fast-barnes-py 2.0.0
Fast Barnes Interpolation
License: BSD 3-Clause License
Requires Python: <3.13,>=3.9
Keywords: python, interpolation, gridding, inverse distance weighting, fast algorithms, Gaussian, convolution

<img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/InterpolationStrip.png?raw=true"/>

# Fast Barnes Interpolation

This Python package provides an implementation of the formal algorithms for fast Barnes interpolation as presented in the corresponding [paper published in the GMD journal](https://gmd.copernicus.org/articles/16/1697/2023/gmd-16-1697-2023.pdf).

In addition to Barnes interpolation for 2-dimensional applications, this package now also supports Barnes interpolation of 1-dimensional and 3-dimensional data.

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### Mathematical Background

Barnes interpolation is a method that is widely used in geospatial sciences like meteorology to remodel data values $f_k \in \mathbb{R}$ recorded at irregularly distributed points $\mathbf{x}_k \in \mathbb{R}^2$ into a representative analytical field $f(\mathbf{x}) \in \mathbb{R}$.
It is defined as

<img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/BarnesInterpolDef.png?raw=true" width="196"/>

with Gaussian weights

<img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/GaussianWeights.png?raw=true" width="186"/>

for a specific Gaussian width parameter $\sigma$.

Naive computation of Barnes interpolation leads to an algorithmic complexity of $\mathcal{O}(N \cdot W \cdot H)$, where $N$ is the number of sample points and $W \times H$ the size of the underlying grid.  
As shown in the paper, for sufficiently large $n$ (in general in the range from 3 to 6) a good approximation of Barnes interpolation with a reduced complexity $\mathcal{O}(N + W \cdot H)$ can be obtained by the convolutional expression

<img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/BarnesInterpolConvolExpr.png?raw=true" width="364"/>

where $\delta_{\mathbf{x}_k}$ is the Dirac impulse function at location $\mathbf{x}_k$ and $r_n(.)$ an elementary rectangular function of a specific length that depends on $\sigma$ and $n$.

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### Example with a Speed-up Factor of more than 1000

The example below is taken from the paper and shows a comparison of the naive Barnes interpolation with the fast Barnes interpolation for $N = 3490$ sample points on a grid with $2400 \times 1200$ points.
The test was conducted on a computer with a customary 2.6 GHz Intel i7-6600U processor with two cores (of minor importance since the code is written in sequential manner).

The recorded execution times for the pure interpolation tasks were
- 280.764 s for the naive Barnes interpolation with a 3-fold nested for-loop over $W$, $H$ and $N$
- &nbsp; &nbsp; 0.247 s for the fast Barnes interpolation with a 4-fold convolution 

The detail views of the isoline visualizations of the respective Barnes interpolation results agree to a very high degree:

<img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/NaiveBarnesDetail.png?raw=true"> &nbsp; &nbsp; <img src="https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/images/ConvBarnesDetail.png?raw=true">

The first image depicts the isoline visualization for the naive approach, the second image that for the convolutional, fast approach.

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### Further Links

- [Minimal Working Examples](https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/doc/MinimalWorkingExamples_Doc.md)  
To find out how to use the code.
- [Release Notes](https://github.com/MeteoSwiss/fast-barnes-py/blob/main/RELEASE-NOTES.md)  
Summary of the recent changes.