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AO27TLM.EXE V 1.0
By John Teller, N4NUN
(C) Copyright 1993 by the Amateur Radio Research and Development Co.
AO27TLM is a program which processes the telemetry data transmitted
by the AO-27 satellite. Although this satellite is based on the AMSAT
microsats, the telemetry output by this satellite is unlike that output
by the other microsats. This satellite is sponsored in part by the
Amateur Radio Research and Development Co. (AMRAD) and built at
Interferometrics, Inc. in Tyson's Corner, VA. The primary payload of
this satellite is commercial and is known as EYESAT.
This software is solely the property of AMRAD and is distributed free
to noncommercial users, who may copy and distribute this program at will
providing this documentation file accompanies the AO27TLM executable
file, and that the contents of either file are not modified in any way.
Please forward any comments, bug reports or whatever to:
AMRAD
P.O. Drawer 6148
McLean VA 22106
or leave mail on the AMRAD BBS (703) 734-1387.
AO27TLM FEATURES
================
1) This program can display telemetry data as received directly from
the AO-27 satellite through a standard TAPR TNC2 or clone (such as
an MFJ 1270) capable of operating in KISS mode.
2) Telemetry data can be logged to disk in either raw KISS format or
in a time-stamped ASCII Hex file.
3) Logged telemetry files may be replayed through the software for
viewing after a pass.
4) Logged telemetry files can be converted to a comma (or other
character) separated file for use with a data base or with plotting
software.
5) Whole Orbit Data (WOD) can be output to a comma (or other
character) separated file.
6) Since the list of channels in the WOD frames is subject to change,
the software has the capability of being updated remotely with a
list transmitted by the AO-27 satellite.
7) Any changes to the coefficient list can be updated remotely with
data transmitted by the AO-27 satellite.
IMPORTANT FILES
===============
AO27TLM.EXE -- The executable.
AO27TLM.DOC -- This file.
EYECOEF -- Contains the coefficient values for the various telemetry
channels. This file is formatted mostly as are the AMSAT
coefficient files, the only difference is that channel ff
is reserved for use as the coefficient file version.
EYELIMS -- This file contains the limits which will cause data to be
displayed in a color other than green when exceeded.
Again this file is organized like the equivalent AMSAT
limits files.
EYEWOD -- This file contains the list of telemetry channels
included in the WOD frames.
LOG2KSS.EXE -- A utility to convert an ASCII Hex file to a raw KISS
file, which takes up less than half the space of the
ASCII file.
HOW TO USE AO27TLM
==================
In its simplest form AO27TLM will examine the stream of KISS data
emanating from a TNC2 in KISS mode connected to COM1: for telemetry,
message, up time and coefficient and WOD list update frames. All
received data is logged in its raw KISS format to a log file with a name
generated by the current PC time when the file was first opened. Any
telemetry, message and up time frames are displayed on the screen as
they are received. In order to use AO27TLM in this mode it is only
necessary to connect a TNC2 set to 4800 baud, 8 bits, no parity to COM1
of your PC. When AO27TLM is run, the coefficients will be loaded from
the file EYECOEF. If the file EYELIMS exists, it will be read and any
limits it contains will be used whenever a telemetry frame is displayed.
After a pass is complete you need only to press the <Esc> key to quit
out of AO27TLM. Do not shut off the computer without escaping, since
any log files will not be closed properly and data loss may result.
AO27TLM may also be used to review collected telemetry at a later
date. To do this you need only enter "AO27TLM logfile.KSS" at the DOS
prompt. Of course logfile is the name of the file you wish to review.
At this time you may also generate a comma separated file of the
telemetry values to feed into a data base or other program. To do this
enter "AO27TLM logfile.KSS /OD" at the DOS prompt. This will open the
KISS file with the name "logfile", and create a comma separated file
with a name generated by the current PC time. In order to write to a
file other than that with the default name, enter "AO27TLM logfile.KSS
/OD /Ldatafile.DAT" at the DOS prompt. This will write any output data
to the file "datafile.DAT". If that file already exists, any new data
will be appended to it. See the next section for more information.
COMMAND LINE ARGUMENTS
======================
/COMX Use a serial port other than COM1 to communicate with the KISS
TNC. Values supported are COM1, COM2, COM3 and COM4.
/RXXXX Use a serial port bit rate other than 4800 baud. Any standard
speed from 300 to 19200 is supported.
/L+ Log received data to a raw binary KISS file (file name is
YJJJHHMM.KSS). This is the default logging state.
/L- This option stops any data logging.
/M Force monochrome display. This can be used with PC's that
have a CGA board connected to a composite monochrome monitor.
PCs with a standard MDA board will automatically be placed in
this mode.
/OD,K,T Output file type: Data, Kiss or Time stamped. The default for
this is /OK, which will produce a raw binary KISS file. If an
ASCII hex file is desired you may use the /OT command. The
/OD command, used to output a comma separated data file, can
only be used when the input is from a previously logged file.
/SXX Data separator char, where XX = ASCII code of the char in hex.
the default is /S2C (character 2C is a comma). To use a tab
as the separator, you would enter /S09 and so on.
/Bfname This command can be used to load the limits (Boundaries) from
a file other than EYELIMS. fname is the name of the desired
file.
/Efname This command can be used to load the coEfficients from a file
other than EYECOEF. fname is the name of the desired file.
/Dfname This command can be used to load the WOD list from a file
other than EYEWOD. fname is the name of the desired file.
/Lfname Will out Log data to a file with the given name. It is also
used when converting data to the comma separated file. In
that mode it defines the name of the output data file.
/Wfname This command can be used to cause AO27TLM to write any WOD
frames encountered in the data stream (either from a TNC or
from a file) to an output file with the given name. If the
file already exists, the new data will be appended to it.
Default command line is: AO27TLM /COM1 /R4800 /L+ /OK
INPUT FILE STRUCTURES
=====================
EYECOEF:
Each line contains the coefficients for one channel.
Byte No. Description
-------- -----------
0 - 1 The channel number in Hexadecimal, only channels 00-31 (0-49
decimal) are recognized. Channel ff is reserved to set the
version of the current EYECOEF file.
2 - 5 Space characters.
6 - 20 The channel label.
21 - 32 Coefficient A.
33 Space.
34 - 45 Coefficient B.
46 Space.
47 - 57 Coefficient C.
58 Space.
59 - 64 Units label.
65 Carriage return.
66 Line feed.
NOTE: AO27TLM is very forgiving of the positions of the coefficients
relative to each other. The only element with a critical length is the
channel label, which must have 15 characters.
EYELIMS
Each line contains the upper and lower limits for one channel. The
positions of the three elements in each line are not critical, so long
as the channel number is in hexadecimal, and is followed by the lower
limit, then by the upper limit. Each line is terminated with a <CR><LF>
pair. Example:
1a, 123.0, 321.0<CR><LF>
This means that channel 1a (20 decimal) has a low limit of 123.0 and a
high limit of 321.0.
OUTPUT FILE STRUCTURES
======================
For the following file names the following name is used: YJJJHHMM.
Y is the last digit of the year (3 for 93), JJJ is the julian day (001
for Jan 1), HH is the hour of the day (00-23) and MM is the minute (00-
59). The default file name is established when the file is first opened
and depends on the current PC time. XT and PC users take note: Do set
your DOS clock manually if you don't have a battery backed clock
installed in your system!
YJJJHHMM.LOG - Received data output as ASCII Hex data.
YJJJHHMM.KSS - Received data output as a raw binary KISS file.
YJJJHHMM.DAT - A comma separated data file containing the decoded
telemetry.
YJJJHHMM.WOD - Whole Orbit Data extracted from the telemetry stream.
LOG file structure:
[Fri Dec 03 12:00:00 1993] DD DD DD ... DD DD DD<CR><LF>
The time stamp between the brackets is the PC's time when the frame
was received. The data after that is in an ASCII representation of
hexadecimal binary data. The valid characters here are 0, 1, 2, 3, 4,
5, 6, 7, 8, 9, a, b, c, d, e and f. The <CR> and <LF> indicate a
carriage return and line feed character, respectively.
DAT file structure:
Fri Dec 03 12:00:00 1993,Tlm_Time,CH,Val.NNN,CH,Val.NNN...<CR><LF>
The time stamp before the first comma is the ASCII equivalent of
the Unix-type time taken when the satellite performed the last telemetry
collection. Tlm_Time is a long count of seconds since Jan 1, 1970
00:00:00 and is the time of the last telemetry collection. CH is the
telemetry channel, Val.NNN is a floating point value. The last two
elements are repeated for the various telemetry channels. After the
list is complete a <CR><LF> pair is appended.
WOD file structure:
Fri Dec 03 12:00:00 1993,Tlm_Time,Ver,Val.NNN,Val.NNN...<CR><LF>
Ver is the version of the WOD list used to define the elements in a WOD
frame. If this value does not agree with that in EYEWOD, the output WOD
file could contain bogus data.
REFERENCES
==========
Smith, G. Gould, WA4SXM, "Decoding Telemetry from the Amateur Satellites",
AMSAT-NA P.O. Box 27 Washington DC 20044
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
================
Special Thanks to Mark Kanawati, N4TPY and Mike Wyrick, N4USI who
made this project possible with their beta-testing and design help.
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