.:instrumentfiles:home

An aircraft data acquisition system records data (i.e. *.sea level 1 file) from many different instrument. Instrument files (Level 2 and Level 3 files) are created containing all parameters obtained from the instrument by the data acquisition system. Measurement from each instrument are converted from engineering units (Level 2) to physical units (Level 3) if necessary. The instrument files are typically further processed using measurements from several instruments in Level 4 processing. The final processing step is typically to combined together parameters of scientific interests into a summary file. All ASCII files (*.raw, *.clean) are in the NASA/UND format which is based on "Specification for Data Exchange" written by Steven E. Gains and R. Stephen Hipsking. All data files have a header. The file format specifications (formatspec.txt) and a meta-data header variable example (fileheader.html) are provided via the ADPAA repository (src/share directory).

Below are a list of files by processing level. The parameter information is also available from the ADPAA repository in the src/share directory. Information about processing modules for each instrument is given in the Data Streams section of this Wiki. Instrument manufacturer's full names are Applanix Corp. (Applanix), Aventech Research (Aventech), Brechtel Manufacturing Inc. (BMI), Droplet Measurement Technologies (DMT), Honeywell International Inc. (Honeywell), Omega Engineering (Omega), Science Engineering Associates (SEA), Stratton Park Engineering Company (SPEC), and TSI Incorporated (TSI).

Level 3 Files

From Level 1

• 2-DC Probe File - 2dc.spec.raw
• Aventech AIMMS ID 1 Stream - serialA.aimms.raw
• Aventech AIMMS ID 2 Stream - serialB.aimms.raw
• Applanix Position and Orientation Systems (POS) - applanix.raw
• BMI Mixing Condensation Particle Counter (MCPC) Stream File - serial.mcpc.raw
• DMT Cloud Imaing Probe (CIP) Housekeeping File - house.cip.raw
• DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCNC) Concentration Stream - serialc.ccnc.raw
• DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCNC) Housekeeping Stream - serialh.ccnc.raw
• DMT Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) Counts File - counts.cdp.raw
• DMT Photoacoustic Extinctiometer (PAX) Stream File - serial.pax.raw
• TSI Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) Stream File - serial.cpc.raw

From Level 2

• Citation Research Aircraft Winds File - REAL.winds.raw
• Chilled Mirror Humidity File - egg.raw
• DMT Cloud Droplet Probe (CDP) Concentration File - conc.cdc.raw
• DMT Condensation Particle Counter (CDP) Concentration File - conc.cpc.raw
• Tunable Diode Laser Hygrometer (TDL) Humidity File - tdl.hum.raw
• TSI Condensation Particle Counter (CPC) Concentration File - conc.cpc.raw

Level 4 Files

• Basic Meteorological Parameters File - basic.raw
• DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCNC) Concentration File - dmtccn_conc.raw
• DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCNC) Average Concentration File - dmtccn_conc_avg.raw
• DMT Cloud Condensation Nuclei Counter (CCNC) Supersaturation Spectrum File - dmtccn_ss_efit.raw