Recording Data

Configure Ascope normally, so that the weather phenomenon is shown on the screen.

When the Record menu first appears on the screen, Ascope operates the DSP in the usual continuous manner

To create the configuration that you would like to record, you can modify and all menus, including the Record menu.

Select a maximum range and bin spacing that captures the event at an adequate resolution.
Setup the PRF, clutter filters, range averaging, spectral averaging, and so on, so that the weather target's characteristics are nicely captured.

You cannot change the Ascope menus during recording.

Select File > Rec/Play....

The menu launches in record mode.

In the Plot Parameters menu, select the parameters you want to record.

You can choose up to 16 parameters to be recorded to disk at once. The first 4 parameters are plotted on the screen, and all the selected items are archived.

For example, if you select: Z, T, V, W, I, and Q in that order, Ascope displays the first 4 parameters versus range, and records all 6 as soon as the Rec button is pressed.

If the time step and number of rays were setup for a long interval of recording, you can monitor the plotted parameters by eye and discontinue recording if the weather event changes or becomes less interesting.

Power spectra:

Ascope can record power spectra, either in place of or in addition to the I and Q data from which the spectra are derived.

If spectra are recorded on their own, then the size of the data files is reduced by approximately a factor of 2. This may be significant when many bins of data are being recorded.

Another advantage that spectra offer is that they can be averaged prior to being recorded, and thus could supplement the I and Q data in a useful way. For example, if I, Q, and Spec rays were recorded every 10 seconds, and if the spectral averaging were set to approximately 10 seconds, then the archived data would contain highly averaged spectra plus occasional instantaneous time series.
Data parameters:

Each data parameter (T, V, Zdr, and so on) is recorded over the full range interval specified by the maximum range and bin count in the Ascope main menu.
Single pulse data samples:

The single pulse AI, AQ, and AL data samples are recorded over the full range interval.

However, time series and spectra are recorded only at the limited number of bins specified in the TS Bins field, and centered at the distance of the range strobe.

When the Record menu is visible, this secondary range interval is shown as a pair of dotted vertical lines drawn on either side of the range strobe. To record time series and/or spectra, you must choose a nonzero value for TS Bins, and must select I, Q, and/or Spec from the Plot Parameters menu.

The MAG and ARG parameters are not available for recording to disk. This is because these parameters are merely computed at display time and are completely redundant with I and Q. They would not add any averaging or data reduction possibilities if recorded.

If you press the Rec button while a MAG and ARG plot is selected a warning message reminds you that you may not be recording exactly what you think. However, the data file still contains all the other selected parameters.

Select the recording directory in which data files are recorded.

The default is /usr/iris_data/ascope. You can change it to any writable directory.

Ascope creates the file names automatically in form WWWYYMMDDHHMMSS.ASC where WWW represents the 3-character local site code, and the remaining characters are the 2-digit year, month, day, hour, minute, and second at the start of recording.

Define the number of TS Bins at which time series and/or power spectra are recorded (0 ... 128).

The chosen bins are centered on the range strobe selected in the Ascope main menu.

In Num of Rays, define the number of rays of data to record.

Each ray represents the data from one complete iteration of the basic Ascope loop, that is, one acquisition of the set of all data types that are selected in the Plot Parameters menu.

The maximum number of rays that can be recorded is 10000.

Define the Time Step between rays.

This is the time in seconds between successive recorded rays (0 ... 600 seconds (10 minutes)).

Set this value to 0 for a continuous data recording. Use larger values to record over a longer time interval without creating too large a data file.

For example, a time step of 10 seconds would record 6 rays per minute to disk, even though the DSP and display still update continuously.

Select Rec.

During the recording session, the progress bar indicates the progress.

Recording stops when the full number of rays are recorded and the slider has reached 100% or when you select Stop.

When recording is complete, the Ascope environment returns to normal operation.

Select Cancel to return to normal Ascope operation.