CODAS Processing FAQ
- What software
do I need to get started?
- How hard will this be? Will it
take long to learn?
- What is CODAS processing
(what does it do?)
- I am new to ADCP data
processing. Where should I start?
- I am
familiar with CODAS processing. How do I get started on quick_adcp.py?
- I am about to download the CODAS
software and go to sea (off the net). Is this documentation available
to download?
- I want to see plots of the
ocean currents during my cruise. What are my options?
- What software do I need to get started?
You will need several different programs, as well as software from the
UH ADCP group.
- Download and setup instructions for programs from this web
site are detailed here.
- Links to Python, Infozip, and Ghostscript are here.(You
might want to get m_map, but it is optional)
- You will also need matlab,a
commercial program.
- How hard will this be? Will it take long to
learn?
That depends on alot of factors, including
- your familiarity with the instrument (what is measured, what is
stored in the data)
- your familiarity with the processing steps (what should be
done, hot to recognize problems)
- how well you know your computer (the commandline interface, how
to configure the paths and environment variables)
- how good your dataset is (does it have clock problems?
navigation problems?)
- the manner in which the heading correction (to the gyro) will
be calculated (pingdata with ue4 is easy, LTA is hard)
For a unix-savvy matlab-aware individual working with pingdata, it
could be as little as a few days to get a good way into it.
For person on a Windows machine who has never dealt with the C:\
command line, who does not know matlab, and who as never seen ADCP data
before, it would be longer, potentially weeks not days.
- What is CODAS processing
(what does it do?)
- A CODAS introduction is located here.
- The full postscript CODAS documentation is available here.
- I am new to ADCP data processing. Where
should I start?
We recommend you start by learning about CODAS processing with the
python script "quick_adcp..py", run on "pingdata" (averaged data from
an RDI NB150). Documentation for processing pingdata is much more
thorough than for LTA files (averaged data from VmDAS, from an RDI
Broadband or Ocean Surveyor instrument).
Whether you want to process pingdata or LTA data, you should learn on
pingdata. Then you can move over to LTA files.
Instructions for someone unfamiliar with ADCP processing are here.
- I am familiar with CODAS processing. How do
I get started on quick_adcp.py?
For someone already familiar with CODAS processing steps, you can learn
about quick_adcp.py and its application to pingdata here,. Detailed
quick_adcp.py documentation is available here,
and also on the command line. Whether you want to process pingdata or
LTA data, you should learn quick_adcp.py on pingdata. Then you
can move over to LTA files.
- I am about to download the CODAS software
and go to sea (off the net). Is this documentation available to
download?
Yes, when you get the zipfile "doc.zip" from this web site (following these
instructions), a web page will come with it that has links to these
pages. All of the codas setup and processing documentation should be
accessible on your computer. Follow the instructions for where to unzip
the UH software, and that will give you access to these pages.
- I want to see plots of the ocean currents
during my cruise. What are my options?
That depends on the instrument and data acquisition system used on your
cruise. This link has
instructions for most typical instrument+acquisition systems. In all
cases, you are left with matlab files you can load and plot. Only in
UHDAS is any plotting done for you.