WITio: A MATLAB data evaluation toolbox to script broader insights into big data from WITec microscopes
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2022-06
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en
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SoftwareX, Volume 18
Abstract
WITio is a free script-based MATLAB data evaluation toolbox for the files generated by thousand WITec microscopes operated globally by thousands of academic and industrial users. These modular microscopes excel at advanced imaging techniques and correlative studies, but also easily yield unwieldy big data. Though the shipped WITec software can batch process some of it by hand, it is presently limited at big data evaluation due to no scripting capabilities, 32-bit memory limit (mitigated by slow memory mapping) and no data compression. Partial workaround has been to export data elsewhere, but at the loss of time, metadata and access to WITec software due to its manual, lossy and one-way nature. WITio addresses these limitations by bringing in the strengths of MATLAB software (64-bit) and enabling bidirectional interoperation with WITec software via full read/write capability of the WITec Project/Data (*.wip/*.wid) files (including metadata like transformations). This means the toolbox users can use the best of both worlds to perform previously impossible sequential routines, where some tasks are done by scripts in MATLAB and the others in WITec software. The toolbox enables automation scripts, file batch processing, easy access to customized tools and more systematic data evaluation while reducing slow error-prone manual efforts. It even enables some real-time Autosave-based during-measurement task automation. Its code is freed under permissive license to challenge the extra license costs of WITec software and to invite the WITec community to share. Due to the stated benefits, its MATLAB scripting prerequisite is an excellent investment. To conclude, WITio strives to continually shine new insights into ever-increasing big data, bringing many research and commercial benefits to the community in the years to come.Description
Funding Information: Development of this software was financially supported by various grants of Aalto University, Finland . Especially, authors would like to acknowledge the Academy of Finland Flagship Programme, Photonics Research and Innovation (PREIN) , grant number 320167 . The research activities were done at the OtaNano — Micronova Nanofabrication Centre of Aalto University. Publisher Copyright: © 2022 The Author(s)
Keywords
Bidirectional interoperability, Big data evaluation, Customized automation scripts, Full file import/export, MATLAB toolbox, WITec Data (*.wid) file, WITec microscopes, WITec Project (*.wip) file
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Holmi, J T & Lipsanen, H 2022, ' WITio: A MATLAB data evaluation toolbox to script broader insights into big data from WITec microscopes ', SoftwareX, vol. 18, 101009 . https://doi.org/10.1016/j.softx.2022.101009