3 - save selected data in binary file The binary file will contain selected (or possibly all) housekeeping (hk) and instrument parameter (ip) data plus a specified subset of the count rate array. A header file will indicate what hk and ip data are reported and it will describe the count array dimensions. All of the selected hk, ip, and counts will be added to the file for each completely reported spin in the user-specified time range. This will be a very large file. As an example, with collapse option 3, Rice compression, complete fixed ion reporting, a one hour file containing all the hk bytes, the ip data structure, and all six masses will contain about 75 mbytes. In addition, the parameter file contains output flux units (counts, hertz, number flux, energy flux, or phase space density) and whether or not they are logged. If the data are plotted, the file will contain the min/max flux colorbar range, the length of time on the time axis of each page of the plot, and whether or not to average or sum adjacent spin angle and/or energy bins. The file will also indicate if and what orbit data is labeled on the plot (Re, mlt, mlat, l-shell, and/or hh:mm). TIDE/PSI Engineering (Housekeeping) Data ---------------------------------------- 1 - Standard text display (similar to the current PC/DECOM) Display on screen and/or save as a text file. 2 - plot selected TIDE data 3 - plot selected PSI data 4 - save selected data in a text file 5 - save all bytes in a binary file (note: HK byte files are currently available for all existing TIDE data.) The parameter file will include a plot description including number of plots (line or symbol) per page, what is plotted on each axis and the parameter ranges. The text file will have a series of header lines describing its content. TIDE Instrument Parameters -------------------------- 1 - Standard text display (similar to the current PC/DECOM) Display on screen and/or save as a text file. 2 - save C data structure in a binary file TIDE Moments (on-board and/or standard) --------------------------------------- 1 - Moments (ion density and velocity and temperature vectors) 1 - calculate and plot as function of time plots any or all masses (excluding singles) 2 - calculate and save in binary file saves selected masses and parameters 2 - On-Board Moments 1 - plot as function of time plots any or all masses (excluding singles) 2 - save in binary file saves selected masses and parameters Moments plots can also include orbit data: Re, mlt, mlat, l-shell, and/or hh:mm. TIDE Direct-Events ------------------ 1 - plot data as function of tof bin number for selected times 2 - save data in binary file TIDE Calibration Mode Singles and Masses (flight only) ------------------------------------------------------ 1 - plot singles strip charts 2 - plot mass spectrograms 3 - save singles data in binary file database processing / summary plots / instrument health ------------------------------------------------------- 1 - database processing 2 - summary plots 3 - instrument health and operating status These options, once defined, will have no selectable parameters. telemetry data dumps -------------------- 1 - major frame byte dump decimal or hexidecimal (20 values/line) 2 - data product (dp) hex dump 1 - dump mode dp's only 2 - sector zero dp's only 3 - science mode dp's only 4 - all data products All output will be sent to text files. Data product files will be identical to those SwRI has been creating.