Unpack data channels from cluster

Question

Hi all,
I tried searching for this, it seems common enough, but I'm not sure I used the right set of words:
I'm receiving data from a device in packets. Each packet contains multiple frames, each frame contains two sub-frames, and each sub-frame contains several data channels. In my vi, the packet is a cluster, the frames are clusters, and the sub-frames are clusters, all typedef'ed.
What I want to do, is take the initial big cluster, and split the data into a cluster of arrays, one per data channel, without generating spaghetti.
The "decimate array" function would work beautifully to do the job, but alas, it only operates on arrays, not clusters, and it seems my clusters cannot be converted to arrays.
Is there something I'm missing? I've attached a high-level picture...note I'm not an artist. The values "n" and "m" are fixed, so there is no variability
Solved!
Go to Solution.
Attachments:
ClusterToClusters.png ‏11 KB

Answer 1

Right-click on Build Array and choose "Concatenate Inputs" so you'll get a 1-D array.
If you get rid of the "Header" and "Footer" elements, you can wire your overall cluster to Cluster to Array, which will give you an array of Frame clusters, which you can then put through a For loop with Cluster to Array, which will give you a 2-D array, that you can reshape/decimate/extract columns or rows as necessary. Or, in newer versions of LabVIEW, you can right-click on the loop output tunnel and choose the option to concatenate, giving you a 1-D array. However, I suspect that the 2-D array will actually work well for you - you'll have frames on one axis, and data channels on the other.
If you need the Header and Footer to remain part of the overall cluster, add one more level of nested cluster (there's no memory/speed penalty) containing all the frames, so that you can unbundle just the data.
Is there any possibility of reading the data into an array in the first place, instead of a cluster? That might be easier.