OpenCPN Dashboard - NMEA VWR sentence

[Sindbad2p0]

Hello All,


Very happy with our new OpenCPN setup, brilliant program, many compliments to dev!
One think I came across however was that the dashboard was not able to read my old windsensor's IIVWR sentence, allthough the dashboard plugin usermanual describes it explicitely. The sentence was visible in the NMEA debug window, but the windmeter kept showing zero.

I suspect that there is a bug in the plugin, since the very first time I was trying this, wind was coming from Starboard, making the VWR sentence have an "R". At that time I did had readings in the dashboard gauges.

Later however the wind kept coming from port side, VWR showing an "L" and all meters kept showing zero.
I studied the manuals and source code of the NMEA converter plugin but this plugin seems not to be designed to convert on old VWR sentence into something more modern. The plug in would need some redesign in order to be able to do this.
So I decided to write a small python script. This script starts when my computer with OpenCPN starts (Raspberry Pi) using crontab.
The script reads the serial USB port. If it reads VWR, it converts this into a more accepted MWV sentence. Simple math. And just because it is fun I also add a new checksum.
All other sentences are just left untouched and passed through.
The sentences are broadcasted not via the same USB port (since 1 port can only be used by 1 process as far as I know, and not by OpenCPN anymore) but via UDP to localhost (127.0.0.1) via a random port (5005).
OpenCPN gets a new connection selecting exactly these settings and voila, I have VWR sentence (and all other sentences, which are useless in my case). And the dashboard windmeter eats them happily.
For completeness I put my python code below. Unfortunately the forum software does not keep the required indentation for python.

Maybe the maintainers of OpenCPN could have a look on the dashboard code to read old VWR sentence, since I think something is wrong there. However, my work around works just as well and I can imagine that it is very hard to keep thinks up and running for each and every ancient NMEA sentence.



Best regards,


Mark




#Python function to convert NMEA old VWR sentence into MWV
#MWV fields:wind angle 0-359 deg, R(=relative) or T(=true), wind speed, windspeed units (K=knots), status (A=valid, V=invalid, checksum
#VWR fields: wind angle 0-180, L or R, speed, N=knots

import serial
import time
import socket
import struct
import sys

ser = serial.Serial('/dev/ttyUSB0', 4800, timeout=1)

UDP_IP = "127.0.0.1"
UDP_PORT = 5005
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)

def calc_checksum(sentence):
checksum = 0

try:
message_for_checksum = sentence.split("*")[0].split("$")[1]

for i in message_for_checksum:
checksum ^= ord(i)

except IndexError:
print('invalid NMEA string')

except:
print('geen idee wat er nu aan de hand is:', sys.exc_info()[0])

return ("%0.2X" % checksum)


def convertIIVWR(IIVWRsentence):

fields = IIVWRsentence.split(",")
print(fields)
#fields[0] = IIVWR
windangle = int(fields[1])##relative angle 0-180 degrees
#fields[2] = L or R
windspeed = fields[3]
if fields[2] == "L" and windangle > 0:
windangle = str(360 - int(fields[1]))


MWVsentence = "$MWV," + windangle + ".0,R," + windspeed + ",N,A*"

checksum = calc_checksum(MWVsentence)
MWVsentence = "$" + MWVsentence + checksum
return MWVsentence


if __name__ == "__main__":
while True:
time.sleep(.5)
message_string = ser.readline().decode("utf-8")
print(calc_checksum(message_string))
print(message_string)

if "IIVWR" in message_string:
try:
message_string = convertIIVWR(message_string)
print(message_string)
except:
pass
sock.sendto(message_string.encode(), (UDP_IP, UDP_PORT))

[SamH]

Kudos for creativity, but did you have a look at the NMEA-Converter plugin?
https://opencpn.org/wiki/dokuwiki/do...nmea_converter

[Sindbad2p0]

Hello!


I did study the NMEA converter plug-in:

I studied the manuals and source code of the NMEA converter plugin but this plugin seems not to be designed to convert on old VWR sentence into something more modern. The plug in would need some redesign in order to be able to do this.

[Hakan]

Mark..
VWR would work in Dashboard although the code presume wind speed is given in knots, third position.

Do you've some of your VWR example messages we could check and try?
Håkan

[Sindbad2p0]

Hello Hakan,


Herewith a sentence:


$IIVWR,066,L,16.3,N,,,,


Speed in knots. No checksum. In the connection dialog of opencpn I switched this off.


I am curious to learn what goes wrong at my side.


best regards,


Mark

[Hakan]

Mark..
I'll check and come back.
One note so far: I'm not sure the "No checksum" option in "Connections" are working good. Have heard somthing about that here. It may need some tweaking.

Håkan

[Hakan]

Mark..
Your sentence is working fine as long you add a checksum.
If I try without the checksum option it's not working. Also If I deselect [] Use Checksum and "Apply"-"OK" next time I return to "Connections" it's there selected again. Some bug I suppose.


Håkan