mbinfo(1)

NAME
mbinfo - Output some basic statistics of swath sonar data files.

VERSION
Version 5.0

SYNOPSIS
mbinfo [-Byr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc -C -Eyr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc -Fformat -G -Ifilename -Llonflip -Mlondim/latdim -N -O -Pping -Rwest/east/south/north -Sspeed -W -V -H]

DESCRIPTION
MBinfo is a utility for reading a swath sonar data file or files and outputting some basic statistics. The table generated shows the filename, the data format id, a brief description of the format, any metadata that have been inserted into the data, data counts, navigation totals, time and navigation of the first and last data records, minimum and maximum data values, and the geographic bounding box of the data. The data counts include the total number of bathymetry, amplitude, and sidescan values read. These totals may be less than the maximum possible (number of data records times the maximum number of data supported for the particular data format) for formats supporting variable numbers of beams or pixels. Also reported are the numbers and percentages of good, zero, and flagged data values (good values are those which are neither zero nor flagged as bad). An important function of mbinfo is to generate ".inf" files that may be parsed by other MB-System programs and macros. To create an ".inf" file, simply direct the output of mbinfo to a file named by adding the suffix ".inf" to the input swath data filename. Programs such as mbgrid and mbmosaic, read ".inf" files, when available, to determine whether input swath data files actually contain any data in the area of interest. The efficiency of these programs is enhanced by their ability to avoid reading files with no data in the area to be gridded or mosaiced. Programs such as mbm_plot and mbm_grid run mbinfo on input files to determine the data bounds. The availability of ".inf" files allows this information to be determined without having to read through each swath file. The program mbprocess can insert metadata recognized and printed by mbinfo. These metadata include items such as the sonar model, the vessel name, and bias parameters. See the mbprocess and mbset manual pages for details. The data input may be averaged over several pings and/or windowed in time and space. Comments in the data stream may also be printed out. The results are dumped to stdout. If pings are averaged (pings > 2) mbinfo estimates the variance for each of the bathymetry beams and sidescan pixels by reading a set number of pings and then finding the variance of the values for each beam. The bathymetry values are detrended before variances are calculated. The program output can also be extended to include a coarse mask representing where data lies within the file's bounding box. This mask is shown as a table of 0's and 1's, where the 1's indicate bins with data. The dimensions of the mask are specified with the -Mlondim/latdim option. For instance, if the user specifies -M10/10, then mbinfo will read through the data once to establish the usual statistics, including the data bounding box. Then, the program will initialize a 10 X 10 grid with the minimum and maximum longitude and latitude of the bounding box, and read the data a second time. Each bin in which a sounding or pixel falls will be set to 1. After the second reading pass, the data location mask will be output at the end of the mbinfo output.

AUTHORSHIP
David W. Caress (caress@mbari.org)
  Monterey Bay Aquarium Research Institute
Dale N. Chayes (dale@ldeo.columbia.edu)
  Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory

OPTIONS

-B  yr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc
    This option sets the starting time for data allowed in the input data. The -E option sets the ending time for data. If the starting time is before the ending time, then any data with a time stamp before the starting time or after the ending time is ignored. If instead the starting time is after the ending time, then any data between the ending and starting time will be ignored. This scheme allows time windowing both inside and outside a specified interval. Default: yr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc = 1962/2/21/10/30/0.

-C  Normally, mbinfo ignores comments encountered in the data file. If the -C flag is given, all of the comments will be printed out.

-E  yr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc
    This option sets the ending time for data allowed in the input data. The -B option sets the starting time for data. If the starting time is before the ending time, then any data with a time stamp before the starting time or after the ending time is ignored. If instead the starting time is after the ending time, then any data between the ending and starting time will be ignored. This scheme allows time windowing both inside and outside a specified interval. Default: yr/mo/da/hr/mn/sc = 2062/2/21/10/30/0.

-F  format
    Sets the data format used if the input is read from stdin or from a file. If format < 0, then the input file specified with the -I option will actually contain a list of input swath sonar data files. This program uses the MBIO library and will read or write any swath sonar format supported by MBIO. A list of the swath sonar data formats currently supported by MBIO and their identifier values is given in the MBIO manual page. The default format is set using mbdefaults.

-G  Enables checking for reasonable navigation to be used in calculating the minimum and maximum longitude and latitude values. This mode excludes longitude and latitude values of 0.0 or those values associated with very large apparent speeds between pings (calculated using distance and time differences between adjacent pings). This option is particularly useful when one is trying to obtain reasonable bounds for a plot.

-H  This "help" flag cause the program to print out a description of its operation and then exit immediately.

-I  filename
    Sets the input filename. If format > 0 (set with the -f option) then the swath sonar data contained in infile is read and processed. If format < 0, then infile is assumed to be an ascii file containing a list of the input swath sonar data files to be processed and their formats. The program will read the data in each one of these files. In the infile file, each data file should be followed by a data format identifier, e.g.:
         datafile1 11
         datafile2 24
    This program uses the MBIO library and will read or write any swath sonar format supported by MBIO. A list of the swath sonar data formats currently supported by MBIO and their identifier values is given in the MBIO manual page. Default: infile = "stdin".

-L  lonflip
    Sets the range of the longitude values returned. If lonflip=-1 then the longitude values will be in the range from -360 to 0 degrees. If lonflip=0 then the longitude values will be in the range from -180 to 180 degrees. If lonflip=1 then the longitude values will be in the range from 0 to 360 degrees. Default: mbinfo selects the bext longitude range based on the first data.

-M  londim/latdim
    The program output can be extended to include a coarse mask representing where data lies within the file's bounding box. This mask is shown as a table of 0's and 1's, where the 1's indicate bins with data. The dimensions of the mask are specified with the -Mlondim/latdim option.

-N
    Extends the program output to include notices. These notices include three sections. The first is a list of all of the data record types (e.g. survey, comment, navigation, parameter) encountered while reading the file. Some formats are quite simple and only include survey records and comments. Other formats are complex and may contain many different sorts of data records, including some that only derive from a particular sonar model. The second section lists any nonfatal error messages (e.g. unintelligible record) generated while reading the file. Finally, the third section of notices lists any particular problems with the data that have been identified (e.g. some navigation is zero or some depths are too large to be correct).

-O
    This option causes the program output to be directed to "inf" files rather than to stdout. Each "inf" file is named using the original data file path with an ".inf" suffix appended.

-P  pings
    Turns on variance calculations for the bathymetry, amplitude, and sidescan data (as available in the data stream). If pings = 1, then no variance calculations are made. If pings > 1, then variances are calculated for each beam and pixel using groups of pings values. The bathymetry values are detrended before the variances are calculated; the amplitude and sidescan values are not detrended. The variance calculations can provide crude measures of noise and/or signal as a function of beam and pixel number. Default: pings = 1 (no variance calculations).

-R  west/east/south/north
    Sets the longitude and latitude bounds within which swath sonar data will be read. Only the data which lies within these bounds will be read. Default: west=-360, east=360, south=-90, north=90.

-S  speed
    Sets the minimum speed in km/hr (5.5 kts ~ 10 km/hr) allowed in the input data; pings associated with a smaller ship speed will not be copied. Default: speed = 0.

-T  timegap
    Sets the maximum time gap in minutes between adjacent pings allowed before the data is considered to have a gap. Default: timegap = 1.

-V  Normally, mbinfo only prints out the statistics obtained by reading all of the data. If the -V flag is given, then mbinfo works in a "verbose" mode and outputs the program version being used and all read error status messages.

-W  Normally, mbinfo reports depth values in meters. If the -W flag is given, then mbinfo reports these values in feet.

EXAMPLES
Suppose one wishes to know something about the contents of a Hydrosweep file (format 24) called example_hs.mb24. The following will suffice:
     mbinfo -F24 -Iexample_hs.mb24 The following output is produced:
 Swath Data File: example_hs.mb24
 MBIO Data Format ID: 24
 Format name: MBF_HSLDEOIH
 Informal Description: L-DEO in-house binary Hydrosweep
 Attributes: Hydrosweep DS, 59 beams, bathymetry and amplitude,
                       binary, centered, L-DEO.

 Data Totals:
 Number of Records: 263
 Bathymetry Data (59 beams):
   Number of Beams: 15517
   Number of Good Beams: 13661 88.04%
   Number of Zero Beams: 868 5.59%
   Number of Flagged Beams: 988 6.37%
 Amplitude Data (59 beams):
   Number of Beams: 15517
   Number of Good Beams: 13661 88.04%
   Number of Zero Beams: 868 5.59%
   Number of Flagged Beams: 988 6.37%
 Sidescan Data (0 pixels):
   Number of Pixels: 0
   Number of Good Pixels: 0 0.00%
   Number of Zero Pixels: 0 0.00%
   Number of Flagged Pixels: 0 0.00%

 Navigation Totals:
 Total Time: 1.2425 hours
 Total Track Length: 20.9421 km
 Average Speed: 16.8548 km/hr ( 9.1107 knots)

 Start of Data:
 Time: 08 14 1993 18:00:25.000000 JD226
 Lon: -49.3011 Lat: 12.1444 Depth: 4920.0000 meters
 Speed: 18.3600 km/hr ( 9.9243 knots) Heading: 97.2000 degrees
 Sonar Depth: 0.0000 m Sonar Altitude: 4920.0000 m

 End of Data:
 Time: 08 14 1993 19:14:58.000000 JD226
 Lon: -49.1111 Lat: 12.1149 Depth: 5021.0000 meters
 Speed: 17.2800 km/hr ( 9.3405 knots) Heading: 97.0000 degrees
 Sonar Depth: 0.0000 m Sonar Altitude: 5021.0000 m

 Limits:
 Minimum Longitude: -49.3061 Maximum Longitude: -49.1064
 Minimum Latitude: 12.0750 Maximum Latitude: 12.1806
 Minimum Sonar Depth: 0.0000 Maximum Sonar Depth: 0.0000
 Minimum Altitude: 4087.0000 Maximum Altitude: 5034.0000
 Minimum Depth: 3726.0000 Maximum Depth: 5190.0000
 Minimum Amplitude: 100.0000 Maximum Amplitude: 6380.0000 Suppose we wanted to know how noisy the outer beams are relative to the inner beams. We might try:
     mbinfo -F24 -P5 -Iexample_hs.mb24 obtaining:
 Swath Data File: example_hs.mb24
 MBIO Data Format ID: 24
 Format name: MBF_HSLDEOIH
 Informal Description: L-DEO in-house binary Hydrosweep
 Attributes: Hydrosweep DS, 59 beams, bathymetry and amplitude,
                       binary, centered, L-DEO.
 Data Totals:
 Number of Records: 263
 Bathymetry Data (59 beams):
   Number of Beams: 15517
   Number of Good Beams: 13661 88.04%
   Number of Zero Beams: 868 5.59%
   Number of Flagged Beams: 988 6.37%
 Amplitude Data (59 beams):
   Number of Beams: 15517
   Number of Good Beams: 13661 88.04%
   Number of Zero Beams: 868 5.59%
   Number of Flagged Beams: 988 6.37%
 Sidescan Data (0 pixels):
   Number of Pixels: 0
   Number of Good Pixels: 0 0.00%
   Number of Zero Pixels: 0 0.00%
   Number of Flagged Pixels: 0 0.00%
 Navigation Totals:
 Total Time: 1.2425 hours
 Total Track Length: 20.9421 km
 Average Speed: 16.8548 km/hr ( 9.1107 knots)
 Start of Data:
 Time: 08 14 1993 18:00:25.000000 JD226
 Lon: -49.3011 Lat: 12.1444 Depth: 4920.0000 meters
 Speed: 18.3600 km/hr ( 9.9243 knots) Heading: 97.2000 degrees
 Sonar Depth: 0.0000 m Sonar Altitude: 4920.0000 m
 End of Data:
 Time: 08 14 1993 19:14:58.000000 JD226
 Lon: -49.1111 Lat: 12.1149 Depth: 5021.0000 meters
 Speed: 17.2800 km/hr ( 9.3405 knots) Heading: 97.0000 degrees
 Sonar Depth: 0.0000 m Sonar Altitude: 5021.0000 m

 Limits:
 Minimum Longitude: -49.3061 Maximum Longitude: -49.1064
 Minimum Latitude: 12.0750 Maximum Latitude: 12.1806
 Minimum Sonar Depth: 0.0000 Maximum Sonar Depth: 0.0000
 Minimum Altitude: 4087.0000 Maximum Altitude: 5034.0000
 Minimum Depth: 3726.0000 Maximum Depth: 5190.0000
 Minimum Amplitude: 100.0000 Maximum Amplitude: 6380.0000
 Beam Bathymetry Variances:
 Pings Averaged: 5
  Beam N Mean Variance Sigma
  ---- - ---- -------- -----
    0 0 0.00 0.00 0.00
    1 0 0.00 0.00 0.00
    2 110 4719.59 342.69 18.51
    3 105 4779.49 399.15 19.98
    4 155 4748.81 280.18 16.74
    5 155 4817.12 194.62 13.95
    6 150 4826.44 197.76 14.06
    7 160 4863.82 155.50 12.47
    8 215 4806.08 229.11 15.14
    9 235 4807.09 220.23 14.84
   10 240 4766.29 158.83 12.60
   11 250 4764.34 221.09 14.87
   12 245 4765.35 146.24 12.09
   13 250 4782.02 167.34 12.94
   14 240 4798.38 92.98 9.64
   15 245 4775.16 98.27 9.91
   16 225 4782.35 136.30 11.67
   17 210 4820.37 80.70 8.98
   18 215 4821.15 80.97 9.00
   19 215 4827.71 76.20 8.73
   20 195 4842.65 84.22 9.18
   21 190 4843.02 155.87 12.48
   22 185 4884.28 73.69 8.58
   23 175 4885.21 69.88 8.36
   24 175 4871.47 52.01 7.21
   25 180 4871.92 34.71 5.89
   26 200 4830.80 36.83 6.07
   27 205 4835.16 33.47 5.79
   28 210 4809.96 43.07 6.56
   29 190 4850.77 40.97 6.40
   30 240 4768.69 64.23 8.01
   31 240 4772.90 74.44 8.63
   32 245 4760.11 57.97 7.61
   33 255 4734.01 81.72 9.04
   34 255 4728.19 82.21 9.07
   35 260 4722.94 83.45 9.14
   36 260 4721.95 102.02 10.10
   37 260 4713.48 83.85 9.16
   38 250 4715.40 101.33 10.07
   39 255 4722.56 118.20 10.87
   40 250 4727.48 109.13 10.45
   41 255 4734.96 127.97 11.31
   42 255 4724.53 124.06 11.14
   43 230 4744.74 122.96 11.09
   44 225 4752.16 98.22 9.91
   45 230 4692.27 107.96 10.39
   46 240 4696.93 95.93 9.79
   47 230 4699.80 129.08 11.36
   48 225 4696.32 145.20 12.05
   49 220 4681.50 140.29 11.84
   50 210 4676.16 103.35 10.17
   51 180 4627.31 105.22 10.26
   52 200 4654.55 207.85 14.42
   53 130 4665.82 250.97 15.84
   54 185 4704.29 300.80 17.34
   55 135 4731.13 218.16 14.77
   56 150 4736.29 178.16 13.35
   57 115 4691.45 217.31 14.74
   58 0 0.00 0.00 0.00

SEE ALSO
mbsystem(l)

BUGS
No bugs, only features. Maybe too many features...