amisrsynthdata 0.0.4

Tool for generating synthetic AMISR data files.

Module for generating synthetic AMISR data files

This module provides tools to create synthetic data files for the AMISR (Advanced Module Incoherent Scatter Radar) systems. The files are based on both a specified ionospheric state and a radar configuration. This can be used to generate synthetic data in the “SRI data format” both for the three existing AMISRs and for hypothetical future “AMISR-like” systems. Primarily, it was designed to help test the functionality of various inversion algorithms that attempt to create a complete picture of ionospheric state parameters from discrete measurements by creating a way to check the output of these algorithms against known “truth” data. Please note that this module does NOT attempt to simulate any aspect of fundamental ISR theory.

Quick Start

Installation

The amisrsynthdata package is pure python and can be installed easily with pip:

$ pip install git+https://github.com/amisr/amisrsynthdata.git

Basic Usage

This package installs the command line tool amisrsynthdata, which is used along with a YAML configuration file to generate an output hdf5 AMISR data file. The configuration file specifies the ionosphere state and radar configuration that should be used:

$ amisrsynthdata config.yaml

Refer to the configuration file docs for information about the contents of these configuration files and how to construct one.

Limitations

The following are NOT currently included in the amisrsynthdata module:

1. Any kind of proper treatment or simulation of ISR theory - The module effectively assumes the radar measures plasma parameters perfectly at a particular location, although empirical errors can be added.

2. Integration over a time period or smearing along the length of pulses, as well as pulse coding.

3. Madrigal data format - Currently files are only generated in the SRI data format.

Documentation

Full documentation for amisrsynthdata is available on ReadTheDocs.

Contributing

Contributions to this package are welcome and encouraged, particularly to expand the currently set of specified ionospheres. Create a pull request to submit contributions, or open an issue if you would like to request new features or report a bug. Specific instructions on how to add a new state function to describe the ionosphere are available in New State Functions.