Read Data from MDF-Files with Applied Conversion Rules

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This example shows you how to read channel data applying conversion rules from an MDF-file and configure different reading options in MATLAB.

Introduction to ASAM MDF Conversion Rules

According to the ASAM MDF standard, a data value encoded in the MDF channel is denoted as a raw value. It can be converted to a physical, engineering unit value using a conversion rule that describes the data. Conversion rules are the methods defined at the channel level to convert raw values to physical values.

ASAM MDF V4.2.0 supports the following conversion rules:

No Conversion

CC_Type 0: Identity (“1:1”) conversion

Numeric to Numeric Conversions

CC_Type 1: Linear conversion
CC_Type 2: Rational conversion formula
CC_Type 3: Algebraic conversion
CC_Type 4: Value to value tabular look-up with interpolation
CC_Type 5: Value to value tabular look-up without interpolation
CC_Type 6: Value range to value tabular look-up

Numeric to Text Conversions

CC_Type 7: Value to text/scale conversion tabular look-up
CC_Type 8: Value range to text/scale conversion tabular look-up

Text to Numeric Conversion

CC_Type 9: Text to value tabular look-up

Text to Text Conversion

CC_Type 10: Text to text tabular look-up

Other Conversion

CC_Type 11: Bitfield text table

Vehicle Network Toolbox™ provides the functionality to read your desired data from the MDF-file with different Conversion options. The allowed options are:

Numeric — Apply only numeric to numeric conversions (CC_Type 1-6). Data with other conversion rules are read as raw values.
None — Do not apply any conversion. All data are read as raw values.
All — Apply all numeric and text conversions (CC_Type 1-10). All data are read as physical values.

Note that if there is an identity conversion (CC_Type 0), or a none conversion (no conversion rule) in the channel, the data are read as raw values regardless of which Conversion option is specified.

Open the MDF-File

Open access to an MDF-file using the mdf function. The object mdfObj has the property Conversion with the default value Numeric.

mdfObj = mdf("MDF_Conversion_Example.mf4")

mdfObj = 
  MDF with properties:

   File Details
                 Name: 'MDF_Conversion_Example.mf4'
                 Path: '/tmp/Bdoc22a_1891349_156950/tp07074cff/vnt-ex96016136/MDF_Conversion_Example.mf4'
               Author: ''
           Department: ''
              Project: ''
              Subject: ''
              Comment: ''
              Version: '4.10'
             DataSize: 185
     InitialTimestamp: 1980-01-01 05:00:00.000000000

   Creator Details
    ProgramIdentifier: 'amdf5206'
              Creator: [1x1 struct]

   File Contents
           Attachment: [0x1 struct]
         ChannelNames: {{6x1 cell}}
         ChannelGroup: [1x1 struct]

   Options
           Conversion: Numeric

Use the channelList function to view the list of channels available in mdfObj.

channelList(mdfObj)

ans=6×18 table
             ChannelName              ChannelGroupNumber    ChannelGroupNumSamples    ChannelGroupAcquisitionName    ChannelGroupComment    ChannelGroupSourceInfo    ChannelDisplayName    ChannelUnit    ChannelComment    ChannelDescription    ChannelExtendedNamePrefix     ChannelType            ChannelDataType          ChannelNumBits    ChannelComponentType    ChannelCompositionType    ChannelConversionType    ChannelSourceInfo
    ______________________________    __________________    ______________________    ___________________________    ___________________    ______________________    __________________    ___________    ______________    __________________    _________________________    ______________    ___________________________    ______________    ____________________    ______________________    _____________________    _________________

    "Ambient temperature"                     1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            °F              <undefined>              ""             <undefined>                 FixedLength       RealLittleEndian                     64                  None                     None                  None                   1x1 struct    
    "Engine temperature"                      1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            °C              <undefined>              ""             <undefined>                 FixedLength       IntegerSignedLittleEndian            32                  None                     None                  Linear                 1x1 struct    
    "Fault code"                              1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            <undefined>     <undefined>              ""             <undefined>                 VariableLength    StringUTF8                           64                  None                     None                  TextToText             1x1 struct    
    "Gear position"                           1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            <undefined>     <undefined>              ""             <undefined>                 FixedLength       IntegerUnsignedLittleEndian           8                  None                     None                  ValueToText            1x1 struct    
    "time"                                    1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            s               <undefined>              ""             Signal with conversions     Master            RealLittleEndian                     64                  None                     None                  None                   1x1 struct    
    "Windshield wiper speed level"            1                       5                 Signal with conversions          <undefined>              1x1 struct                  ""            <undefined>     <undefined>              ""             <undefined>                 VariableLength    StringUTF8                           64                  None                     None                  TextToValue            1x1 struct

`Conversion` Property and `Conversion` Name-Value Pair

You can choose a Conversion option to apply when reading data from an MDF-file in MATLAB. You specify the option in either of the following ways:

Set the Conversion property of the MDF object and call the read function.
Specify a Conversion name-value pair when calling the read function.

View the details about the channel Engine temperature in channel group 1. The output shows that it has Linear conversion (CC_Type 1).

mdfObj.ChannelGroup(1).Channel(2)

ans = struct with fields:
                  Name: 'Engine temperature'
           DisplayName: ''
    ExtendedNamePrefix: ''
           Description: ''
               Comment: ''
                  Unit: '°C'
                  Type: FixedLength
              DataType: IntegerSignedLittleEndian
               NumBits: 32
         ComponentType: None
       CompositionType: None
        ConversionType: Linear
            SourceInfo: [1x1 struct]

You can set the Conversion property of the mdfObj to be Numeric and read data from channel Engine temperature in channel group 1.

mdfObj.Conversion = "Numeric"

mdfObj = 
  MDF with properties:

   File Details
                 Name: 'MDF_Conversion_Example.mf4'
                 Path: '/tmp/Bdoc22a_1891349_156950/tp07074cff/vnt-ex96016136/MDF_Conversion_Example.mf4'
               Author: ''
           Department: ''
              Project: ''
              Subject: ''
              Comment: ''
              Version: '4.10'
             DataSize: 185
     InitialTimestamp: 1980-01-01 05:00:00.000000000

   Creator Details
    ProgramIdentifier: 'amdf5206'
              Creator: [1x1 struct]

   File Contents
           Attachment: [0x1 struct]
         ChannelNames: {{6x1 cell}}
         ChannelGroup: [1x1 struct]

   Options
           Conversion: Numeric

dataPropNum = read(mdfObj, 1, "Engine temperature")

dataPropNum=5×1 timetable
      Time      EngineTemperature
    ________    _________________

    0 sec                35      
    0.25 sec         35.556      
    0.5 sec          36.111      
    0.75 sec         36.667      
    1 sec            37.222

You can also read data with the name-value pair Conversion, None. Note that the Conversion name-value pair has a higher priority than the Conversion property, which means the name-value pair is applied when the values are different.

dataNameValueNone = read(mdfObj, 1, "Engine temperature", "Conversion", "None")

dataNameValueNone=5×1 timetable
      Time      EngineTemperature
    ________    _________________

    0 sec              95        
    0.25 sec           96        
    0.5 sec            97        
    0.75 sec           98        
    1 sec              99

Using the Conversion name-value pair does not change the Conversion property of mdfObj. The Conversion property value of mdfObj after reading data with a name-value pair is still Numeric.

mdfObj.Conversion

ans = 
  Conversion enumeration

    Numeric

Read Data with Different `Conversion` Options on Numeric to Numeric Conversions

The following code shows how to read your desired data from a channel with a numeric to numeric conversion. The channel Engine temperature has Linear conversion (CC_Type 1) and it is chosen to represent the reading behavior of numeric to numeric conversions (CC_Type 1-6).

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, Numeric. In this case, Linear conversion is applied when reading data because the Numeric option supports numeric to numeric conversions. The physical data are returned and the physical numeric data have data type double.

dataLinearNum = read(mdfObj, 1, "Engine temperature", "Conversion", "Numeric")

dataLinearNum=5×1 timetable
      Time      EngineTemperature
    ________    _________________

    0 sec                35      
    0.25 sec         35.556      
    0.5 sec          36.111      
    0.75 sec         36.667      
    1 sec            37.222

class(dataLinearNum.EngineTemperature)

ans = 
'double'

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, None. In this case, Linear conversion is not applied when reading data because the None option does not apply any conversion. Raw data are returned with the original data type, which is an int32.

dataLinearNone = read(mdfObj, 1, "Engine temperature", "Conversion", "None")

dataLinearNone=5×1 timetable
      Time      EngineTemperature
    ________    _________________

    0 sec              95        
    0.25 sec           96        
    0.5 sec            97        
    0.75 sec           98        
    1 sec              99

class(dataLinearNone.EngineTemperature)

ans = 
'int32'

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, All. In this case, Linear conversion is applied when reading data because the All option supports all numeric and text conversions. The physical data are returned and the physical numeric data have data type double.

dataLinearAll = read(mdfObj, 1, "Engine temperature", "Conversion", "All")

dataLinearAll=5×1 timetable
      Time      EngineTemperature
    ________    _________________

    0 sec                35      
    0.25 sec         35.556      
    0.5 sec          36.111      
    0.75 sec         36.667      
    1 sec            37.222

class(dataLinearAll.EngineTemperature)

ans = 
'double'

Read Data with Different `Conversion` Options on Numeric to Text Conversions

The following code shows how to read your desired data from a channel with a numeric to text conversion. The channel Gear position has ValueToText conversion (CC_Type 7) and it is chosen to represent the reading behavior of numeric to text conversions (CC_Type 7-8).

View the details about the channel Gear position in channel group 1. The output shows that it has ValueToText conversion.

mdfObj.ChannelGroup(1).Channel(3)

ans = struct with fields:
                  Name: 'Gear position'
           DisplayName: ''
    ExtendedNamePrefix: ''
           Description: ''
               Comment: ''
                  Unit: ''
                  Type: FixedLength
              DataType: IntegerUnsignedLittleEndian
               NumBits: 8
         ComponentType: None
       CompositionType: None
        ConversionType: ValueToText
            SourceInfo: [1x1 struct]

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, Numeric. In this case, ValueToText conversion is not applied when reading data because the Numeric option supports only numeric to numeric conversions. The raw data are returned with the original data type, which is an int8.

dataV2TNum = read(mdfObj, 1, "Gear position", "Conversion", "Numeric")

dataV2TNum=5×1 timetable
      Time      GearPosition
    ________    ____________

    0 sec            2      
    0.25 sec         3      
    0.5 sec          0      
    0.75 sec         2      
    1 sec            1

class(dataV2TNum.GearPosition)

ans = 
'uint8'

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, None. In this case, ValueToText conversion is not applied when reading data because the None option does not apply any conversion. Raw data are returned with the original data type, which is an int8.

dataV2TNone = read(mdfObj, 1, "Gear position", "Conversion", "None")

dataV2TNone=5×1 timetable
      Time      GearPosition
    ________    ____________

    0 sec            2      
    0.25 sec         3      
    0.5 sec          0      
    0.75 sec         2      
    1 sec            1

class(dataV2TNone.GearPosition)

ans = 
'uint8'

Read data with the name-value pair Conversion, All. In this case, ValueToText conversion is applied when reading data because the All option supports all numeric and text conversions. The physical data are returned and the physical text data have data type char.

dataV2TAll = read(mdfObj, 1, "Gear position", "Conversion", "All")

dataV2TAll=5×1 timetable
      Time         GearPosition    
    ________    ___________________

    0 sec       {'Gear position 2'}
    0.25 sec    {'Gear position 3'}
    0.5 sec     {'Invalid'        }
    0.75 sec    {'Gear position 2'}
    1 sec       {'Gear position 1'}

class(dataV2TAll.GearPosition{1})

ans = 
'char'

Other Conversion Examples

There are some other channels in the mdfObj. The channels Ambient temperature, Windshield wiper speed level, and Fault code have conversions None, TextToValue, and TextToText, respectively. You can try to read these channels with different Conversion options.

View the details about the channel Ambient temperature in channel group 1. The output shows that it has None conversion.

mdfObj.ChannelGroup(1).Channel(1)

ans = struct with fields:
                  Name: 'Ambient temperature'
           DisplayName: ''
    ExtendedNamePrefix: ''
           Description: ''
               Comment: ''
                  Unit: '°F'
                  Type: FixedLength
              DataType: RealLittleEndian
               NumBits: 64
         ComponentType: None
       CompositionType: None
        ConversionType: None
            SourceInfo: [1x1 struct]

View the details about the channel Windshield wiper speed level in channel group 1. The output shows that it has TextToValue conversion.

mdfObj.ChannelGroup(1).Channel(4)

ans = struct with fields:
                  Name: 'Windshield wiper speed level'
           DisplayName: ''
    ExtendedNamePrefix: ''
           Description: ''
               Comment: ''
                  Unit: ''
                  Type: VariableLength
              DataType: StringUTF8
               NumBits: 64
         ComponentType: None
       CompositionType: None
        ConversionType: TextToValue
            SourceInfo: [1x1 struct]

View the details about the channel Fault code in channel group 1. The output shows that it has TextToText conversion.

mdfObj.ChannelGroup(1).Channel(5)

ans = struct with fields:
                  Name: 'Fault code'
           DisplayName: ''
    ExtendedNamePrefix: ''
           Description: ''
               Comment: ''
                  Unit: ''
                  Type: VariableLength
              DataType: StringUTF8
               NumBits: 64
         ComponentType: None
       CompositionType: None
        ConversionType: TextToText
            SourceInfo: [1x1 struct]

Close the File

Close access to the MDF-file by clearing the variable from the workspace.

clear mdfObj