jonsowman / cusf-standalone-predictor

Cambridge University Spaceflight landing predictor - a web-based tool for predicting the flight paths of meteorological sounding balloons.

CUSF Standalone Predictor - Version 2

Cambridge University Spaceflight landing predictor - a web-based tool for predicting the flight path and landing location of latex meteorological sounding balloons.

Install

The source for the predictor itself is in pred_src/ and instructions for building it can be found there.

The following items need to be executable (chmod +x ./predict.py) by the user under which the predictor runs:

• predict.py
• pred_src/pred (once compiled)
• cron/clear-pydap-cache-cronjob.sh
• cron/purge-predictions-cronjob.sh

The predict/preds/ and gfs/ directories need to have rwx access by the PHP interpreter and the predict.py python script. You will need to install the python dependencies listed in requirements.txt. In the case of PyDAP, the exact version is important; the easiest way is:

$ pip install -r requirements.txt

Other than that, just clone this repo to a non web-accessible folder and create symlinks to the predict/ directory in the repo.

There are useful configuration options in predict/includes/config.inc.php.

Information

The two shell scripts in the cron/ directory should both be run daily. clear-pydap-cache-cronjob.sh clears the cache used by pydap so that old data does not build up. purge-predictions-cronjob.sh deletes scenarios and predictions not accessed or modified within the last 7 days. Re-running a prediction for a scenario will therefore reset its time to live to 7 more days.

The directory names are UUIDs comprised of an SHA1 hash of the launch parameters, and re-running predictions will overwrite data in the existing directory, rather than create a new one.

We use GFS data provided by the NOAA, accessed via NDAP and their NOMADS distribution system. The 1.0x1.0 degree data (26 vertical pressure levels) is used for standard predictions, and the 0.5x0.5 degree data (47 vertical pressure levels) is used for the high definition (HD) predictions.

License

This work is free software; you can redistribute it and/or modify it under the terms of the GNU General Public License as published by the Free Software Foundation; either version 2 of the License, or any later version. This work is distributed in the hope that it will be useful, but without any warranty; without even the implied warranty of merchantability or fitness for a particular purpose.

Credits & Acknowledgments

Credit as detailed in individual files, but notably:

• Rich Wareham - The new predictor and the hourly predictor system
• Fergus Noble, Ed Moore and many others

Adam Greig - http://www.randomskk.net - [email protected]
Jon Sowman - http://www.hexoc.com - [email protected]

Copyright Cambridge University Spaceflight 2009-2011 - All Rights Reserved

cusf-standalone-predictor's Issues

lockfiles/mutex

Put the lockfile system back in place so only one user can run the predictor at a time

AJAX Interface

After clicking "Run Prediction", the data request should be sent to the server and the client polls for status.json, which contains:

1. Progress on getting GFS data & when complete
2. Prediction started
3. Prediction complete (client then grabs CSV and displays it)

Client must verify "prediction_complete == true" before trying to get a CSV and display it (even for index.php?uuid= predictions)

Clear up this repo!

Loads of old stuff from the GRIB predictor and unused files lying around, needs a good clean up.

Data input to predictor

put the form back in for running a new prediction

Self-adjusting timeout for progress.json

If requests keep timing out for progress.json, increase the timeout and the polling delay.

When a new prediction is run, delete the old map trace before making new one

Draw a lat/lon delta square around launch position

Allow user to choose lat/lon deltas

Properly handle AJAX errors

Display the error, reset the GUI to onload state, ready for another try.

Display flight time and range

Probably also in the Scenario Information box

predict.py needs to correctly handle internal errors

Fix appending another copy of parameters to scenario.ini on prediction re-run

Another copy of the parameters is appended. Check existence before writing.

"Time remaining" should show "calculating" or something before times exist

Instead of displaying nothing and looking like its broken

select launch location from map

GUI

make a nicer web interface, perhaps based on the hourly predictor one

After form submit, pre-populate form with submitted data

Therefore when the form has been submitted and the prediction is running, the launch card contains the details the user just submitted.

Make a config.inc.php file with useful parameters

Launch sites in JSON file

With a web interface to add a new launch location, preferably.

GFS caching

CSV and KML downloads

generate KML files and add download link to both filetypes

HD/non-HD wind data selection

allow user to choose between a fast prediction with GRIB data or a potentially slow one with GFS/NOMAD data

cross browser compatibility

specifically, chrome's "waiting for" dialogue covers the debug window

and generally testing on browsers other than FF would be a wise plan

Launch point plotting

Plot the coords in the scenario.ini file as the launch point rather than the first entry in flight_path.csv

Display GFS model timestamp used for a given predictor run

Client side detection of GFS tile overrun

Client should die gracefully, increase the lat/lon deltas, and automatically begin another prediction

Package the get-gfs-data.py script

This script can be part of this repo so deploying this predictor need only involve cloning this repo.

It is a modified version of the get_wind_data.py script from the CUSF hourly predictor.

CRON deletion of predictions older than x days

Server should automatically purge predictions with dates older than a given number of days, maybe 7 or 10.

'Terrain' view by default

Rationale:

1. Roads aren't a consideration in planning a balloon launch through the predictor, i.e. they are clutter and make it harder to focus on the trajectories
2. Terrain view nicely highlights urban areas which we can then seek to avoid

setup.py

Installed required python and linux packages, builds the predictor, sets up config files.

Generally does everything required so that the user can just run it and then hit index.php in their browser.

PHP needs to tell python what TIME and POSITION to get data for

restore GFS wind level functionality

somehow work out and write to a file which GFS data file the predictor used for a run, for the $grib* variables

Add "centre map on current prediction" button

new launch/land icons

Python handle predictor errors

Map overlay showing airports

Mouse cursor Info Display

make landing and launch and burst points clickable for info

make info box show distance from launch & landing sites of mouse cursor position, and mouse cursor coords

Fade map canvas when running a prediction

Link to Burst Calc somewhere on the launch card form

Add scale to map

High latency connection operations

If 2000ms is still too low, we need to increase the polling delay (eg. every 5-10 seconds) instead of just cancelling the poller.

Needs testing to see if GPRS connections etc really will require >2secs for the AJAX request to return.

Pre-populate form with data when viewing old predictions

This can be done entirly server side by PHP. Instead of pre-populating the form with the default values, it should check if it was given a UUID in the querystring and if so, populate the form with data from that UUID's scenario.ini.

Disable all map controls when map is "dimmed"

ie. when prediction running

Marker hover information

Launch, burst and landing markers should show Lat/Long/Time/Range

Make everything UTC

For simplicity.

Show (UTC) after all displayed times including flight time and launch card fields.

allow download/upload of INI files

User can download their scenario.ini file for a given prediction, and then use it to populate the input form later.

whirlygig

make one to stop adam crying all the time.

Automatically centre the map on a new prediction

predict.py not run if already running for this sha1

Launch location selectable from map

The user can click the map to say "launch from here".

predict.py return prettier time remainings