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My
Workstation.
It
all looks a bit crowded, but works well. I use a KVM switch to move
between two of the PC's and use VNC Viewer to access the third. This
means I only need one keyboard and one mouse to control everything.
Just in view to the left of the screen is the wireless
router/modem. All PC's are attached via ethernet cables. The wireless
is only used by my laptop |
PC's Kepler
(left) and Newton (right)
Kepler
is the receive only PC.
This HP pavilion was bought as one intended mainly for
students.
AMD
Sempron 1800MHz. 80Gb hard drive, 1Gb RAM and Win XP Home
I
added another 1Gb RAM and a second 200GB SATA harddrive.
It also has a Q Soft
320 Mb Ramdrive installed. Link to QSoft
There is a free AR-Soft RamDisk, which is unsupported, available on the MSG-1 yahoo group.
I also changed the case cooling to something quieter.
This PC is on continuously 24/7.
Newton is my do everything not associated with EUMETCast. Browsing,
Email, word processing, PowerPoint, Photoshop etc. It also runs FTP
software, regularly getting data from Kepler and uploading it to my web
pages. This was my son's PC.
AMD Sempron 1.7Ghz, 1.25Gb RAM and 72Gb hard drive. Win XP Home.
I have recased it, added better cooling and soundproofed it.
This runs 16-18 hours a day. |
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PC Galileo.
This
I built myself, using parts from a purchase in early 2006 and upgraded
to cope with EUMETCast.
AMD
Sempron 1833MHz, 2Gb RAM, 40 Gb Hard drive, 120Gb hard drive and
2x200Gb SATA Hard drives in RAID 0. Lots of cooling fans, mainly by
Zalman, Zalman copper CPU heatsink and fan and Zalman fanless cooling
for the graphics card. All controlled by the Zalman fan controller with
the six blue led's visible. Runs very quietly and temperatures about 10
deg above ambient.
Win XP Pro.
This PC
runs all David Taylor's software (see below) for about 16-18 hours per
day.
With
the advent of Metop-A world coverage, The Times Atlas is an essential
desk side companion.
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DVB and TelliCast
Data from the satellite is tagged with a packet
identifier called the PID, and
using the setup for your DVB card you can choose which PIDs the card
should handle.
See image to
left.
Individual PIDs are set in the DVB software (right-click the
green satellite icon  Setup4PC,
Data Services). Setup4PC
Settings
The data is sent from the DVB card to the
TelliCast receiving program as an IP multicast stream.
The data is further divided into different channels. A single PID may
contain a number of different streams, but
each stream will have a different multicast address.
The multicast address
of the "Announcement channel" stream is fixed, and that channel talks
to the TelliCast program saying what data is available.
The TelliCast program is configured to accept particular data
channels (by editing
the
recv-channels.ini file in the TelliCast software -see
my config file below), and if you are allowed access by
your EKU,
when data is available for that channel, the TelliCast program
will
"join" the multicast being sent out via the DVB software, and when the
DVB software finds a "joined" channel,
it will send out the data packets for that stream to the appropriate
multicast
address.
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Data
is transmitted from the various spacecraft to Earth stations in Germany
(Meteosat 9), Svalbard (Metop-A) and Canary Islands, Northern France, and Svalbard
(NOAA 17/18 AVHRR).
Meteosat 9 data is refined, compressed and encoded
as HRIT and LRIT files.
The HRIT and LRIT files are added to the EUMETCast
service.
The EUMETCast data is sent up to the Hotbird 6
satellite as small packets.
Other packets of data, such as Metop-A and Foreign
Satellite Data (FSD) are also sent up to Hotbird 6, but with different
packet identifiers (PIDs).
The Dish, LNB, and Skystar2 card receive the
packets of data.
The Server4PC turns the data packets into a TCP/IP
stream, passing only the PIDs you have selected in the software.
The T-Systems TelliCast software (seen here to the left)
turns the DVB card into a channel through which files are received from
EUMETSAT and dumped on your PC. The TelliCast software
recovers the files from the TCP/IP stream, looking only at the data
channel names you have selected.
The data
channels chosen in my system are given below in my recv-channels config
file. Or follow links here for full files.
recv.ini
recv-channels.ini
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[EUMETSAT Data Channel 1]
target_directory=D:\received
[EUMETSAT Data Channel 2]
target_directory=D:\received
[EUMETSAT Data Channel 3]
target_directory=D:\received
[EUMETSAT Data Channel 4]
target_directory=D:\received\Data Channel 4
[EUMETSAT
Data Channel 5]
target_directory=D:\received-56
[EPS-10]
target_directory=D:\EPSreceived
[EPS-18]
target_directory=D:\EPSreceived\EPS18
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The
various pages of the Tellicast software give information regarding data
traffic, active channels and the number of lost and
recovered data
packets.
Data Manager software turns the files into a usable format for
producing images.
I use the following software from David Taylor.
To manage and decode Meteosat-9 (MSG-2) data, I
use MSG Data Manager.
To make real-time monochrome or false-colour animations from
Meteosat-9 or Foreign Satellite Data, I use MSG Animator.
To make false-colour images, remap
to standard map projections, or animate the images I use GeoSatSignal.
To manage and decode Metop-A data I use Metop Manager.
To manage and decode NOAA 17/18 data I use AVHRR Manager.
To make false colour corrected images out of this data I use HRPT
Reader.
I also use
Kepler Manager (satellite orbital information)
WxTrack (satellite tracking)
GroundMap (Correct Geometry Mapping)
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David
Taylor's Software for Managing and Processing EumetCast Data
For more
information about this software follow the link above.
David has written extensively about EUMETCast and his software on his website.
In my opinion using his software is the only practical 'joined up'
solution to managing the vast amount of data available from EUMETCast.
The software is competetively priced (you get a months free trial for
each program). The software is continually updated. Almost uniquely you
have direct access to the author and fellow users through his SatSignal
Yahoo Group. SatSignal@yahoogroups.com
I
have included basic information and some screenshots from each program.
For more details visit David's website. |
MSG
DataManager
The MSG Data Manager is a Windows program that
will process
the files received from MSG-2. The data manager will
automatically process the files into
images, and optionally delete the large amounts of source data that
would
otherwise accumulate. The program allows you to choose which
of the twelve
channels you process to images, and also allows you to keep some raw
data in the
processing PC should you wish.
The screenshots to the right show MSG-2, FSD and Setup pages.
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MSG Animator
The MSG Animator provides real-time
animation of
images from
MSG-2 and other weather satellites received with
the MSG Data Manager.
Multiple simultaneous, independent
animations, updated in real time as new data becomes available.
Animation of Meteosat-7& 9,
MTSAT-1R, & GOES East & West data providing world-wide
coverage.
Looping and smoothing
of animations. False-colour
option. Control over
animation length. Save an
animation in standard Windows AVI format.
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GeoSatSignal
GeoSatSignal is designed to process geostationary
satellite data. As the
data is a sequence of images from the same well-defined location, more
complex
processing can be done.
GeoSatSignal allows you to combine data in a
number of ways:
-multiple channels to produce a false-colour
image, including channel differences
-multiple segments of a single satellite view
-multiple satellites to produce a world view
-multiple times to produce an animation
-correct data to standard map projection
Some sample job settings |
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Metop
Manager
-move the data chunks from the TelliCast received
directory to their final directory
-convert the data
chunks from EPS to a standard HRPT format - allows you to use standard
software for further processing
-provide a lossless
compressed HPT format
-provide a thumbnail
JPEG file for each chunk
-organise the data by days in a
standard \year\month\day\ directory hierarchy
-includes a Browser view of a whole day's passes on a world
map
-choice of displaying ascending, descending passes
or both
-select chunks to be combined with a simple mouse stroke
-combine HRPT files from multiple chunks to a single "pass"
-automatically display the "pass" in the HRPT Reader software
Two screenshots are shown to the right.
The first is the 'World View ' page. This displays the received chunks
from the current orbit.
The second is the 'Browser' view. All chunks received in a day are
displayed here and can be selected (individually or a
sequence) as
a preview or for further processing in HRPT Reader.
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AVHRR Manager
The AVHRR Manager assists
with the reception and management of NOAA-17/18 AVHRR data being sent
over EUMETCast.
The AVHRR Manager will:
De-compress the
NOAA-17/18 data.
Re-assemble
of the segmented data into composite AVHRR files.
Handle out-of-order
data.
Provide quick-look
Map View display of current pass.
Provide a view of the
latest segment processed.
Provide a browser for
both image thumbnails and AVHRR data, with quick access to processing
software. see
image to right.
The composite output
produced by the program is in a standard format, allowing viewing by
software like my HRPT Reader.
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HRPT
Reader
This program reads HRPT produced in both Metop
Manager and AVHRR Manager.
The program
will allow you to make
false colour images by combining the five or more available channels
into red, green, and
blue or, if you prefer, by taking one of the visible channels as
brightness and one of the
IR channels as colour.
You
can save what you create in compressed and uncompressed formats and
geometrically corrected or not.
Uncorrected
files can be remapped in GroundMap another of David's programs.
Further
processing can be done in a photo editing program such as Adobe
Photoshop™
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If you
require further information on my system and setup email me. There is
much more information on David
Taylor's website with links to other fora.
Join GEO, Group for
Earth Observation
Look at the EUMETSAT
website
for more technical information on EUMETCast, including hardware
requirements, how to buy an EKU and relevant software and a
comprehensive trouble shooting guide. |
For more detail see a .pdf file of an article I
wrote for The GEO
Quarterly #15 Sept 2007
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| Link to a few images of my previous APT system, for direct reception of NOAA Polar orbiting satellites |
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| Create 3D Images from HRPT Data |
Checking
Signal Strength and Selecting PID's in 'Setup4PC'
Checking
the signal level
To
get this screen, right-click the green
Setup4PC
icon in the taskbar,
and select Setup4PC. Click the Status button.
The
audible
signal strength indication is enabled and disabled by clicking the
small speaker 
button next to the
Signal Quality display.
Channel
Names
These are the data channels
available in
Europe through the Ku-band HotBird-6 satellite. The edited
table below is sorted
by channel name.
| Channel |
Function |
Hex
PID |
Decimal
PID |
Multicast
Address |
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EPS-10
|
Metop AVHRR
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0x01FE
|
510
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224.223.222.239:2390
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EPS-18
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Service & Test
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0x01FE
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510
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224.223.222.247:2470
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 1
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EARS (ATOVS, AVHRR, SCAT) data
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0x01F4
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500
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224.223.222.1:4811
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 2
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HRIT
- 12-channel Meteosat-9 data
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0x012C
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300
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224.223.222.21:2511
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 3
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LRIT
- 5-channel Meteosat-9 data
- Meteosat-7 Indian Ocean
- Foreign Satellite Data (FSD)
- GOES-W, GOES-E & MTSAT-1R
- MDD, DCP & MPEF
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0x012D
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301
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224.223.222.23:2611
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 4
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Multi-service Europe
-
MODIS satwnd winds product
- hourly FSD supplement
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0x01F4
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500
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224.223.222.27
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 5
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HRIT
- 12-channel Metoesat-8 data
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0x01F4
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500
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224.223.222.29:3111
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EUMETSAT Data Channel 6
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LRIT
- 5-channel Meteosat-8 data & MPEF
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0x01F4
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500
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224.223.222.30:3211
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TSL Announcement channel
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Announcement channel
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0x0064
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100
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224.223.222.223:4711
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You need to ensure that at least
the
announcement channel PID, and the PID or PIDs for the data you want to
receive
are present in the Setup4PC program.
Select Setup4PC icon in the system tray.
Select 'Data Services' for
PID Hexadecimal
Untick Hexadecimal box for
Decimal PID
These are my
current selections
see table above.
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