# filters

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Audience: Scientists

# 1. Introduction

Autoplot allows data to be run through processes before plotting. For example, data can be smoothed with a boxcar filter before plotting, or waveform data can be processed with FFTs to make a spectrogram. These are like unix pipes, where one dataset is input and one dataset is output, rather than combining data from multiple sources.

These filter operations can be applied just before plotting, and are added on the data tab under the "Data Post Processing" area. Filters are added with the filters editor, and each filter added is given a small GUI control to adjust any parameters.

# 2. Selected Filters

|histogram perform an "auto" histogram of the data that automatically sets bins.

|log10 take the base-10 log of the data.

|slice0(index) slice the data on the zeroth dimension (often time) at the given index.

|slice1(index) slice the data on the first dimension at the given index.

|collapse0 average over the zeroth dimension to reduce the dimensionality.

|transpose transpose the rank 2 dataset.

|fftPower(size) plot power spectrum by breaking waveform data in windows of length size.

|smooth(size) boxcar average over the rank 1 data.

|diff finite differences between adjacent elements in the rank 1 data.

|accum running sum of the rank 1 data. (opposite of diff).

|grid grid the rank2 buckshot but gridded data into a rank 2 table.

|flatten flatten a rank 2 dataset. The result is a n,3 dataset of [x,y,z]. (opposite of grid)

|negate flip the sign on the data.

|add(amount) add a constant to the data. Note this can be datums like "15sec".

|multiply(amount) multiply the data by add a constant.

|cos cos of the data in radians. (No units check)

|sin sin of the data in radians. (No units check)

|toDegrees convert the data to degrees. (No units check)

|toRadians convert the data to radians. (No units check)

# 3. Edit Filters GUI

Normally filters would be added using the GUI. This screenshots sequence shows how OMNI Beta data is loaded and boxcar smooth is applied: http://autoplot.org/data/tutorials/20170516_filters/20170516_1152.html

The "add filter" dialog is the list of all available filters.

# 4. Relationship to Scripting

Note that the filters are typically the same as the functions used in Jython scripting. The filters are implemented in Autoplot by calling these same routines. So for example, loading

vap+cdaweb:ds=OMNI_HRO_1MIN&id=Beta&timerange=Oct+2016


and applying the filter

|smooth(51)


is the same as the script:

ds= getDataSet( 'vap+cdaweb:ds=OMNI_HRO_1MIN&id=Beta&timerange=Oct+2016' )
ds= smooth( ds, 51 )
plot( ds )


Filters make the commonly-used functions of scripting available without the overhead of scripting, and available within .vap files.

# 5. Automatic Filters

Some filters are added automatically by Autoplot to provide a landing page for the data. For example, suppose Flux data is loaded, which is a function of Time, Pitch Angle, and Energy (represented as Flux[Time=1440,PitchAngle=19,Energy=30]). Since a 2-D view of this data is needed, Autoplot picks a dimension to run the "slice" filter on. For example, "|slice1(10)" so that only the Flux at 90 degrees is shown. The slice GUI will appear automatically on the data tab, and you can select a different dimension or slice index.