RPF: An Extensible, Cross-Platform, Binary File Format for Radiation Physics Data

摘要

Neutron and gamma-ray spectrometry experiments can produce a large volume of data. At various times, these data need to be collected, annotated, collated, analyzed, transported, archived, and retrieved. In practice, these operations often occur on multiple platforms. We needed a data file format that was flexible in the type and amount of data it could store, portable across different computer platforms, and was easily extensible to accommodate new data storage requirements. Finding an existing, well-developed framework that had freely distributed pre-compiled binaries for a wide variety of platforms; was open source for compilation on other platforms; had a large, diverse user base; and available user support was a bonus which helped to reduce the complexity and time required to implement a solution. The Radiation Physics Format (RPF) spectral data file format is the result of designing a standard data file format for spectral data that meets these and other criteria. It is a self-describing binary file that is based upon the National Center for Supercomputing Applications (NCSA) Hierarchical Data format (HDF) paradigm.