#======================================================================
# R E A D M E
# doc: Sat Mar 20 23:10:10 2004
# dlm: Mon Oct 18 12:55:18 2010
# (c) 2004 A.M. Thurnherr
# uE-Info: 63 8 NIL 0 0 72 3 2 8 NIL ofnI
#======================================================================
=Introduction=
The LADCP_acquire software implements LADCP data acquisition on UN*X
systems (e.g. Linux, MacOSX, FreeBSD, etc.). It consists of the bbabble
program, a portable bbtalk replacement written in perl, as well as a
number of "operator scripts", written in expect. The main purpose of
the software is to provide a comfortable and "operator-error-tolerant"
command-line environment for data acquisition from single- and dual-head
LADCP systems built using Teledyne/RDI heads.
The documentation assumes familiarity with UN*X and LADCP data
acquisition. (If you do not know what a UN*X "special file" is or have
never seen an ADCP command file, this software and documentation is not
for you.) While I do not intend to support this software, bug reports
sent to <athurnherr@yahoo.com> are welcome. This [README] file contains
notes on how to setup and use the LADCP_acquire data acquisitions
software for a new cruise. For notes on installation on different UN*X
flavors see [README.*] files (e.g. [README.Linux]).
=Connecting ADCP Heads to Acquisitions Computer=
1) physically connect the instruments
- many USB-to-serial adapters do not work; we use Keyspan adapters
2) determine the special files of the serial ports the instruments are
connected to:
- Linux: /dev/ttyS0 /dev/ttyS1 for standard serial ports
- Linux: /dev/ttyUSB0 /dev/ttyUSB1 for USB2serial ports
- FreeBSD: /dev/cuad0 /dev/cuad1 for standard serial ports
- MacOSX: depends on USB2serial adapter, e.g. /dev/cu.USA* for
a keyspan USA-19QW adapter;
3) run "prepare_instrument <serial-port>" (e.g. prepare_instrument /dev/ttyS0)
- the search path must be set up to include the directory of the
"prepare_instrument" script, i.e. it is NOT possible to use
something like "./prepare_instrument /dev/ttyS0"
- this will reset the default communications speed of the
instrument to 9600bps and report the instrument's serial
number
- if this command does not work, none of the others will
- to troubleshoot, you can use "bbabble <serial-port>" but
you're on your own there
4) add the special-files and serial numbers to [CRUISE_SETUP.expect]
- can change other settings, too
5) test everything by running "reset2" and "dir2"
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=Operator Scripts=
NB: Before using any of the operator scripts, edit [CRUISE_SETUP.expect] to
set cruise-specific parameters.
NB: the search path must be set up to include the directory of the
operator scripts. It is NOT possible, to use the operator scripts
with full pathnames (e.g. ./reset2)
NB: scripts ending in 1 are for use in a single-headed system; scripts
ending in 2 are for use in a dual-headed system.
reset1/reset2 wake up & reset instruments
dir1/dir2 list recorder directories
erasemem1/erasemem2 clear recorder memory
interact1/interact2 enter interactive mode (similar to BBTALK)
ladcp1/ladcp2 start new cast (upload command file & start pinging)
abort1/abort2 abort started cast (rename cast directory)
endladcp1/endladcp2 end cast (stop pinging & download data)
checkfiles1/checkfiles2 post-process data after download ok (check and
backup data files)
ladcp_send_cmd <tty port> <cmd-file>
send command file to LADCP connected to specific
port; this is the command that can be used to
start a cast on a dual-headed instrument
connected to a switchbox
print_version print version of acquire scripts
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=Aborting/Restarting Casts=
After a cast has been started with ladcp1/2 it can be aborted with
abort1/2. This renames the cast sub-directory that is created by
ladcp1/2. However, it does not erase the memory on the ADCP. This has to
be accomplished manually with erasemem1/2.
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=Colors=
- for dual-headed systems, color is determined by the serial numbers
listed in [CRUISE_SETUP.expect]: red for the master and blue for the
slave;
- this can be different to the colors if [bbabble] is used directly,
because [bbabble] does not know anything about the instruments;
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=Problems=
- if downloading is to be restarted the RDI files have to be deleted
manually;
- all files are downloaded to the directory corresponding to the last
deployment name; if there are data from multiple casts present in
an instrument, they have to be copied to the correct directories
manually;
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=TTY Utilities=
[bbabble] bbtalk replacement
[ttycat] read from TTY, write to STDOUT (e.g. for logging GPS
data streams)
[send_break] send BREAK to TTY
[find_comms_params] cycle through comms params to determine baud rate &c