Spectrum gui

General Introduction
Readable data
Main Window
Using mouse in the Main Window
Auxiliary Window
Profiles
Background substraction

General Introduction

Spectrum_gui is a software designed to display and analyse dynamic radio spectra from various solar spectrographs. It is designed for ease of use.


Through Spectrum_gui, the user reads and displays the input data, selects and substracts a backgroud, selects time and frequency intervals of interest, displays an Intensity vs frequency profile at a selected time or an Intensity vs time profile at a selected frequency. All plot windows can be saved as png, postscript or eps file.

Data from solar spectrographs are distributed in various file formats requiring different software for each source. Spectrum_gui lets the user analyse data from various solar spectrographs( please see Data Help for more information). without caring for the file format.

Overview of what the user can do with Spectrum_gui :

  • display adynamic spectrum
  • plot an intensity-vs-frequency profile at a selected time
  • plot an intensity-vs-time profile at a selected frequency
  • display several auxiliary windows for various operations like zooming or background subtraction
  • save the plot windows in a png, ps or eps file

Install software

Requierements
Spectrum_gui is a software developped with IDL (https://www.harrisgeospatial.com/Software-Technology/IDL).
You need the following softwares to use Spectrum_gui :

  1. IDL 8.5
  2. solarsoft (https://sohowww.nascom.nasa.gov/solarsoft/).

Procedure

Launch software

  1. Go to the directory where you stored spectrum_gui.sav
  2. With a shell, launch the following command :
    link_to_your_idl_directory/idl -vm=spectrum_gui.sav

General software philosophy

Spectrum_gui is a multi-window software. The mandatory are :

  • The GUI is the first window which appeares when the software is launched
  • • The MAIN Window displays the dynamic spectrum. It appears after a file has been read. The user can interact with the Mouse on the MAIN window to visually select a time or a frequency.

The user can create an arbitrary number of AUXILLIARY windows to display the dynamic spectrum with alternative parameters (such as different types of background subtraction).

The user can create an arbitrary number of PROFILE windows to display Intensity vs Frenquency/Time at a selected Time/Frequency.

The GUI is composed of 4 panels.

  1. General panel : date and instrument
  2. Main window panel : manage parameters of the Main Window
  3. Profile panel : manage parameters for displaying profiles
  4. Auxiliary window panel : manage parameters for displaying profiles

Quick start

Read a file
File → Open file → select the file you want to read

Readables data

Data readble with SPECTRUM_GUI
DataWebsiteFilename
ORFEES radio-spectrograph
(http://secchirh.obspm.fr/spip.php?article19)		 https://rsdb.obs-nancay.fr/ orfyyyymmdd_hhmmss.fts
WAVES The Radio and Plasma Wave Investigation on the WIND Spacecraft
RAD1, RAD2 and TNR data
(http://secchirh.obspm.fr/spip.php?article22)		 https://solar-radio.gsfc.nasa.gov/data/wind/rad1/ or rad2 yyyymmdd.R1 or yyyymmdd.R2
Nancay Decameter Array https://realtime.obs-nancay.fr/dam/data_dam_affiche/data_dam_affiche.php?planete=soleil&couleur=NoirBlanc&mode=fichier&an=2020 (choose RAW) yymmdd.rt1
Bleien Solar Radio Data . PHOENIX-2 spectrometer http://http://soleil.i4ds.ch/solarradio/data/2002-20yy_Callisto/ PHOENIX-2_yyyymmdd_hhmmssi.fit
USAF Radio Solar Telescope Network (RSTN)
(https://www.sws.bom.gov.au/World_Data_Centre/2/8/9)		 ftp://ftp.ngdc.noaa.gov/STP/space-weather/solar-data/solar-features/solar-radio/rstn-spectral/ IIyymmdd.SRS where II=station name
CALLISTO spectrometers. http://http://soleil.i4ds.ch/solarradio/data/2002-20yy_Callisto/ *_yyyyymmdd_hhmmdd_ ??.fit
Culgoora Solar radiospectrograph ftp://ftp-out.sws.bom.gov.au/wdc/wdc_spec/data/culgoora/raw/ SPECyymmdd
Swaves data https://cdpp-archive.cnes.fr ST ?_WAV_ ?FR_yyyymmdd.B3E




Main window

The tabs of the Main window panel lets you to manage the parameters of the Dynamic Spectrum.

The parameters are dispatched in the following tabs :

  • Hours tab : manage time limits of the dynamic spectrum in the Main Window
  • Frequencies tab : manage frequency limits and the frequency axis of the dynamic spectrum in the Main Window
  • Color tables : manage color table
  • Display size : manage display size of the Main Window


    Buttons
  • Display Principal Window : to refresh the Main Window with the new parameters every time. To do so, change a parameter in the main window panel,
  • Save Principal Window : to Save the content of the main window in a file (png, ps or eps).
  • Adjust the the size of the Main Window with the button in the bottom right corner.




Using mouse in the Main Window

The user can use the mouse to visually select a Time or a Frequency on the Main window. Using the mouse will automatically fill some text areas of the GUI.

Left mouse button (LMB)

PRESS LMB to fill the bottom/left limits
X Start hour of Intensity vs Time profile
Y First frequency of intensity vs Frequency profile
X Start hour of Auxiliary window
Y First frequency hour of Auxiliary window
RELEASE LMB to fill the top/right limits :
X End hour of Time vs Intensity profile
Y End frequency of Frequency vs Intensity profile
X End hour of Auxiliary window
Y End Frequency hour of Auxiliary window

Right mouse button (RMB)

PRESS RMB :
X Time of Frequency vs Intensity profile
Y Frequency of Time vs Intensity profile
X Hour taken for background when subtracting a backgroung on the Auxiliary window




Auxiliary window

The tabs of the Auxiliary Window panel lets you to manage the parameters of the Dynamic Spectrum in the Auxiliary Window.
The parameters are dispatched in the following tabs :

  • Hours tab : manage time limits of the dynamic spectrum in the Main Window
  • Frequencies tab : manage frequency limits and frequency axe of the dynamic spectrum in the Auxiliary Window
  • Background : manage background substraction in the Auxiliary Window (Please see Background Help for more details)
  • Display size : manage display size of the Auxiliary Window


    Buttons
  • Display Auxiliary Window : Every time you change a parameter in the auxiliary window panel, click on Display Auxiliary Window to refresh the Auxiliary Window with the new parameters.
  • Save Auxiliary Window : Save the content of the auxiliary window in a png file.




Profiles

Frequency VS Intensity profile

The « Frequency profile » tab lets you display an Intensity vs Frequency profile at a selected time.

  • Time of profile :selected time of the profile.
  • First frequency/End frequency of profile : limits of the profile.
  • Xsize/Ysize : size of the window.
  • You can choose the orientation of the frequency axis (frequency increasing upwards or downwards)..
    Buttons
  • DISPLAY : Display the Intensity vs Frequency profile.
  • SAVE : Save the Intensity vs Frequency profile.

Time VS Intensity profile

The « Time profile » tab lets you to display a Time VS Intensity profile of a selected time.

  • Frequency of profile : selected frequency of the profile.
  • Starthour/Endhour of profile : limits of the profile.
  • Xsize/Ysize : size of the window.
    Buttons
  • DISPLAY : Display the Intensity vs Time profile.
  • SAVE : Save the Intensity vs Time profile.




Background Substraction in Auxiliary Window

The user can subtract a background in the Auxiliary Window.
2 methods are availables :

  • 1 Subtract a spectrum at a user-defined time
  • 2/3 Use a sliding window with a chosen time interval

Subtract the same chosen background

The user chooses a time where the spectrum is considered as a background (A ).
 This background is subtracted from the entire dynamic spectrum.

Using a sliding window with a chosen time interval

The user chooses an interval duration DELTA( B ).
The background at a certain time is calculated with the Mean (2) or Median (3) of the points in the time interval form (T-DELTA_T)/2 to (T+DELTA_T)/2