Note, if you will be rebining a sequence of input arrays and then
co-adding them into a single array, the alternative
astRebinSeqX
functions
will in general be more efficient.
You should use a rebinning function which matches the numerical
type of the data you are processing by replacing X
in
the generic function name astRebin
X
by an appropriate 1- or
2-character type code. For example, if you are rebinning data
with type "float", you should use the function astRebinF (see
the "Data Type Codes" section below for the codes appropriate to
other numerical types).
Rebinning of the grid of input data is performed by transforming the coordinates of the centre of each input grid element (or pixel) into the coordinate system of the output grid. The input pixel value is then divided up and assigned to the output pixels in the neighbourhood of the central output coordinates. A choice of schemes are provided for determining how each input pixel value is divided up between the output pixels. In general, each output pixel may be assigned values from more than one input pixel. All contributions to a given output pixel are summed to produce the final output pixel value. Output pixels can be set to the supplied bad value if they receive contributions from an insufficient number of input pixels. This is controlled by the "wlim" parameter.
Input pixel coordinates are transformed into the coordinate system of the output grid using the forward transformation of the Mapping which is supplied. This means that geometrical features in the input data are subjected to the Mapping's forward transformation as they are transferred from the input to the output grid.
In practice, transforming the coordinates of every pixel of a large data grid can be time-consuming, especially if the Mapping involves complicated functions, such as sky projections. To improve performance, it is therefore possible to approximate non-linear Mappings by a set of linear transformations which are applied piece-wise to separate sub-regions of the data. This approximation process is applied automatically by an adaptive algorithm, under control of an accuracy criterion which expresses the maximum tolerable geometrical distortion which may be introduced, as a fraction of a pixel.
This algorithm first attempts to approximate the Mapping with a linear transformation applied over the whole region of the input grid which is being used. If this proves to be insufficiently accurate, the input region is sub-divided into two along its largest dimension and the process is repeated within each of the resulting sub-regions. This process of sub-division continues until a sufficiently good linear approximation is found, or the region to which it is being applied becomes too small (in which case the original Mapping is used directly).
The number of input coordinates used by this Mapping (as given by its Nin attribute) should match the number of input grid dimensions given by the value of "ndim_in" below. Similarly, the number of output coordinates (Nout attribute) should match the number of output grid dimensions given by "ndim_out".
Note that "lbnd_in" and "ubnd_in" together define the shape
and size of the input grid, its extent along a particular
(j'th) dimension being ubnd_in[j]-lbnd_in[j]1 (assuming the
index "j" to be zero-based). They also define
the input grid's coordinate system, each pixel having unit
extent along each dimension with integral coordinate values
at its centre.
The storage order of data within this array should be such that the index of the first grid dimension varies most rapidly and that of the final dimension least rapidly (i.e. Fortran array indexing is used).
If no input variance estimates are being provided, a NULL pointer should be given.
If no additional parameters are required, this array is not used and a NULL pointer may be given.
If piece-wise linear approximation is not required, a value of zero may be given. This will ensure that the Mapping is used without any approximation, but may increase execution time.
If the value is too high, discontinuities between the linear approximations used in adjacent panel will be higher, and may cause the edges of the panel to be visible when viewing the output image at high contrast. If this is a problem, reduce the tolerance value used.
If a smaller value is used, the input region will first be divided into sub-regions whose size does not exceed "maxpix" pixels in any dimension. Only at this point will attempts at approximation commence.
This value may occasionally be useful in preventing false convergence of the adaptive algorithm in cases where the Mapping appears approximately linear on large scales, but has irregularities (e.g. holes) on smaller scales. A value of, say, 50 to 100 pixels can also be employed as a safeguard in general-purpose software, since the effect on performance is minimal.
If too small a value is given, it will have the effect of inhibiting linear approximation altogether (equivalent to setting "tol" to zero). Although this may degrade performance, accurate results will still be obtained.
If the AST__USEBAD flag is set via the "flags" parameter, then this value is used to test for bad pixels in the "in" (and "in_var") array(s).
In all cases, this value is also used to flag any output elements in the "out" (and "out_var") array(s) for which rebined values could not be obtained (see the "Propagation of Missing Data" section below for details of the circumstances under which this may occur).
Note that "lbnd_out" and "ubnd_out" together define the shape, size and coordinate system of the output grid in the same way as "lbnd_in" and "ubnd_in" define the shape, size and coordinate system of the input grid.
Note that "lbnd" and "ubnd" together define the shape and position of a (hyper-)rectangular region of the input grid which is to be included in the rebined output array. This region should lie wholly within the extent of the input grid (as defined by the "lbnd_in" and "ubnd_in" arrays). Regions of the input grid lying outside this region will not be used.
The output variance values will be calculated on the assumption that errors on the input data values are statistically independent and that their variance estimates may simply be summed (with appropriate weighting factors) when several input pixels contribute to an output data value. If this assumption is not valid, then the output error estimates may be biased. In addition, note that the statistical errors on neighbouring output data values (as well as the estimates of those errors) may often be correlated, even if the above assumption about the input data is correct, because of the pixel spreading schemes employed.
If no output variance estimates are required, a NULL pointer should be given.
Note that, unlike
astResampleX
, the astRebin
X
set of functions does not yet support unsigned integer data types
or integers of different sizes.
The binning algorithm used has the ability to introduce artifacts not seen when using a resampling algorithm. Particularly, when viewing the output image at high contrast, systems of curves lines covering the entire image may be visible. These are caused by a beating effect between the input pixel positions and the output pixels position, and their nature and strength depend critically upon the nature of the Mapping and the spreading function being used. In general, the nearest neighbour spreading function demonstrates this effect more clearly than the other functions, and for this reason should be used with caution.
The following values (defined in the
"ast.h" header file)
may be assigned to the
"spread"
parameter. See the
astResampleX
documentation for details of these schemes including the use of the
"fspread" and "params" parameters:
An input pixel is considered bad (and is consequently ignored) if its data value is equal to "badval" and the AST__USEBAD flag is set via the "flags" parameter.
In addition, associated output variance estimates (if calculated) may be declared bad and flagged with the "badval" value in the "out_var" array for similar reasons.
AST A Library for Handling World Coordinate Systems in Astronomy