This is the format of the raw data as recorded at the radar. It is thus the format on which the raw data are stored on tape and restored to disk by means of the Stager program. LDR format data is not particularly useful from our point of view, although all data obviously exist in this form at some point. In order to visualise or analyse any of this raw data, the user must first convert the data to Integrated Data Format . This is the format of the raw data used by Nigel Wades' integration programs.
Integrated data can itself have two forms.
Summed data , in which all of the LDRs within the integration period are summed together. The analysis programs and raw data visualisation packages all use summed data. Matrix data , in which all of the constituent LDRs within the integration period are retained in a matrix form. Not suprisingly, matrix format data produces very large files. However, it might be useful to form matrix-format data if you want to try cleaning the data prior to analysis.