ldartez/lofasm

LoFASM tools python package

LoFASM Tools Python Package

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Tools for working on filterbank data from the Low Frequency All Sky Monitor (LoFASM). LoFASM is a phased dipole antenna array designed to monitor the skies for radio transients. LoFASM's band of interest is 5-88MHz. LoFASM was built and designed by a group of students and professor at the University of Texas at Brownsville.

Installation

I strongly recommend installing the LoFASM tools in a virtual environment.

Mac OSX and Linux

To install run the setup.py script

python setup.py install

Plotting with Matplotlib

If you are hoping to use LoFASM's plotting tools then there is a possibility that you will need to manually configure the matplotlib backend for your system. The best way to do this is to set the environment variable MPLBACKEND as mentioned on the matplotlib website.

Windows

This software has not been tested on Windows. If you get it working please let us know!

Dependencies

• numpy
• scipy
• astropy
• matplotlib

Getting up and running

Once the LoFASM Tools have been installed you can check that they were installed correctly by plotting up a small test data set from LoFASM I in Port Mansfield, Texas.

The test data set is located at /path/to/lofasm/testdata/20150323_033624.lofasm, where path/to/lofasm is the path to the cloned repo directory.

To plot the data open a terminal window and navigate to the clone directory. Once there execute

lofasm_plot.py -f testdata/20150323_033624.lofasm

to plot the test data. If you see an animated plot then the tools have been installed correctly. :)

Refer to the docs directory for more information.

lofasm's Issues

bad 'start_time' field in bbx headers

conversion from .lofasm to .bbx seems to result in the wrong date format being written to new .bbx files. this is likely caused when the converter has to break a datafile into smaller segments due to network packet issues.