ALF Tools

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ALF Tools ^TM Airborne Laser Fluorescence Analysis System

The ALF Tools system is a proprietary software package designed to extract the maximum amount of information from airborne laser fluorescence survey data. The system consists of a set of data processing and analysis modules integrated with a database. It allows an analyst to identify fluorescence anomalies, map their distribution and detect areal changes in the fluorescence curves. Quality control modules also allow navigation and data recording problems to be identified.

Figure 1. The ALF Tools ^TM System. (User manual and installation disk shown.)

For information on getting your ALF data analysed with this system, email Robert Cowley at rob.cowley@explorationist.com .

Latest Software Enhancements (April 2000):

	Updated projection module has more datum transformation and map projection options
	Latitude and longitude grids can be displayed on maps
	SQL queries can be applied to calculation tables
	Calculation tables and ALF spectra tables can be saved to new tables or merged with tabes in other projects
	Calculation table values can be exported into the ArcView GIS software system
	ALF maps can be saved as script files
	Zoom in, zoom out, pan and restore functions added to the map display

Recent ALF processing projects include a 7GB survey which was processed as 7 separate sub-projects. The results were merged into a combined project for mapping and further analysis.

Earlier Improvements (Jan 2000):

The main form of the ALF Tools system is shown in Figure 2 below. Behind this simple interface are over 80 forms and modules and over 500 pages of code. The largest ALF surveys processed to date contained over 2 million spectra and used over 1 gigabyte of disk storage.

Software enhancements and additions have been made to the system recently at the request of a client and to improve the quality of the analysis. These improvements include:

	Adjacent fluor detection module -- (to identify slicks wider than the ~1.4m sample spacing)
	ASCII output of fluor data -- (for input into other analysis and display systems)
	Fluor size histogram plotting
	Laboratory spectra importing
	Laboratory spectra matching
	Combined navigation and data acquisition QC displays.

(Note: A "fluor" is a fluorescence anomaly caused by an oil slick on the sea surface. The slick may be half a metre or less in diameter and so thin that it is not visible to the eye.)

Figure 2. The ALF Tools Main Form.