Smoothing is a process by which ion profiles (not total ion chromatogram) for every ion (m/z value) found in the data file are averaged with their neighbors in a time series. Smoothing can increase correct component detection and can eliminate “spikes”, which cause false positive results.

To apply smoothing to your data, click on the Chromatogram Processing button and choose the Smoothing pop-up menu item. The dialog window will appear with the following parameters:

Smooth Top Stages only: If checked, smoothing will only be applied to MS1 stage (full scan).

Segmentation: If checked, the chromatogram will be divided into discrete parts to which the algorithms will be applied separately. This option can provide better results if the chromatogram exhibits diverse shape, peak density and baseline characteristic the retention time scale.

Method: This group box includes the following smoothing methods: Savitzky-Golay, Median and Loess. In contrast to Median and Loess methods, the Savitzky-Golay method requires time-equidistant scans.