diff --git a/matlab/AUG/rdaAUG_eff.m b/matlab/AUG/rdaAUG_eff.m
index 41ac8b710e6f5d989c48f00273981abd5c2ae076..d4df013d3a0ab90c01a63f1cd68708c4125cd074 100644
--- a/matlab/AUG/rdaAUG_eff.m
+++ b/matlab/AUG/rdaAUG_eff.m
@@ -476,7 +476,7 @@ end
 adata.value = adata.data;
 
 % make sure orientation of .x maps 1st 2 dims if 2D
-if sum([size(adata.x)~=1]) == 2 && sum([size(adata.data)~=1]) >= 2
+if isfield(adata,'x') && ~isempty(adata.x) && sum([size(adata.x)>1]) == 2 && sum([size(adata.data)>1]) >= 2
   if size(adata.x,1)==size(adata.data,2) && size(adata.x,2)==size(adata.data,1)
     adata.x = adata.x';
     if isfield(adata,'dim')