RAWACF files
RAWACF files are raw files produced at radar sites.
Sometimes they are post-processed from IQDAT files or converted from the older-format dat files (see dattorawacf).
Naming Convention
The community standard for naming RAWACF files is:
YYYYMMDD.HH.mm.ss.<3-letter radar code>.[a-d].rawacf
The field [a-d] is used when the data have been separated into multiple files based on a particular operating parameter (e.g. frequency, beam pattern, control program). This field may not be used if all the available data are provided in a single file.
Scalar Fields
| Field name | Units | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| radar.revision.major | None | char | Major version number of the radar operating system |
| radar.revision.minor | None | char | Minor version number of the radar operating system |
| origin.code | None | char | Code indicating origin of the data (0 if generated at the radar) |
| origin.time | None | string | Text indicating when the file was generated |
| origin.command | None | string | Command line routine used to generate the file |
| cp | None | short | Control program identifier |
| stid | None | short | Station identifier |
| time.yr | None | short | Year |
| time.mo | None | short | Month number (not padded) |
| time.dy | None | short | Day (not padded) |
| time.hr | hrs | short | Hour |
| time.mt | min | short | Minute |
| time.sc | s | short | Seconds |
| time.us | us | int | Micro-seconds |
| txpow | kW | short | Transmitted power |
| nave | None | short | Number of pulse sequences transmitted |
| atten | None | short | Attenuation level |
| lagfr | us | short | Lag to first range |
| smsep | us | short | Sample separation |
| ercod | None | short | Error Code |
| stat.agc | None | short | Automatic gain control status word |
| stat.lopwr | None | short | Low power status word |
| noise.search | None | float | Calculated noise from clear frequency search |
| noise.mean | None | float | Average noise from clear frequency band |
| channel | None | short | Channel number, used to denote different Tx/Rx channels on Stereo radars, and to denote changes in radar operating parameters between scans, e.g. alternating between 2 frequencies scan-to-scan |
| bmnum | None | short | Beam number, zero based indexing |
| bmazm | degrees | float | Beam azimuth |
| scan | None | short | Scan flag, switches between 0 to +/-1. For some radars, the sign indicates scan direction. |
| offset | us | short | Offset between channels for a stereo radar |
| rxrise | us | short | Receiver rise time |
| intt.sc | s | short | Number of seconds of integration time |
| intt.us | us | int | Number of microseconds of integration time |
| txpl | us | short | Transmitted pulse length |
| mpinc | us | short | Multi-pulse increment (lag separation) |
| mppul | None | short | Number of pulses in the sequence |
| mplgs | None | short | Number of lags in the lag table |
| mplgexs | None | short | Number of lags used for tauscan. This field originates from fitex algorithm and is not used in RAWACF file format. |
| ifmode | None | short | A flag indicating that the receiver voltage samples were obtained by digitizing the signal at an intermediate frequency (and then digitally mixed to baseband) instead of directly sampling the RF signals (ifmode=0). |
| nrang | None | short | Number of range gates |
| frang | km | short | Distance to the first range gate |
| rsep | km | short | Range separation |
| xcf | None | short | XCF flag, indicating whether the power, velocity, spectral width and phi0 parameters fitted from the cross-correlation function are available (xcf=1) or not available (xcf=0) |
| tfreq | kHz | short | Transmitted frequency |
| mxpwr | dB | int | Maximum power |
| lvmax | None | int | Maximum noise level allowed |
| combf | None | string | Comment buffer, usually contains the control program name |
| rawacf.revision.major | None | int | Major version number of the RAWACF algorithm |
| rawacf.revision.minor | None | int | Minor version number of the RAWACF algorithm |
| thr | None | float | Threshold factor |
Vector Fields
| Field name | Units | Dimensionality | Data Type | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| ptab | None | [mppul] | short | Pulse table, showing when pulses are transmitted as integer multiples of mpinc/smsep |
| ltab | None | [mplgs+1][2] | short | Lag table, showing which pulses to use to estimate each lag |
| pwr0 | None | [nrang] | float | Lag zero power, estimated from voltage samples (not fitted) |
| slist | None | [0-nrang] | short | List of range gates with ACF/XCF data available |
| acfd | None | [2][mplgs][0-nrang] | float | Calculated ACFs |
| xcfd | None | [2][mplgs][0-nrang] | float | Calculated XCFs |