Getting Started with MARS DRT

First things first: The developers pronounce this software "Mars Dirt" 👍

Now that that's out of the way, here is a quick overview of what you can do with MARS DRT and how to get started.

What Does It Do?

MARS DRT came about as a tool to help process and analyze FCS retrieval data and ECS controller log data. When you have 100,000+ data points for each sensor and you have 20 sensors to look at, Excel just won't cut it.

MARS DRT can take in .delim files generated by FCS's retrieval tool, process them, and store them in a form that is suitable for plotting and numerical analysis. While the original .delim files for launch data can be in excess of 8 gigabytes, MARS DRT processed data is typically 2-300 megabytes. This simplifies storing, loading, and viewing FCS data.

After the data has been processed for the MARS DRT tools, there are several plotting utilities available.

1. QuickPlot, which allows a user to view a single FD in a no-frills interface.
2. Plot Setup Tool, which allows creation of a complex graph of up to 3 sub-plots with linked time axes. This is a good tool for reviewing operation data and finding trends and correlations between different UGFCS components.
3. Data Comparison Tool, which allows comparing different data sets. This is a great way to look at the differences between different operations.

There are many other small utilities available (currently command-line only as of v0.4.3) that provide numerical analysis:

1. deltaT() - displays the elapsed time between two Data Cursors placed on a plot.
2. trendMath() - displays start/stop time, elapsed time, overall delta, rate of change, and r^2 values for data selected with the Data Brushing tool.
3. boundaryMath() - displays the results of a boundary violation check for Data Brushing data with user supplied upper and lower bounds.
4. integrateTotalFlow() - displays the total volumetric flow for Data Brushing data. The user supplies units.
5. makeDataGrid - a helper script that takes a list of FDs (numerical only at this time), interpolates the time series data to conform to a set of supplied timestamps and then writes the values at those timestamps into one large cell array with timestamps as row headers and FD title as column headers. Perfect for copying into Excel.

This is just a small sample of the tools that are available in MARS DRT, not to mention all of Matlab's native functions. Future versions will incorporate many of these tools into the graphical user interface. For now, these require command line access.

How To Use MARS DRT

There are detailed user guides to the main interface and some of the more advanced plotting features already on this wiki. This section will provide a brief overview of launching and using MARS DRT.

Step 1: Opening MARS DRT

From a data review workstation, open Matlab.

Once Matlab loads, you may either type "review" in the command window and press enter, or you can right click "review.m" in Matlab's file browser and select "run".

MARS DRT will launch, and the "review" tool will appear.

Step 2: Viewing Data

Click the Plot Setup button to launch the MARS DRT Plot Configuration Tool.

The current data set will be displayed in the tool's window title. From here you can set up the plot with multiple subplots, move FDs between subplots, reorder FDs, and set titles and subtitles.

When you have selected the data you wish to view, click Generate Graph

Step 3: Exploring Data

MARS DRT will load the data you selected and open a plot window. There are many toolbar buttons to help you explore your data.

• Zoom - these buttons allow dragging a rectangle over an area to zoom, or you can select one axis on which to zoom. Change zoom modes or reset zoom to the original view by right-clicking and using the context menu.
• Pan - the pan tool can be constrained to a single axis (pan horizontally or vertically) or be set to free panning. Double-clicking the pan tool returns to a view of the full data set.
• Data Cursor - this tool allows you to place markers on your data that show the value and a timestamp.
• Timeline Tools - three toolbar buttons allow interaction with any plotted timeline events.

There are many more features available, and there are right-click context menu options for every tool. The edit plot tool allows you to change plot title text, set axis limits numerically, change plot colors and line styles and make many more customizations.

Step 4: Sharing your plots

MARS DRT plots can be saved as .pdf files by clicking the Save icon in the toolbar.

You may also export your plot as an image file (.jpg, .png, etc.) using Advanced -> Export Figure. Proper image scaling is not fully supported (v0.4.5) and the user should understand that font sizes, resolution, aspect ratio, and even page orientation may not behave consistently. Resizing the plot window will affect the exported image size.

Summary:

We hope this has been a helpful introduction to MARS DRT. We look forward to bringing new features and improving usability and reliability in future versions.