Raw Data Output from binary file

Posted by Torstein Pedersen at January 15. 2004

The following question was posed to us and I felt it was well suited to answer here on the forum since it not only applies to AWACs but all Nortek wave measuring instruments.

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I have recently purchased an AWAC and wish to process the AWAC data using our own wave processing tools. Could you provide a description of the data formats?

The description of the binary data contained in the raw data file is described in detail in the document titled "System Integrator Manaul Paradopp family of Products". The pdf document ("PdInterface.pdf") specifies the formats of the data structures in the raw binary file. This document covers all Nortek Paradopp instruments (Aquapro, Vector, AWAC, etc.) So this should be consulted when trying to extract data.

All data files begin with the Header information which is constructed of three structures (Hardware Configuration, Head Configuration, and User Configuration). This is defined in pages 13-15.

The AWAC specific data structures are found on pages 20-21. The first is the velocity profile, which always precedes a wave burst (and based on configuration, can be several). Next is the wave burst which is composed of the Wave Header and then a specified number (512, 1024, 2088) of Wave Data structures.

Note that the data type defined as BCD is binary coded decimal and is simply binary data written so that it appears as decimal. Therefore binary data of 12hex is not a value of 18 but read as 12. This is used exclusively for the date/time stamp.

If you do not already have this documnet then contact nortek at inquiry@nortek.no for the latest interface manual.

Additionally if there are details that are not self-evident for extracting data, then please post comments/questions here. You may not be the only one trying to crack these files <img src=

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regards,
Torstein

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