Introduction
A subprocess is effectively a small program within the main SAC program. You start a subprocess by typing its name (SPE in this case.) You can terminate it and return to the main program using the QUITSUB command. You can also terminate SAC from within a subprocess using the QUIT command.
While within a subprocess, you can execute any command belonging to that subprocess plus a limited number of main SAC commands.
SPE is a Spectrum Estimation package intended primarily for use with stationary random processes. It contains three different spectral estimation techniques:
These are all indirect methods, because they use a sample correlation function, rather than the data itself, to estimate the spectral content.
SPE Commands
| COR: | Computes the correlation function. |
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| MEM: | Calculates the spectral estimate using Maximum Entropy Method. |
| MLM: | Calculates the spectral estimate using Maximum Likelihood Method. |
| PDS: | Calculates the spectral estimate using Power Density Spectra Method. |
| PLOTCOR: | Plots the correlation function. |
| PLOTPE: | Plots the RMS prediction error function. |
| PLOTSPE: | Plots the spectral estimate. |
| QUITSUB: | Terminates a SAC subprocess. |
| READCOR: | Almost the same as the normal READ. See below. |
| WRITECOR: | Writes a SAC file containing the correlation function. |
| WRITESPE: | Writes a SAC file containing the spectral estimate. |
Their abbreviated names are also allowed.
Main SAC Commands executable from within the SPE subprocess:
AXES BEGINDEVICES BEGINFRAME BEGINWINDOW BORDER COLOR COMCOR COPYHDR DATAGEN ECHO ENDDEVICES ENDFRAME ERASE EVALUATE FLOOR GETBB GRID GTEXT HELP INSTALLMACRO LINE LINLIN LINLOG LOGLAB LOGLIN LOGLOG MACRO MESSAGE PAUSE PLABEL PLOTC QDP QUIT READALPHA READBBF REPORT SETBB SETDATADIR SETDEVICE SETMACRO SGF SYMBOL SYNTAX SYSTEMCOMMAND TICKS TITLE TSIZE VSPACE WAIT WINDOW WRITEBBF XDIV XFUDGE XFULL XGRID XLABEL XLIM XLIN XLOG XVPORT YDIV YFUDGE YFULL YGRID YLABEL YLIM YLIN YLOG YVPORT
The Theory
SPE is intended primarily for use with stationary random processes. It implements three different indirect spectral estimators. They are called indirect, because they do not estimate the spectrum directly from the data, but from a sample correlation function that is computed from the data. The choice of indirect methods is a matter of taste, since direct spectral estimation techniques are also available. The correlation function itself is a useful quantity. You may wish to examine it in the course of performing spectral estimation tasks.
The choice of indirect techniques is supported by "Spectral Analysis and Its Application," by Jenkins and Watts, a respected reference on the subject of spectrum estimation.
The type of spectrum estimated by SPE is properly described as the power density spectrum, with the spectrum defined in the frequency domain. Thus, the estimated power delivered by the random process in some band of frequencies is the integral of the spectral power density estimate over that band of frequencies.
User Control
SPE affords the user some control over the details of estimation process. For some, with experience in estimating spectra, this is highly desirable. Defaults are provided for those who do not wish to become involved in the details of the theory.
The user has a choice of data window type, size, and the number of windows used when estimating the correlation function. Generally these parameters control the resolution of the estimate, and the amount of reduction of variance desired in the final estimate. In addition, prewhitening of the data may be specified as part of the process of estimating the correlation function. Prewhitening often has the effect of mitigating a severe "window bias" that can occur in spectral estimates having a high dynamic range. The warping of the spectrum that occurs with prewhitening is compensated for in the final result. In this implementation, low-order prediction error filters are used for prewhitening.
The Estimators
The user has a choice of three spectral estimators: Power Density Spectra ( PDS), Maximum Likelihood Method ( MLM), and Maximum Entropy Method ( MEM). Command COR must be run before running any of these.
| PDS: | The PDS estimator is quite simple: the sample correlation function is multiplied by a correlation window, then the result is transformed with an FFT to obtain the spectral estimate. The user again has a choice of the window type and the size of the window. The above mentioned book by Jenkins and Watts could be considered as the detailed documentation for the PDS technique. |
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| MLM: | The MLM estimator generates a spectral estimate which is the power output of a bank of narrow band-pass filters which have been optimized to reject out-of-band power. The result is a smoothed, parametric estimate of the power density spectrum. The user can choose the number of parameters. Documentation for this method can be found in the paper by Richard Lacoss in the IEEE book "Modern Spectrum Analysis" by Donald Childers. |
| MEM: | The MEM estimator is another parametric method, which uses a prediction error filter to whiten the data. The resulting spectral estimate is proportional to the inverse of the filter's power frequency response. The user is free to choose the order of the prediction error filter. Documentation for this method can be found in the review paper on linear prediction by John Makhoul in "Modern Spectrum Analysis." The formal name of the actual method implemented is the Yule-Walker method. |
Diagnostics
In addition to the spectrum, several diagnostic functions can be calculated and plotted. The prediction error can be plotted as a function of order. This plot can be used to select a good size for the prediction error filter used in the MEM method. Since much is known about the performance of the PDS estimator, more diagnostic information is available for this method in SPE. The 90 confidence limits can be estimated theoretically, as can the frequency resolution of the estimate. Both of these quantities can be indicated on a PDS spectral plot.
Differences between SPE> and SAC>
There are two primary differences between SPE and the main SAC program. Only one data file can be processed by SPE at a time. This is because SPE produces and stores a number of auxiliary functions (the correlation function, the prediction error function, and the spectral estimate itself) as it proceeds. This restriction to a single data file may be removed in the future. The second difference is that, unlike SAC itself, there is a specific order or progression in which the commands are generally executed.
Initialization
This progression begins when the SPE command is executed. A data file must be in memory when SPE is initiated. While in SPE, command READ can be used to read in an additional file at any time. Space for the above mentioned auxiliary functions is created for each new file.
READCOR run from within SPE works just like the READ command in the main SAC program with two exceptions.
First, only ONE file may be read in while in SPE. Second, executing this command deletes any correlation function or spectral estimate that may already have been computed. Parameters within SPE, such as the number of prewhitening coefficients or the window type and length, are not changed when this command is executed.
To reinitialize all SPE parameters, terminate the subprocess using the QUITSUB command and then start it over again.
Correlation
The correlation function is then computed, using the COR command. COR must be run prior to running a spectral estimator. The correlation function may be saved as a SAC data file using the WRITECOR command and later read back in using the READCOR command. This is more efficient than recomputing the correlation each time, especially if the data file is very long. At this point, you may wish to examine the correlation function using the PLOTCOR command. You may also wish to examine the prediction error function using the PLOTPE command if you are going to use the MEM method.
Estimation
Now you are ready to select one of the three spectral estimation techniques using the PDS, MLM, or MEM commands. If the data file has a non-zero mean, MLM and MEM may not work correctly. Running command RMEAN before entering SPE should solve this problem. Each technique has its own options. You may now examine the resulting spectrum using the PLOTSPE command. There are several different scaling options available. You can also save the spectral estimate as a SAC data file using the WRITESPE command.