Software:kst

From HandWiki
Short description: Plotting and data viewing program

Kst
Kst screenshot.png
Screenshot of Kst
Original author(s)Barth Netterfield[1]
Developer(s)
  • George Staikos[1]
  • Andrew Walker[1]
Repositorygithub.com/Kst-plot/kst
Operating system
  • Linux
  • Mac
  • Windows using MinGW
TypeGraph plotting software
LicenseGPL[1]
Websitekst-plot.kde.org

Kst is a plotting and data viewing program. It is a general purpose plotting software program that evolved out of a need to visualize and analyze astronomical data, but has also found subsequent use in the real time display of graphical information. Kst is a KDE application and is freely available for anyone to download and use under the terms of the GPL. It is noted for being able to graph real-time data acquisition.

History

Kst was initially developed by Barth Netterfield, an astrophysicist as a personal project. By 2004 it had begun to be used in various universities and the European Space Agency and development was funded by the Canadian Space Agency.[1] Kst is written in C++ and based upon (but does not use) the Tk toolkit.[2] It is targeted towards large (million element) data sets.[3]

Features

kst is a fast real-time large-dataset plotting and viewing tool with basic data analysis functionality.[4][5][6]

Plot types

kst is able to plot histograms and 3-D with color and contour mapping for 3-D images.[7] It is also able to process Network Common Data Form (NETCDF) files for 2-d plotting[8]

Real-time plotting capability

Kst has been chosen where there is a need to present plots in real-time.[9]

Applications

Real-time applications vary in size from simple graphing of a sensor from a microcontroller such as arduino that may be set up by a hobbyist to a simple sensor[4] to plotting of real time date from the Atacama Cosmology Telescope.[10] The program has been recommended for real time graphical display of an open energy monitoring project.[11][12]

Inputs

Kst is able to accept a number input formats with Dirfiles being particularly suitable for streaming applications[10][13] and plug-in extension filters enabling other input stream types and file formats to be added.[7]

Scripting language

The tool offers a scripting language, termed KstScript based upon JavaScript syntax which can help automate workflows.[7]

Alternatives

Some alternatives include MATLAB, Qtiplot, SciDAVis, Grace and LabPlot.[6] However, some of these are part of a numerical analysis package.[6]

Spin-off developments

Dirfile format

In the process of developing the kst application a spin-off was the emergence of the Dirfile file format standard for time-ordered binary data in an efficient manner.[lower-alpha 1] It was developed under the Getdata project into an independent standard with its own API.[13]

See also

External links

Notes and references

Notes

  1. The records in files are timestamped and ordered in time of occurrence

References

  1. 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 "Interview with Barth Netterfield about kst". http://www.tomchance.org.uk/writing/kstinterview/. 
  2. Zonca, Andrea (22 January 2009). "5. Combined quick look analysis". Advanced modelling and combined data analysis of Planck focal plane instruments (PhD). University of Milan. arXiv:1208.1950. hdl:2434/64581.
  3. "Canadian LFI Work". http://www.astro.ubc.ca/Planck/work.html. 
  4. 4.0 4.1 Reilly, Rob (August 2010). Linux Journal. pp. 62−67. Real-Time Plots with kst and a microcontroller. https://www.montanalinux.org/files/mags/Linux_Journal/196-Linux-Journal-Aug-2010.pdf. 
  5. Årzén, Karl-Erik; Faure, Pascal; Fohler, Gerhard; Mattavelli, Marco; Neundorf, Alexander; Romero, Vanessa; Schorr, Stefan (2011-01-29). "D1f - Interface Specification". pp. 41–42. http://rts.eit.uni-kl.de/fileadmin/publication_files/TR09actors_d1f_schorr.pdf. 
  6. 6.0 6.1 6.2 "Kst - Benchmarks". http://kst-plot.kde.org/benchmarks/. 
  7. 7.0 7.1 7.2 "The Kst Handbook". p. 1. https://kst-plot.kde.org/kst1/KstHandbook.pdf. 
  8. "Software for Manipulating or Displaying NetCDF Data". https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/software/netcdf/software.html. 
  9. Nowak, Adam; Walkowiak, Przemysław; Szwabe, Andrzej; Misiorek, Pawel (2012). "wnPUT Testbed Experimentation Framework". Distributed Computing and Networking. Lecture notes in Computer Science. 7129. pp. 377,379,381. doi:10.1007/978-3-642-25959-3_27. ISBN 978-3-642-25958-6. 
  10. 10.0 10.1 Switzer, E. R.; Allen, C.; Amiri, M.; Appel, J. W.; Battistelli, E. S.; Burger, B.; Chervenak, J. A.; Dahlen, A. J. et al. (1 August 2008). "Systems and control software for the Atacama Cosmology Telescope". Proceedings of SPIE. Advanced Software and Control for Astronomy II 79019: 70192L. doi:10.1117/12.790006. Bibcode2008SPIE.7019E..2LS. https://www.researchgate.net/publication/234114252. 
  11. "Learn | OpenEnergyMonitor". https://learn.openenergymonitor.org/electricity-monitoring/other-software/graphing-in-kst. 
  12. "The OpenEnergyMonitor project [LWN.net"]. https://lwn.net/Articles/350214/. 
  13. 13.0 13.1 "The Dirfile Standards". http://getdata.sourceforge.net/dirfile.html.