SOFA conventions
In order to meet the different requirements coming from different application fields, SOFA conventions are specified, i.e., definitions of data and metadata consistently describing particular HRTF/DRIR measurement setups. SOFA conventions can be implemented without any programming by using the Common Data Form Language (CDL) as suggested for netCDF. CDL files allow for a platform-independent interpretation of specifications and can be compiled to a binary netCDF file using the ncgen tool from the netCDF package: ncgen -b -o mySOFAfile.sofa -k3 mySOFAconvention.cdl The binaries of the nc-tools are available at the Unidata. In the following, two SOFA conventions are described. Note that instead of aiming at foreseeing the future, conventions should be developed only for known measurement setups. The known features should be consistently described while not limiting the development of future conventions.