There are broadly two options for getting data loaded into a table. These are discussed below

1. Managed array
Hand NgTableParams an in-memory array and let it do the filtering, sorting and paging on that array. Eg:
var data = [{ name: 'christian', age: 21 }, { name: 'anthony', age: 88 }];
var tp = new NgTableParams({}, { data: data });
2. External array
Hand NgTableParams a custom getData function that it will call to load data. Eg:
var tp = new NgTableParams({}, { getData: function(params){
    /* code to fetch data that matches the params values */
}});
Typically you will use this option to load server-side data