Capturing, Averaging, and Managing Data in Smaart RTA Pro

Capturing, Averaging, and Managing Data in Smaart RTA Pro

Smaart RTA Pro is capable of capturing and averaging RTA data - this allows you to take a snapshot, or picture, of the RTA response to review later or even send to another person. Beyond that, you can capture multiple RTA responses and then average them together to create a spatially averaged response.

Capturing RTA Data

Select the Camera icon in the upper-left corner of the RTA graph. You will be prompted to name the measurement, and it will be shown automatically until you hide it in the data folder. 

Show/Hide is Select/Deselect

Data focus in Smaart RTA Pro is tied to the Show/Hide state for that data. If a data trace is shown, it is also selected and ready to be averaged or deleted.

Averaging Stored Data

To average two or more stored data traces, first turn on their display. Then, press the "Average" button. Whichever traces are shown will be averaged together.

Deleting Stored Data

To delete stored data traces, select the traces you wish to delete by displaying them, and then select the Delete button. You can also manage your stored data traces directly from the file management system on your device.

Renaming Stored Data

Simple long-press on the trace you wish to rename and you will be prompted to type a new name for it.

dB vs Power Averaging

Power and decibel (dB) averaging refer to what type of data goes into resulting average. Decibel averaging, sometimes called arithmetic averaging, is a simple average of decibel magnitudes at each frequency. Spatial power averaging, on the other hand, is the average of squared linear magnitudes at each frequency with the result converted to decibels. Each has its own strengths and potential weaknesses to keep in mind.

Power averaging is the typical (and often required) choice for applications such as background noise surveys or evaluating the average power spectrum of sound across a wide area for any other reason. It tends to give more weight to the loudest sounds and, when used for single-channel signal analysis where the focus is more on the sound being analyzed than the response of a system reproducing the sound, it can produce a result that best “looks how it sounds.”

Decibel averaging produces an averaged result where all magnitudes are equally weighted. You might say that it tends to give more of a “consensus” view for all measurement positions than power averaging. When evaluating sound system frequency response, power averaging works best if all measurements being averaged are approximately equal in level.