2 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (18-Oct-07):
4 * SPLAT! now imports transmitter effective radiated power information and
5 predicts received field strength signal levels (dBuV/m) and antenna
6 voltage based on the transmitter's antenna pattern, computed path loss,
7 and ERP. ERP information is specified on the ninth line of SPLAT! .lrp
10 * The ability to plot signal strength contour maps has been added. The
11 color schemes for plotting signal strength and path loss contour maps
12 can now be customized by editing the contents of .scf and .lcf files
13 for each transmitter site. In addition, both signal strength and path
14 loss contour maps can now be generated for multiple transmitter sites,
15 with the greatest signal strength (or least path loss) illustrated in
16 overlapping regions between sites.
18 * A new -ngs switch assigns all topography to the color white in .ppm
19 contour maps. The white background can be made transparent using
20 simple graphics utilities for merging SPLAT! contour maps with other
21 Mercator projection maps and graphics files of equivalent size and
24 * Path loss and signal strength contour regions can now be exported to
25 Google Earth as a semi-transparent ground overlay using the -kml switch.
27 * The default contour map filename now defaults to the basename of the
28 transmitter site .qth file (or first transmitter site within a network)
29 with a .ppm extension (rather than "map.ppm").
31 * The Fresnel zone clearance percentage, which was fixed at 60% in the
32 past, is now user-definable using the new -fz command-line option.
34 * Information previously contained in SPLAT! Obstruction Reports has now
35 been merged with Longley-Rice path loss information into a single Path
36 Analysis report (with a .txt extension). (Longley-Rice output (.lro)
37 files are no longer generated.)
39 * Graph plotting (the -l option) no longer needs to be forced to perform
40 a Longley-Rice path analysis in point-to-point mode. If a .lrp file is
41 available and contains the information needed, Longley-Rice path loss
42 information will be automatically included in SPLAT!'s Path Analysis
43 Report when performing a point-to-point analysis.
45 * In addition to information previously contained, SPLAT! Path Loss Output
46 (-plo) files now contain additional information including path loss
47 considering the effects of the transmitting antenna's radiation pattern
48 (if pattern data is available), and field strength values (dBuV/m)
49 based on pattern data and ERP data (if available). An asterisk at
50 the end of each line indicates the path to the point referenced in
51 the file is obstructed by terrain.
53 * The srtm2sdf utility now handles 3-arc second SRTM in .BIL (Band
54 Interleaved by Line) format, as well as the usual .HGT format.
56 * SPLAT!'s associated itm.cpp file was updated to include the latest
57 public domain ITM code released on June 26, 2007.
59 * References in source code and documentation to "slots" and "MAXSLOTS"
60 have been changed to "pages" and "MAXPAGES", respectively.
62 * Two bugs affecting the plotting of Fresnel zones were identified and fixed.
64 * A bug that produced some erroneous elevation angles in SPLAT! Path Loss
65 Output (-plo option) files was identified and fixed.
67 * Text documentation in Spanish was added (thanks to Charles Esobar).
69 * The build scripts were modified to permit successful compilation with
70 bzip2-1.0.4 libraries. (Thanks to Janek, SQ5MJL)
72 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
75 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (22-Dec-2006):
77 * All graph plotting has been enhanced to include distances, azimuths,
78 and in some cases, elevation angles, in numeric form. Height
79 plots (-h option) now include a contour of the Earth's curvature.
80 A new -H option was added that behaves the same as -h, except its
81 display of heights is normalized to the heights of the endpoints
82 along the plotted path. Graphs now default to PNG rather than GIF
83 format to reflect gnuplot's current trend away from .gif output.
84 (.gif is still available if your version of gnuplot supports it.)
85 Postscript output is now generated in enhanced color.
87 * SPLAT! can now determine and plot Fresnel Zone clearances. A new
88 -f command-line option permits the Fresnel Zone frequency (in MHz)
89 to be specified, otherwise it can be determined from .lrp files when
90 path-loss calculations are performed. Antenna height requirements
91 for 60% clearance (0.6 F1) and 100% clearance (F1) of the First
92 Fresnel Zone now appear in Obstruction Reports. These zones are
93 also displayed graphically in height plots (-h or -H options).
95 * Support for antenna radiation patterns has been added. SPLAT! now
96 reads normalized azimuth and elevation antenna field pattern data
97 from separate .az and .el files when Longley-Rice studies are performed.
98 One degree azimuth and one tenth degree elevation pattern resolution
99 is supported along with azimuthal pattern rotation and mechanical
102 * A bug in the interpretation of the -n and -N command-line options
105 * Negative geographical coordinates in DMS format are now (hopefully)
106 interpreted and displayed better than before.
108 * SPLAT! data handling can be changed from imperial units (feet/miles)
109 to metric (meters/kilometers) units using the new -metric switch.
111 * SPLAT! can now generate topographic maps without plotting
112 line-of-sight or path loss coverage. These maps are centered
113 approximately on the given tx_site, extend out to a radius
114 provided by the -R switch, and can be populated with county
115 boundaries and city names, just like SPLAT!'s traditional
116 line-of-sight and path loss maps.
118 * Support for user-defined terrain files (ground clutter) has been
121 * SPLAT! can now generate .geo Geo-reference Information Files
122 when .ppm topography and coverage maps are created, permitting
123 the integration of SPLAT! generated maps with X Amateur Station
124 Tracking and Information Reporting (www.xastir.org) software.
126 * SPLAT! can now generate .kml Keyhole Markup Language files that
127 when imported into "Google Map", dramatically illustrate the RF
128 path between transmitter and receiver locations when performing
129 point-to-point analyses.
131 * Support for exporting Longley-Rice path loss contour studies to
132 external data files has been included. SPLAT! path loss files can
133 be used for performing coverage or interference studies outside of
134 SPLAT!. They can also be modified externally (with antenna pattern
135 data, for example) through scripts or small utilities, and imported
136 back into SPLAT! to generate coverage maps based on the revised
137 data without having to re-run any time intensive Longley-Rice path
140 * The documentation was updated to reflect the new features and
141 functionality of the software.
143 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
146 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (01-Apr-2006):
148 * An srtm2sdf utility was added to permit SPLAT Data Files to be
149 derived from the latest 3-arc second SRTM (STS-99 Space Shuttle
150 Radar Topography Mission) digital elevation model data. The
151 quality of this data is *significantly* higher than that of older
152 USGS Digital Elevation Models previously used by SPLAT!. Despite
153 the higher quality, some voids in SRTM data sets still exist.
154 When voids are detected, the srtm2sdf utility replaces them with
155 equivalent elevation data found in existing SDF files (presumably
156 generated from older USGS elevation models). If older SDF files
157 are not available, voids are handled through pixel averaging or
160 * Coding changes were made that in concert with the new srtm2sdf utility
161 should allow SPLAT! to function over all regions of the planet for
162 which SRTM-3 elevation data is available.
164 * SPLAT's SDF search path priority has been changed. SPLAT! now
165 searches for needed SDF files in the current working directory first.
166 If the needed file isn't found, SPLAT! then searches in the path
167 specified by the -d command-line option, or in the $HOME/.splat_path
170 * The color scheme used by SPLAT! in the generation of Longley-Rice
171 path loss maps was noticeably improved.
173 * A new command-line option (-db) was added to allow constraints
174 to be placed on the maximum attenuation contours plotted on
177 * A possible array overflow condition in the ReadPath() function was
178 identified and fixed.
180 * Some very slight coding modifications were made to permit warning-free
181 compilation under GCC 4.x.x.
183 * The usgs2sdf utility was modified John Gabrysch (jgabby@gmail.com) to
184 properly handle the latest USGS DEM file format, and to properly scale
187 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
190 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (29-Jan-2004):
192 * Extensively modified by J. D. McDonald in January 2004 to include
193 the Longley-Rice propagation model using C++ code from NTIA/ITS.
194 In addition to analyzing line-of-sight propagation paths, SPLAT!
195 now generates multi-color maps illustrating predicted signal
196 strength (path loss), path loss graphs, path loss reports,
197 and terrain height graphs. The default earth radius, as well
198 as the default line-of-sight and path loss analysis range used
199 by SPLAT! may also be modified using new command-line options.
201 * splat.c was renamed to splat.cpp to reflect changes necessary
202 to merge with Longley-Rice C++ code. A C++ compiler (gcc/g++)
203 is now required to compile SPLAT!.
205 * The documentation was updated to reflect the new features
208 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
211 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (10-Jun-2002):
213 * Coverage areas are now processed four times faster than before.
216 * Determination of antenna height above average terrain (HAAT) based
217 on FCC Part 73.313(d) (Prediction of coverage) has been added.
219 * Site analysis report generation has been added when coverage mode
220 is invoked. These reports include ground height above mean sea
221 level, antenna height above mean sea level, antenna height above
222 average terrain, and average terrain calculated at azimuths of 0,
223 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, and 315 degrees.
225 * Added site location information in degree, minute, second format,
226 as well as antenna height above average terrain to the content of
229 * Elevations below sea-level are now safely handled.
231 * Greyscale of topographic maps generated by SPLAT! is now referenced
232 between the highest and lowest elevations in the survey, instead of
233 between the highest elevation and sea-level. This change in reference
234 permits regions below sea level to be discernible in the map, and
235 allows subtle terrain variations to be clearly evident over regions
236 having relatively flat terrain.
238 * The documentation was updated.
240 * Several other minor coding changes/bug fixes were made.
242 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
245 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (14-May-2002):
247 * SPLAT! now buffers data while reading bzip2 compressed SPLAT
248 Data Files (SDFs). A 100 MHz Pentium now loads compressed SDF
249 files 208% faster than before, and takes only 2 seconds longer
250 than an uncompressed file.
252 * Configuration, compilation, and installation scripts now invoke
253 bash instead of sh. The -ffast-math compiler option was removed.
255 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
258 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (22-Apr-2002):
260 * The maximum number of transmitter/repeater sites handled
261 per analysis has been increased from two to four.
263 * Improved the configuration, compilation, and installation scripts.
264 Now ./configure compiles and installs the program, man page, and
265 all associated utilities in one command.
267 * Some minor coding changes were made, including the addition of an
268 #include <stdlib.h> in each of the utilities to silence a compilation
269 warning issued by gcc version 3.x.x about the use of the exit() function.
271 * The README and documentation files were updated.
273 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
276 by John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (08-Apr-2002):
278 * First public release of SPLAT!