pyRPC3

pyRPC3 is a Python package for reading, processing, and writing RPC3 (.rsp, .rpc, .tim) files — a binary file format used to store time-series channel data. The package provides a Channel class for representing individual data channels, an RPC3 class for reading and writing RPC3 files, and utility functions for normalizing channel data.

Features

• Reading RPC3 Files: Parse RPC3 files to extract header information and channel data.
• Writing RPC3 Files: Save processed channel data to a valid RPC3 file.
• Data Normalization: Normalize channel data to 16-bit integer ranges.
• Interactive Plotting: Visualize channel data using Matplotlib.
• Testing: Comprehensive tests using pytest.

Installation

Clone the repository and install the required packages:

git clone https://github.com/galuszkm/pyRPC3.git
cd pyRPC3
pip install -r requirements.txt

Requirements

• Python 3.9+
• NumPy
• Matplotlib

Interactive Plotting Note:
If you need interactive plots and do not have Tkinter installed, you can use an alternative backend like PySide6. Install it with:

pip install PySide6

Then, set the backend in your script as follows:

import matplotlib
matplotlib.use("QtAgg")  # Use an interactive Qt backend
import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
plt.ion()  # Enable interactive mode

Usage

Reading an RPC3 File

To read an RPC3 file and print a summary of its channels:

from pyRPC3 import RPC3

# Replace with the path to your RPC3 file
rpc = RPC3("path/to/your_file.rsp", debug=True)
rpc.info()

# Access individual channel data:
for channel in rpc.channels:
    print(f"Channel {channel.number}: {channel.name} [{channel.units}]")

Writing an RPC3 File

You can write a new RPC3 file from the channels loaded in an RPC3 instance. You can also exclude certain channels by number or name:

from pyRPC3 import RPC3

# Read an existing RPC3 file
rpc = RPC3("path/to/your_file.rsp", debug=True)

# Save to a new file, excluding channel number 2 and a channel named "TestChannel"
rpc.save("path/to/new_file.rsp", exclude_channels=[2, "TestChannel"])

Plotting Channel Data

To plot the data of a channel using Matplotlib:

import matplotlib.pyplot as plt
from pyRPC3 import RPC3

rpc = RPC3("path/to/your_file.rsp")
# Plot the first channel (ensure interactive backend is set as described above)
rpc.channels[0].plot()
plt.show()

Testing

The repository includes a suite of tests using pytest. To run the tests, simply execute:

pytest

Tests cover:

• Reading RPC3 files and verifying channel properties.
• Writing RPC3 files and round-tripping file data.
• Data normalization and interactive plotting.

Contributing

Contributions, issues, and feature requests are welcome!
Please check the issues page and submit a pull request for any improvements or bug fixes.

License

This project is licensed under the MIT License. See the LICENSE file for details.