OpenCPN Radar Overlay PlugIn

[BMD21]

Thank you, Dave, Fastm, Matt, Chris, Pete, et al. I certainly appreciate your help and I'm going to get a 3G.

I'll be back here, asking more questions but now I've got a start. Going up to the PNW this summer, so I have a goal.

Boris

[alvdb]

Hello,

I'd like to record "raw" data from a GMR18HD as used here.
I know that the network link rate is 100Mb/s.

Does anyone know what kind of actual data rate I might expect?

Would it depend on the settings used?

Thanks,
Allister

[manitu]

Heading..
The new lowrance point-1 GPS/heading sensor would do, I guess? Lowrance Point-1 GPS Antenna - LOWRANCE | Marine Electronics

at 200$ it's way cheaper(even with a 0183 converter) than a Maretron or Airmar, even though accuracy is 3deg versus 1deg on the more expensive units.

The say that it's not reccomended for autopilot or MARPA, but I see several people online who use it for autopilot.

.manitu

[Opie91]

I was contemplating the same thing, but found a Nobeltec (Same model as Maretron SSC200) on eBay for $350. Does NMEA 0183 & 2000

Nobeltec Solid State Heading Sensor | eBay

[maxxflow]

Originally Posted by GHammond

Dear Joel

That was really helpful - thank you.

I changed the source as you suggested and the screen did NOT draw red all over.

I then added another line of code inside the drawing code to make a log entry each time the radar tried to draw a blob to make sure that the drawing code was being called - and quickly generated a huge log which proved that the radar plugin was trying to draw blobs and they do not appear.

In other words, I did this:

                glColor4ub((GLubyte)red, (GLubyte)green, (GLubyte)blue, (GLubyte)alpha);    // red, blue, green
                wxLogMessage(wxT("Drawing blob right now"));
                draw_blob_gl(angleDeg, radius,  blobRadius, .75);

So...I think it must be an openGL phenomenon: it can't be just a 64 bit issue since you're running 64 bit so I'll concentrate on the openGL flags/switches/variables.

The only other anomaly I can see by comparing the logs from the working box with the non working is that the non working box always reports max_range as 0 -- like this:

10:48:51 SGT: Rotating image for HDT=0.000000 Correction=0 Rotation=0.000000 Result=0.000000
10:48:51 SGT: max_range=0 angle_prev=4095

Not sure if this is material.

If any one has any ideas I'm all ears...

Thank you Joel

Pete

(quoted from page 7 in this thread)

Pete - if you still follow this thread; I'm curious, did you get any closure on this issue?

I'm asking because I just encountered something interesting that could be related.

For the record, this concerns the Navico radar plugin (https://github.com/canboat/BR24radar_pi), and a case where the plugin seems to operate fine (log indicates data is received), but no radar picture is drawn on the chart.

I noticed that if I start a freshly installed OpenCPN for the first time, and load/enable the radar plugin straight away (i.e. before restarting OpenCPN for the OpenGL-setting to take effect), I get the described symptoms. No radar overlay - it doesn't matter if I restart OpenCPN at this point.

If I enable OpenGL, restart OpenCPN, and *then* load the radar plugin - everything works.

Can anyone else replicate this bug? I'm running Ubuntu 13.10, and the latest OpenCPN and BR24radar_pi code from git as of today.

Joel

[Helmsmatt]

Very interesting Joel.
We are apparently having a similar issue with gradar running on Windows 7.
Dave, do you think this would help our problem? Is it worth trying?
Thanks,
Matt

[Helmsmatt]

Another minor, but good breakthrough...
We have a Panasonic Toughbook tablet running XP, that wouldn't run gradar. Connection wasn't the issue; the pi log showed all the right data. The video graphics driver didn't support OpenGL. Intel had abandoned support of the XP driver. A search revealed that some young student had created his own driver. The hardware was capable. I found,downloaded and updated the driver. The charts didn't disappear, but came up low res and mostly orange. On a hunch, reduced the colors setting from millions of colors to something less (can't remember, but had only one other choice). The charts looked right. Fired up gradar. WORKS!
So now have two PCs running gradar. Still need to get Cindy's PC to work. But I feel like we have sufficient backup to navigate with confidence offshore.

[GHammond]

Hi Joel

I'm still plugging away on OpenGL issues but I did have a breakthrough with the Navico radar plugin. I could not make the radar image display at all even though it showed data coming in. The significant change was running openCPN as root - and then it all worked. Unfortunately I had to leave the boat that afternoon so I haven't tested it thoroughly but it was clearly some kind of permissions or network problem.

Thanks.

Pete

[Helmsmatt]

Hi Pete,
We're having similar issues. What do you mean by "data coming in"?
For us, wireshark shows data coming in, but OCPN isn't seeing it.
We're running win7, but still think we have permission//network issues. I don't think running it as root is a solution for us.
Matt

[GHammond]

Hi Matt

Sorry if I wasn't clear - I was responding to Joel and both of us are on Linux, so no, running as root isn't a windows option.

By "data coming in" I meant that I could see multiple packets coming into the laptop using wireshark but nothing would show on the screen.

I don't think my resolution is much help to you, I'm afraid, because of the different OS.

Best

Pete

[Helmsmatt]

Pete,
Actually, it's helpful.
When wireshark showed good data, was the gradar pi log showing good packets, or did it show nothing, or errors?
Thanks,
Matt

[GHammond]

Good packets in the BR24 log - no apparent errors. Just no image displayed.

Pete

[Helmsmatt]

Thanks for the quick reply Pete.
Different problem than ours. Our log shows no packets....
Matt

[hasse_A]

Hi all!

I am about to invest in a radardome and integrate it with OpenCPN.
Does anyone know if OpenCPN Radarplugin for the GMR 18 is compatible
with Garmins new GMR 24 xHD ?
I suspect that it does not matter if the radome is 18 or 24 feet. Am I right ?

[jonasaberg]

I don't know, but it seems that the question is which chart plotters that can control the radar.

If the "x24 HD" can attach to the same Garmin Chart Plotters as the older "24 HD" it seems to me there is no obvious reason that the x24 HD should not work with OpenCPN, and when I took a quick glance at the "compatible devices" list on Garmins web page it does seem both radars work with the same chart plotters.

I checked the Garmin web page and the only difference between the two radars seem to be that the new x24 HD maximum rotation is increased from 30 to 48 rpm.