docs/without-library.md

# Using Channels4World without the library

Channel arrays and positions are ordinary NPZ files (`numpy.load`); geometry is an
ordinary ZIP (`zipfile.ZipFile`). Start with the one-scene Tiny download on the
[card](../README.md); plain NumPy needs only its record files, the last three patterns. The
extra Tiny root, schemas and group metadata are needed for channels4world library
navigation and verification.

Commands use the release tag `v1.0.0`. The examples use the same scene, carrier and BS as
the card.

## Archive conventions

You can treat a download as a collection of archives; folder names are only needed for
choosing what to download. Everything else is in two naming patterns:

| Item | Pattern | Example |
|---|---|---|
| Group | `<split>-<profile code>-g<NNNNN>`, exactly 25 scenes of one split and profile | `test-urban-g00000` |
| Channel archive | `<group>-<band>-<core\|detail>.tar` | `test-urban-g00000-3.5ghz-core.tar` |
| Scene-asset archive | `<group>-<positions\|geometry>.tar` | `test-urban-g00000-positions.tar` |
| File inside an archive | `records/scene=<id>/band_hz=<Hz>/component=<core\|detail>/bs<NNNNN>.npz` | `records/scene=urban_scene_019234/band_hz=3500000000/component=core/bs00000.npz` |
| Scene asset inside an archive | `records/scene=<id>/positions.npz`, `records/scene=<id>/geometry.zip` | |

The profile code is `urban`, `metro` or `suburban`; the catalogs spell `metro` as
`metropolitan`. Archive file names are unique, so `{p.name: p for p in Path(release_dir).rglob("*.tar")}`
finds everything regardless of folders. To use a channel record, open the **positions
archive of the same group** (`<group>-positions.tar`) and take the same scene's
`positions.npz`. Inside a record, `link_ue_index` holds UE IDs (rows of `ue_positions`),
and link `i` owns paths `link_path_offsets[i]:link_path_offsets[i+1]`.

## A standalone reader

[`read_archives.py`](read_archives.py) (about 100 lines, NumPy only) does
exactly this for one release folder:

```bash
python read_archives.py c4w --band 3.5ghz --limit 5
python read_archives.py c4w --scenes urban_scene_019234      # filter records afterwards
```

It stops reading once it has printed `--limit` records (`--limit 0` reads every record).
It searches only `c4w/payload/`, stops if the same archive file name appears twice (for
example, two downloads mixed in one folder), and lists any group whose positions archive
is missing instead of failing halfway through. Copy and adapt it freely.

## Read one Tiny scene

Use exactly the same `TINY_ROOT`, `SCENE_ID`, `CARRIER_HZ`, `BS_ID` and `UE_ID` as the
card's NumPy example. Do not independently choose the first catalog row and the first
lexically sorted directory: those orders can differ.

```python
from pathlib import Path
import numpy as np

TINY_ROOT = Path("c4w/tiny")
SCENE_ID, CARRIER_HZ, BS_ID, UE_ID = "urban_scene_019234", 3_500_000_000, 0, 14
scene_dir = TINY_ROOT / "records" / f"scene={SCENE_ID}"
core_path = (scene_dir / f"band_hz={CARRIER_HZ}" / "component=core"
             / f"bs{BS_ID:05d}.npz")

with np.load(core_path, allow_pickle=False) as core, np.load(
    scene_dir / "positions.npz", allow_pickle=False
) as positions:
    ue_ids = core["link_ue_index"]
    link_row = int(np.searchsorted(ue_ids, UE_ID))
    assert link_row < ue_ids.size and ue_ids[link_row] == UE_ID, "No retained link to this UE."
    start, stop = map(int, core["link_path_offsets"][link_row:link_row + 2])
    gain = core["a_real"][start:stop] + 1j * core["a_imag"][start:stop]
    print(core["tau"][start:stop], gain)
    print(np.linalg.norm(
        positions["ue_positions"][UE_ID] - positions["bs_positions"][BS_ID]
    ))
```

`UE_ID` indexes a position row; `link_row` indexes the retained-link table. Preserve
that association when filtering. An unlisted UE in this **loaded** record has no
retained link to this BS. This says nothing about payloads not downloaded or
components not published.

For geometry, use ZIP tools, not NumPy:

```python
import json
import zipfile

with zipfile.ZipFile(scene_dir / "geometry.zip") as archive:
    descriptor = json.loads(archive.read("scene.json"))
    print(descriptor["entrypoint"], archive.namelist())
```

The entrypoint is a Mitsuba XML referencing OBJ meshes. Keep relative paths together
if later extracting the geometry for a renderer. This example only inspects it.

## Download a tier's archives

Increment folders are numbered in tier order, so a tier is one pattern per component:
Small is `inc1-*`, Medium `inc[1-2]-*`, Large `inc[1-3]-*`, Full `inc*`. A split or
profile narrows it by file name. For example, Medium test-split core at 3.5 GHz with
positions:

```bash
hf download Intelligence-Networking-Lab/Channels4World --repo-type dataset \
  --revision v1.0.0 --local-dir c4w \
  --include 'payload/3.5ghz/core/inc[1-2]-*/test-*' \
  --include 'payload/scene/positions/inc[1-2]-*/test-*'
```

In these patterns `*` also matches `/`. Detail uses `payload/<3.5ghz|7ghz>/detail/...` and
is hosted for Small and Medium only, so the Large and Full patterns return Medium's detail.
Positions and geometry archives are carrier-independent. The release root sits at the top
of the repository, so these paths are also the local paths under `c4w/`.

## Select with 🤗 Datasets

The catalogs load as ordinary tables, so standard tools can choose what to download:

```python
from datasets import load_dataset
from huggingface_hub import snapshot_download

REPO, REV = "Intelligence-Networking-Lab/Channels4World", "v1.0.0"
scenes = load_dataset(REPO, "scenes", split="catalog", revision=REV)
files = load_dataset(REPO, "files", split="catalog", revision=REV)
groups = set(scenes.filter(lambda r: r["split"] == "test")["group"])
paths = [r["path"] for r in files
         if r["group"] in groups and r["kind"] == "payload" and r["component"] in ("positions", "core")
         and r["frequency_hz"] in (None, 3_500_000_000)]
assert paths, "No matching published payloads."
snapshot_download(REPO, repo_type="dataset", revision=REV, local_dir="c4w", allow_patterns=paths)
```

Use the catalog's actual `profile` values if narrowing further. The archives themselves
also load with `load_dataset("webdataset", ...)`; the [HF guide](hf-datasets.md) pairs
remote and local inputs and explains their decoded representation.

## Arbitrary scenes: download the containing archives, then filter

Archives hold whole groups, so a list of scenes means two steps: download the archives
that **contain** those scenes (from the catalogs), then **filter records** to those scenes
when reading. The catalogs are two small Parquet files at the release root:

```python
import pyarrow.parquet as pq
from huggingface_hub import hf_hub_download, snapshot_download

REPO, REV = "Intelligence-Networking-Lab/Channels4World", "v1.0.0"
for table in ("c4w-root/scenes.parquet", "c4w-root/files.parquet"):
    hf_hub_download(REPO, table, repo_type="dataset", revision=REV, local_dir="c4w")

wanted_scenes = {"urban_scene_019234"}                     # your scene list
scenes = pq.read_table("c4w/c4w-root/scenes.parquet").to_pylist()
files = pq.read_table("c4w/c4w-root/files.parquet").to_pylist()
groups = {s["group"] for s in scenes if s["scene_id"] in wanted_scenes}
archives = [f["path"] for f in files
            if f["kind"] == "payload" and f["group"] in groups
            and (f["component"], f["frequency_hz"]) in {("core", 3_500_000_000), ("positions", None)}]
snapshot_download(REPO, repo_type="dataset", revision=REV, local_dir="c4w", allow_patterns=archives)
```

Then read only those scenes: `python read_archives.py c4w --scenes urban_scene_019234`.
The download includes the other scenes of the same groups; filtering skips them without
reading their bytes. This works for any folder layout, because the catalog lists each
archive's actual path.

## Find the byte location of one record

With PyArrow available, the scene table identifies the group for an explicit scene;
the members table maps a member path to its archive and byte location:

```python
from pathlib import Path
import pyarrow.parquet as pq

RELEASE_ROOT = Path("c4w")             # the release root is the repository top level
scenes = pq.read_table(RELEASE_ROOT / "c4w-root/scenes.parquet").to_pylist()
scene_row = next(row for row in scenes if row["scene_id"] == SCENE_ID)
GROUP_ID = scene_row["group"]
# Download this group's members.parquet (and other needed metadata) first.
members = pq.read_table(
    RELEASE_ROOT / "groups" / GROUP_ID / "catalog/members.parquet"
).to_pylist()
core_member = (f"records/scene={SCENE_ID}/band_hz={CARRIER_HZ}/component=core/"
               f"bs{BS_ID:05d}.npz")
positions_member = f"records/scene={SCENE_ID}/positions.npz"
core_row = next(row for row in members if row["member_path"] == core_member)
pos_row = next(row for row in members if row["member_path"] == positions_member)
print(core_row["object_path"], pos_row["object_path"])
```

Retrieve the group metadata, schemas and archives at the same revision as the catalogs
(tag `v1.0.0`). A TAR is the transfer unit and can contain many scenes, so one chosen
record can require more bytes than that record's own payload size. Root
`files.parquet` lists archive byte counts/hashes; `members.parquet` lists member
byte counts/hashes. Scene-only payload size excludes root/schema/group metadata.
`data_offset` and `member_bytes` locate the member's bytes inside the uncompressed TAR,
so a byte-range read can fetch one record without the rest of the archive.

The published `files.parquet` is the authority for paths, sizes and hashes; reuse it for
generated commands and size displays rather than keeping a second hand-written list.

## Read one TAR member directly

After downloading the archives identified above, ordinary Python can read a single
NPZ member without extracting the whole TAR:

```python
import hashlib
import io
import tarfile
import numpy as np

def read_npz_member(archive_path, row):
    with tarfile.open(archive_path, "r:") as archive:
        member = archive.getmember(row["member_path"])
        if not member.isfile():
            raise ValueError("Expected a regular NPZ member.")
        with archive.extractfile(member) as stream:
            body = stream.read()
    if len(body) != row["member_bytes"]:
        raise ValueError("Member byte count mismatch.")
    if hashlib.sha256(body).hexdigest() != row["member_sha256"]:
        raise ValueError("Member hash mismatch.")
    with np.load(io.BytesIO(body), allow_pickle=False) as npz:
        return {name: npz[name] for name in npz.files if name != "__meta__"}

core = read_npz_member(RELEASE_ROOT / core_row["object_path"], core_row)
positions = read_npz_member(RELEASE_ROOT / pos_row["object_path"], pos_row)
i = int(np.searchsorted(core["link_ue_index"], UE_ID))
assert i < core["link_ue_index"].size and core["link_ue_index"][i] == UE_ID
lo, hi = map(int, core["link_path_offsets"][i:i + 2])
print(core["tau"][lo:hi], core["a_real"][lo:hi] + 1j * core["a_imag"][lo:hi])
print(np.linalg.norm(positions["ue_positions"][UE_ID] - positions["bs_positions"][BS_ID]))
```

The shared scene/carrier/BS/UE constants and UE-position join match the card. Check the
NPZ `__meta__` identity and dependencies when assembling data yourself; matching
array lengths alone do not establish a core/detail association. The [schema](schema-reference.md)
explains identities, hashes and path-axis alignment.

## Or extract TARs to Tiny-like loose payloads

**Prerequisite for this extraction example:** Python with `tarfile.data_filter`,
provided in **3.11.4+**, including **3.12+**. This does not raise the library's
Python ≥3.11 requirement. It applies only to this standard-library extraction code.

```python
from pathlib import Path
import tarfile

if not hasattr(tarfile, "data_filter"):
    raise RuntimeError("Use Python 3.11.4+ with tarfile.data_filter (including 3.12+).")
out = Path("unpacked")
out.mkdir(exist_ok=False)  # use a new destination
archives = {core_row["object_path"], pos_row["object_path"]}
for object_path in sorted(archives):
    with tarfile.open(RELEASE_ROOT / object_path, "r:") as archive:
        archive.extractall(out, filter="data")
```

A member `records/scene=S/.../bs00000.npz` becomes
`unpacked/records/scene=S/.../bs00000.npz`: the archive's own folders are not part of the
member name. The extracted folder has Tiny's layout, so the same inspection works on it:

```python
import numpy as np

scene_dir = out / "records" / f"scene={SCENE_ID}"
core = np.load(scene_dir / f"band_hz={CARRIER_HZ}" / "component=core" / f"bs{BS_ID:05d}.npz")
positions = np.load(scene_dir / "positions.npz")
ue_ids = core["link_ue_index"]                    # retained UE IDs
row = int(np.searchsorted(ue_ids, UE_ID))         # this UE's link row
start, stop = core["link_path_offsets"][row:row + 2]
print(core["tau"][start:stop])
print(np.linalg.norm(positions["ue_positions"][UE_ID] - positions["bs_positions"][BS_ID]))
```

An archive holds a whole group of scenes, so extraction writes more scenes than the one
you inspect.

![Archive location, internal member path and extraction destinations](layout.svg)

Ordinary TAR extraction writes payloads only. The library's
`c4w.extract(selection, dest)` writes those selected member paths and unchanged
payload bytes, preserves original group metadata/schemas, and creates a subset root
and scene/file/record tables. Tiny uses that same loose subset representation.
Simply copying a larger release manifest beside an extracted subset does not build
a valid subset root.

[Return to card](../README.md) · [Schema](schema-reference.md) · [Library guide](library-guide.md)