Configuration schema (IO)

vSmartMOM accepts configuration as YAML, TOML, or in-memory Dict. All three are normalized through the same parameters_from_dict pipeline (see Parameters.jl). This page is the top-level index for the configuration schema; each top-level block has its own detail page.

Top-level blocks

Block	Required	Purpose
radiative_transfer	✓	RT solver, quadrature, polarization, Fourier resolution (v0.7 nstreams knob), truncation
geometry	✓	SZA, VZA(s), VAZ(s), observer altitude
atmospheric_profile	✓	T, p, q, profile reduction
absorption	◯	Gas absorption: VMRs, broadening, HITRAN edition pointer
scattering	◯	Mie aerosol size distribution, phase-function, decomposition
canopy (forthcoming)	◯	Vegetation canopy + soil composite surface — page not yet authored
sources (programmatic only)	◯	See Schema/sources.md — set via model_from_parameters(...; sources=...) for now

The surface: field inside radiative_transfer has its own detailed page at Schema/surface.md covering the BRDF vocabulary (LambertianSurfaceScalar, CoxMunkSurface, rpvSurfaceScalar, etc.) and the Phase C trait dispatch table.

v0.7 schema migration (Phase D)

vSmartMOM v0.7 promotes nstreams to the primary user-facing resolution knob:

radiative_transfer:
  nstreams: 8           # weighted streams per hemisphere
                        # public contract: stream_l_cap = 2·nstreams - 1
  truncation: auto      # NoTruncation if phase fits, δBGE otherwise

Legacy max_m / l_trunc configs continue to work; the parser detects the legacy schema by the presence of either field and applies the historical aggregator + δBGE default. New configs should prefer nstreams. See radiative_transfer.md for the precedence rules and docs/dev_notes/fourier_stream_resolution_plan.md for the design rationale.

Editor support — autocomplete + inline validation

vSmartMOM ships a JSON Schema at schemas/vsmartmom-parameters.schema.json. The repo wires that schema only to vSmartMOM scene/setup files: config/, test/test_parameters/, direct files under test/benchmarks/, test/vlidort_baseline/configs/, examples/, and sandbox/.

Package TOML (Project.toml, Artifacts.toml), manifests, generated docs, and benchmark harness metadata such as test/benchmarks/harness/scenarios.toml are deliberately out of scope.

TOML — Taplo (VS Code or CLI)

Install the Even Better TOML extension or the standalone taplo CLI. VS Code uses the repo-root .taplo.toml; the CLI can smoke-test the same setup:

cargo install taplo-cli --locked
taplo lint                                  # validates setup TOML files only
taplo format path/to/setup_scene.toml       # formats one setup TOML file

YAML — yaml-language-server

VS Code's YAML extension uses .vscode/settings.json in this repo to associate the same schema with setup YAML files. Any editor running yaml-language-server can also honor a $schema directive at the top of a YAML file:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=https://raw.githubusercontent.com/RemoteSensingTools/vSmartMOM.jl/main/schemas/vsmartmom-parameters.schema.json

radiative_transfer:
  nstreams: 8
  ...

For local development without internet, point $schema at the local file:

# yaml-language-server: $schema=../../../schemas/vsmartmom-parameters.schema.json

Once wired, hovering over any field shows the inline description. Choice fields such as quadrature_type, polarization_type, truncation, float_type, architecture, broadening, and decomp_type also carry per-choice descriptions in completion popups. Typos and out-of-range values surface as squiggles before runtime.

Minimal new-schema YAML example

radiative_transfer:
  spec_bands:
    - "[18867.92 18868.92]"
  surface:
    - LambertianSurfaceScalar(0.0)
  polarization_type: Stokes_IQU()
  Δ_angle: 2.0
  depol: 0.0
  float_type: Float64
  architecture: Architectures.CPU()
  # nstreams omitted ⇒ default 8
  # truncation omitted ⇒ "auto"
  # quadrature_type omitted ⇒ GaussLegQuad()

geometry:
  sza: 30
  vza: [10, 20, 40]
  vaz: [0, 0, 0]
  obs_alt: 1000.0

atmospheric_profile:
  T: [260, 262, 264]
  p: [0.1, 100.0, 800.0, 1005.0]
  profile_reduction: -1

Reading from external sources

using vSmartMOM

# YAML / TOML / Dict — all routed through parameters_from_dict
params = parameters_from_yaml("config/quickstart.yaml")
params = parameters_from_file("config/quickstart.toml")
params = parameters_from_dict(my_dict)

See also

• docs/src/pages/IO/Examples.md — end-to-end usage examples

• docs/src/pages/conventions.md — sign conventions for VLIDORT cross-validation

• docs/dev_notes/fourier_stream_resolution_plan.md — v0.7 Fourier/stream resolution design memo