Linux storm chasing software

Adam Boggs

Adam Boggs

EF0
Joined
Jun 28, 2007
Messages
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Location
Boulder, CO
Folks,

After starting a thread last spring on the availability of Linux storm chasing tools and a SpotterNetwork script I had written, I decided to embark on a new project to develop a tool for storm chasing that does what I want it to do, runs on Linux, and that I could release to the open source community (you guys) for others to enjoy and contribute to for free.

While I know the season is just about over, I wanted to get a "beta" released for people to try out and provide feedback on. The goal was to combine GPS input with a moving map and weather (radar) overlays. I have a whole list of future enhancements, such as satellite overlays, range rings and distance calculators, better user interface (I could really use some help here!), animated imagery, text/visual/voice warning alerts, etc.

The software is written in C/GTK+ and released under the GPL. A system running Linux, a GPS with support from gpsd, and an internet connection are required. I use a tethered data plan on my phone for internet. It will use cached map tiles when available, but for new areas/zoom levels, updated radar images, and automatic SpotterNetwork updates, an internet connection is required.

I would really appreciate any feedback on this, and if you are interested in contributing to the project I would love some help! Please check it out if you have a chance:

http://www.aircrafter.org/boggs/stormchasing/BrainStorm/
 
This is a great idea, because the internet data will move faster thru linux - something commonly used - like 'Ununtu'?

But are you able to provide the software to run the cell phone apps/internet linkage thru Verizon, Alltel, and others? I don't know if the aforementioned providers' software is linux-compatible. I'm no expert with software; mostly a hardware-oriented guy.

Let me know if it can be done, as I plan to put a larger hard disc in my laptop and have Xp and add either Ubuntu or Suse on the partition. This is an interesting project you are taking on. The internet speed and hardware utilization would make it a much faster machine. Probably would be extremely efficient with resources that could easily be recognized by the end user.

Please keep in mind that not all of us are as savvy with software as you are. Making it user-friendly would be the difference that would be most appreciated!
 
Last edited by a moderator:
I've been chasing with my laptop running Ubuntu 9.04 all season. I tether to Verizon through a Motorola E-815 phone attached via combo charger/usb data cable (and pay the $60/month. ugh). When I plug it in, a new menu item appears in the network manager task bar drop down that says something like "Connect to CDMA Broadband Network". After entering my account number and password the first time it connected automatically with no fuss. No special drivers or anything. I was really impressed with how easy it was!

Thanks for the comment on user-savvyness as well. I can appreciate that. One thing to keep in mind with this release is that it is a BETA, which is primarily targeted at folks who are capable of at least compiling the software and installing the prerequisite libraries and such. When 1.0 is released, I think it will need to be as simple as using dpkg/rpm to install the package.

Thanks for the feedback!
 
I'm posting this on a half-apart micro-ATX computer designed for in-vehicle mounting, running Ubuntu Jaunty from a USB HDD. The internet connection is through a Verizon aircard plugged into a Cradlepoint CTR500. My voice phone is also an E-815, but the CTR500 sure is a lot more convenient and can serve multiple simultaneous connections. What is still true, AFAIK, is that to update the aircard's PRL (important to do every few months) you still need a PC running the VZW Windows-based software.

It's half apart so I could tap one of the three-pin fan connections to test an aspirator housing for a USB-connected temperature/moisture sensor. It will easily mount off a vehicle side-window. The sensor comes along with open-source linux software that will report temperature and moisture readings from the linux command line.

The point is that linux can do just about anything you want except run proprietary MSW-based software; and do it with far less cost and OS baggage.

I recently added linux to my Vista-based laptop. I've yet to take it on the road, but it works just fine with the same internet connection I'd be using when mobile. FYI, Rob, the new distros use a version of the loader (grub) which can boot and run from the MSW file system. MS doesn't really want Vista to play well with linux and the old boot-sector loader was giving me install fits. The new loader lets Windows boot just a little, then grabs control. AFA MSW knows, the linux is just some directory with binary stuff in it. No re-partitioning required.

I'm looking forward to trying out Brainstorm, Adam. Thanks for doing this!
 
David, that sounds very cool. One thought for BrainStorm could be to allow a modular data display pane that could display data from various sources, such as the GPS receiver, local sensors such as the ones you are working with, downloaded data from the internet, or even camera/video images, each with their own sample rates and such. The current code that logs the GPS position to a file could easily log data from other sources as well, providing a time-position correlated data set. Hmm, something to think about. It's the beauty of open source software... anything is possible!

Anyone out there a GTK programmer? I would really love it if this software had nice big text and buttons to make it easier to use while in a moving vehicle on a bumpy washed-out hail-covered muddy dirt road out in the middle of nowhere. (You know what I'm talking about!) It would also make it much easier to use a touch screen too I think. The current user interface is a bit disappointing.

Also, another suggestion for folks wanting to try Linux but aren't ready to commit to formatting their hard drive is to try VMWare and run it in a "Virtual Machine". If you're not familiar with it, it basically lets you run another operating system inside a window. I use it to run Windows software on my Linux box, but you can use it to run Linux on your Windows system as well.
 
Adam Boggs said:
Also, another suggestion for folks wanting to try Linux but aren't ready to commit to formatting their hard drive is to try VMWare and run it in a "Virtual Machine". If you're not familiar with it, it basically lets you run another operating system inside a window. I use it to run Windows software on my Linux box, but you can use it to run Linux on your Windows system as well.
Click to expand...

Another way to try out Ubuntu Linux is with the Wubi Installer. I decided to put Windows 7 on my machine and while I was at it, make it dual boot with Ubuntu to give it a test drive. The Wubi installer made everything easy and smooth as silk. Also, it did not affect my Windows 7 installation at all.

I would like to see some decent radar viewers that take GIS files, can communicate with NEMA compatible GPS units, and will work with Spotter Network. From the description it looks like Adam is off to a good start and I'd love to help out, but my programming is limited to HTML, Javascript, and Visual Basic (very limited, haven't done it since version 6.0).
 
Hi Adam,

This has caught my interest as I'm working on a similar project for chase logging and radar animations. I'd love to collaborate, but I'm developing it for Windows, so it would probably just be more conceptual collaboration if anything. I like the idea of using OpenStreetMap for the mapping, and have been looking into that myself. How are you incorporating Google Maps into the software, an embedded browser control of some sort? Are there any issues with Google's license? I thought about using Google Maps, but without a browser, they don't make it easy to incorporate their maps into custom software and it also seems to violate their license agreements.
 
A good test case is WeatherTAP, that I use and like. Everything in WeatherTAP including RadarLab HD with GPS runs just fine in Linux because it uses the Java VM, except that it doesn't find any COM ports. Now Linux does just fine serving up serial data that the Linux version of the Java VM (or any other app) could have on a plate; but I'm guessing (at this point, 'till I talk to the TAP people) that they use down-and-dirty API calls that insist on talking secrets with a UART. I tried using setserial and linking /dev/ttyUSBx to /dev/ttyS2 (COM3 IRQ and port) but that didn't work for me.

So I've been spending some hours messing around the last few days -- no Unix or MSW guru here! Anyway, multiple USB GPSs accessible -- check. Just reconfigure gpsd to listen on /dev/ttyUSB[0-9] (or the equivalent for other distros than Ubuntu/Debian) and it will detect when a GPS is hotplugged. Then start a process that sends gpspipe -r into a named pipe that waits for a client process to read the raw NMEA messages from the pipe. The NMEA messages AFAIK are what Windows JVM goes through all its machinations to serve to RadarLab -- at least that's what seems to be happening. Of course since it's Linux and not Windoze you can have multiple gpspipes and other apps running simultaneously doing different things sucking off the same gpsd daemon.

BTW since CPUs of even modest specs nowadays run something on the order of a gazillion instructions between serial I/O interrupts, shell scripts do just fine for this stuff. Though I suppose one could do it in a real language if it amuses.... To be continued eventually....
 
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