MARS DRT - nickcounts/MDRT GitHub Wiki

Starting MARS DRT

Launch the MARS Data Review Tool with the following steps:

  1. Launch MATLAB R2014b +
  2. Navigate to the MDRT root directory (contains review.fig and review.m)
  3. Type "review" in the command window and press enter

The following window will launch: Screenshot of review tool version 0.4.5

MDRT looks for "review.cfg" in its root directory. This is a basic configuration file that keeps track of important directories, including the working directories for any data the user is reviewing. The tool will generate a blank configuration file in the root directory if it is missing.

It is a good idea to set valid working directories in the review tool GUI as soon as you run the tool for the first time. Once these paths are set, click "Save Config" to ensure that all elements of the tool function properly, and that the settings will be preserved for subsequent uses.

NOTE: If you haven't saved the configuration, the Plot Setup tool and all of the data parsing/importing tools will not look at the folders you selected. Best practice is to always save the configuration and then restart the Plot Setup tool (if you were using it) to ensure you are pointing at the correct data set.

Data Review Project Configuration Controls

MDRT users will frequently need to change some configuration settings in order to point the review tool at their desired data set.

Selecting a data set:

This is the most common reason a user will need to modify the configuration paths. You may set each path individually as described in the following section, or you may use this alternative:

Setting all your data paths at once:

  1. Click the "New Data" button located in the "Data Review Project Configuration" pane of the review GUI.

  2. This will launch a folder selection dialog. Browse to the root directory of the data set you wish to use and select the folder.

NOTE: Your folder must contain a "data" folder. The tool will create "delim" and "plot" folders if they are missing.

  1. MDRT will update the working directories. As discussed above, it is best practice to click "Save Configuration" and then relaunch the tool to ensure that the settings are applied to all other MDRT modules.

MDRT working folders:

MDRT Asks for 4 different folders:

  1. Delim Folder
  • This folder is used when importing and processing new data retrievals. The "Pre-process Delim Files" and "Process Retrieval Files" buttons in the "Testing Features" panel use this path.
  1. Data Folder
  • This folder is where MDRT looks for a data set to plot. The Plot Setup tool also uses the data set in this folder.
  • Unfortunately, as of the current version, the Plot Setup tool only checks this folder when it is launched, so updates made to this path only take effect after the configuration is saved and the Plot Setup tool is relaunched.
  1. Plot Output Folder
  • This is the default path for saving plots generated with Plot Setup and the Data Comparison Tool. When saving a plot, the save dialog starts in this location, but the user may select any folder.
  1. Graph Configuration Folder
  • This is where Plot Setup looks for saved graph configurations. When a plot has been setup that will be useful in the future, its configuration can be saved so the plot can be generated again with a different data set. *This location rarely changes.

Other Important Paths to configure

  1. Data Repository Path - this is a setting that is not currently exposed in the review tool GUI, and points to the root directory of the data repository path. This is where the data index is stored, and allows more complicated tools like the Data Comparison Tool to operate.

When MDRT has been configured for the data you are reviewing, press the Save Config button.

Plotting Tasks

These controls are intended for quick browsing of the selected data.

  • Filter Data - A new feature in v0.4.5.

    • This button launches a data smoothing/filtering tool for use with noisy sensor data.
    • Future versions will allow making a "lightweight" or "sparse" version of data that is sampled at a very high rate for ease of plotting.
    • A GUI will open with whatever FD is selected in the FD Selection Drop-down menu.
    • This tool allows smoothing of noisy sensors.
    • See the Filter FD Tool page for more details.

  • Update FD List attempts to re-index the data stored in the "Data Folder" specified above. Any data it finds will be added to the drop-down menu for selection.

  • The FD Selection drop-down menu tries to put component numbers at the beginning of FD names, i.e. "2902 LO2 PT-2902 Press Sensor Mon"

    • You can get to your data a little faster by selecting the drop-down and then typing the number of your sensor. This works for many of the FDs, but breaks down in certain systems (ECS, WDS especially).
    • NOTE: This system will be superseded by the FD Search system employed by the Data Comparison Tool

  • Quick Plot launches a simple graph window with the FD selected in the dropdown. This tool is intended to be a quick-and-dirty plotter for looking at a single FD and it is not recommended for generating plots for presentations.

  • Refresh Timeline and Toggle Label Size are shortcuts for interacting with timeline/milestone markers on any plots.

    • These buttons toggle size and refresh all timelines on ALL open plots generated by MDRT tools.
    • Since v0.4.2, each plot window has included toolbar buttons that allow interaction with that particular plot window.
    • These buttons will be discontinued in future releases.

Testing Features

This control panel includes tools for processing retrieval files, editing timeline/milestone data, and generating plots for data review.

  • ? - Help Button launches a browser that links to the MDRT wiki (you're on it now!)

  • Edit Timeline Events is covered in the Timeline Editor page of this wiki.

  • Import FCS Data Launches the new Data Import Wizard

    • New in v 0.4.4, there is a complete breakdown of this functionality on the MDRT Delim Import Guide page of this wiki.
    • This replaces and improves upon the previous Pre-process Delim Files and Process Retrieval Files controls

  • Plot Setup

    • Launches the MDRT Plotting Tool.
    • Plots from the active data set (stored in the Config file from above)
      • Since v0.4.2, the current data set is displayed in the Plot Configuration Tool Window Title for clarity.
    • Can plot up to 3 separate subplots with linked time-axes.
    • Automatically assigns line styles and FD legend names for clarity.
    • This is the main tool used for generating plots for slides and reports.

  • Data Comparison Tool

    • This tool allows users to generate plots from two different data sets and align them in time by selecting T-0 or any other timeline event/milestone.
    • Introduced in v0.4.3, there is a complete feature breakdown and tutorial on the Data Comparison Tool wiki page.