RTK Introduction and Setup

The RTK application is used for applying the Vold-Kalman filtering technique to order-tracking of rotational events. The application uses time history data files from simulations or real-time data collections to process and visualize the spectral properties of events. This tool facilitates the process of obtaining response characteristics and finding insights into the mechanics of rotating events.

Requirements

RTK is part of IMAT+Signal, an IMAT toolbox.

This application is compatible with the version(s) of MATLAB that are supported by the version of IMAT it ships with. RTK also requires the use of the Signal Processing Toolbox available from The Mathworks (http://www.mathworks.com/products/signal/).

Installing the License

RTK uses an IMAT+Signal license. Please refer to your IMAT documentation for details on how to install your IMAT+Signal license.

Running the RTK GUI

To run the Rotational Toolkit graphical user interface (GUI), start MATLAB and type in the command window: “runRTK”.

RTK Main Interface

NOTE: When running RTK on different operating systems, the GUI window may appear slightly different from the images shown in the following sections.

When the RTK window appears, it will start out in the “Load Data” tab. The active tab will be shown with bold text. Each tab has a unique function in the data analysis process. The “Load Data” tab is used to load data from a file and select what part of the data must be used for analysis.

Figure 1. Main Tab

Menu Options

Various options are presented to the user from the menu bar. In the file menu, data can be imported into the application. The "Edit" menu will allow the tachometer processing settings to be adjusted and the help menu contains links to online and offline sources for application-specific assistance.

In the Help menu, you can select “Enable Error Reports”. This will be useful in times where the analysis fails to complete successfully. If this item is checked, a unique data file is created which can be sent to ATA for further assistance.