X-Git-Url: https://git.gag.com/?a=blobdiff_plain;f=CHANGES;h=b35cbde1f3ee6d4af341a9cd109a0aa7e5293608;hb=68a3cad00312b42922f10cc4822349802f50ed20;hp=b8060bbf8bdfc63cd6a4b945a815831e6f4a3ab7;hpb=996bd803ab22572b622b684221c9a8ca04b3f63a;p=debian%2Fsplat diff --git a/CHANGES b/CHANGES index b8060bb..b35cbde 100644 --- a/CHANGES +++ b/CHANGES @@ -1,5 +1,308 @@ +Release 1.3.0: +By John A. Magliacane (11-Apr-09): + +* Introduced one arc-second high-resolution versions of SPLAT! + (splat-hd) and the srtm2sdf utility (srtm2sdf-hd) to permit + detailed topographic and RF signal analyzes based on SRTM-1 + digital elevation models. + +* Introduced a new configure script that generates the appropriate + MAXPAGES parameter prior to compiling SPLAT! based on user + interaction at configuration time. + +* Added transmitter EIRP, estimated received signal power level + (in dBm), estimated received signal power density (in dBW/m^2), + and received signal power density to Path Analysis Reports. + EIRP can also now be expressed as dBm in place of ERP in + Watts in .lrp files. + +* Added a new mapping mode that plots contours of received signal + power levels in dBm using the new -dbm option. New .dcf files + control the color scheme of the plotted contours. + +* The function of the -db option has been expanded to serve as a + contour threshold limit for all three mapping modes (path loss, + signal strength, and signal power level). + +* New -ano and -ani (alphanumeric output and input) options have + replaced the -plo and -pli (path loss output and input) options, + and can contain either path loss data (as before), field strength + data (new), or received signal power level data (new). Path loss + figures in .ano files ignore the effects of transmit antenna + pattern, while field strength and received signal power levels + take antenna pattern into account. + +* Uniform ground clutter height can now be specified using the new + -gc switch. + +* Several bugs in SPLAT!'s UDT file handling were fixed. + +* Bugs affecting the operation of the -f switch were identified + and fixed. + +* The reported field strength and the corresponding voltage induced + across the receive antenna in Path Analysis Reports were found to + be 2.14 dB too low. The cause was identified and fixed. + +* Some modifications were made in coding and scripting in response to + changes that have occured in the latest versions of gcc and bash. + +* The documentation was updated to reflect all the improvements. + + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Release 1.2.3: +By John A. Magliacane (30-Jul-08): + +* Fixed a problem that sometimes caused SPLAT! to hang indefinitely + when reading some cartographic boundary files on some platforms. + +* Fixed a problem introduced in v1.2.2 that sometimes caused black + horizontal and/or vertical dotted lines to appear in path-loss + and signal strength contour plots. + +* The UDT file switch was described as -udt in the documentation, + but recognized as -u in SPLAT!. SPLAT! was modified to reflect + the documentation. + +* The -R option can now increase (as well as limit) the .ppm image + size when generating topographic maps. + +* Dots ('.') are now permitted in the base of filenames passed to SPLAT! + +* Further improvements in accuracy were made to both SPLAT! and the + srtm2sdf utility. Users are encouraged to re-create their .sdf + files using the latest version of srtm2sdf for the best performance. + +* The loading and display of cartographic boundary files now works + for any region of the planet. + +* A -gpsav command-line switch option was added to instruct SPLAT! to + preserve the temporary working files it creates when invoking gnuplot. + This permits users to view and edit these files, and even re-run + gnuplot outside of SPLAT! (Tnx John McMellen) + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Release 1.2.2: +By John A. Magliacane (10-May-08): + +* Cleared up some very small inaccuracies (+/- 1 pixel) through better + numerical rounding techniques. + +* Transmitter site location names now appear in .ppm maps even if no + city location files are loaded into SPLAT! + +* Fixed a problem that prevented operation over paths that extended + across the Prime Meridian. + +* Fixed a problem that produced incorrect TX-to-RX distances in the + Site Analysis Report when the -metric switch was used. (Tnx Martin, M0ADY) + +* When generating .ppm map contours, SPLAT! is now slightly more liberal + when loading SDF files to help ensure the contour doesn't get cut off + if it should approach the boundary of an SDF file. + +* Added a new utility called "bearing" (under utils) that determines + distance and azimuth bearings between two site location (.qth) files. + +* The man page installation process was improved. + +* Some very minor documentation updates were made. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Release 1.2.1: +By John A. Magliacane (18-Oct-07): + +* SPLAT! now imports transmitter effective radiated power information and + predicts received field strength signal levels (dBuV/m) and antenna + voltage based on the transmitter's antenna pattern, computed path loss, + and ERP. ERP information is specified on the ninth line of SPLAT! .lrp + files. + +* The ability to plot signal strength contour maps has been added. The + color schemes for plotting signal strength and path loss contour maps + can now be customized by editing the contents of .scf and .lcf files + for each transmitter site. In addition, both signal strength and path + loss contour maps can now be generated for multiple transmitter sites, + with the greatest signal strength (or least path loss) illustrated in + overlapping regions between sites. + +* A new -ngs switch assigns all topography to the color white in .ppm + contour maps. The white background can be made transparent using + simple graphics utilities for merging SPLAT! contour maps with other + Mercator projection maps and graphics files of equivalent size and + resolution. + +* Path loss and signal strength contour regions can now be exported to + Google Earth as a semi-transparent ground overlay using the -kml switch. + +* The default contour map filename now defaults to the basename of the + transmitter site .qth file (or first transmitter site within a network) + with a .ppm extension (rather than "map.ppm"). + +* The Fresnel zone clearance percentage, which was fixed at 60% in the + past, is now user-definable using the new -fz command-line option. + +* Information previously contained in SPLAT! Obstruction Reports has now + been merged with Longley-Rice path loss information into a single Path + Analysis report (with a .txt extension). (Longley-Rice output (.lro) + files are no longer generated.) + +* Graph plotting (the -l option) no longer needs to be forced to perform + a Longley-Rice path analysis in point-to-point mode. If a .lrp file is + available and contains the information needed, Longley-Rice path loss + information will be automatically included in SPLAT!'s Path Analysis + Report when performing a point-to-point analysis. + +* In addition to information previously contained, SPLAT! Path Loss Output + (-plo) files now contain additional information including path loss + considering the effects of the transmitting antenna's radiation pattern + (if pattern data is available), and field strength values (dBuV/m) + based on pattern data and ERP data (if available). An asterisk at + the end of each line indicates the path to the point referenced in + the file is obstructed by terrain. + +* The srtm2sdf utility now handles 3-arc second SRTM in .BIL (Band + Interleaved by Line) format, as well as the usual .HGT format. + +* SPLAT!'s associated itm.cpp file was updated to include the latest + public domain ITM code released on June 26, 2007. + +* References in source code and documentation to "slots" and "MAXSLOTS" + have been changed to "pages" and "MAXPAGES", respectively. + +* Two bugs affecting the plotting of Fresnel zones were identified and fixed. + +* A bug that produced some erroneous elevation angles in SPLAT! Path Loss + Output (-plo option) files was identified and fixed. + +* Text documentation in Spanish was added (thanks to Charles Escobar). + +* The build scripts were modified to permit successful compilation with + bzip2-1.0.4 libraries. (Thanks to Janek, SQ5MJL) + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Release 1.2.0: +By John A. Magliacane, (22-Dec-2006): + +* All graph plotting has been enhanced to include distances, azimuths, + and in some cases, elevation angles, in numeric form. Height + plots (-h option) now include a contour of the Earth's curvature. + A new -H option was added that behaves the same as -h, except its + display of heights is normalized to the heights of the endpoints + along the plotted path. Graphs now default to PNG rather than GIF + format to reflect gnuplot's current trend away from .gif output. + (.gif is still available if your version of gnuplot supports it.) + Postscript output is now generated in enhanced color. + +* SPLAT! can now determine and plot Fresnel Zone clearances. A new + -f command-line option permits the Fresnel Zone frequency (in MHz) + to be specified, otherwise it can be determined from .lrp files when + path-loss calculations are performed. Antenna height requirements + for 60% clearance (0.6 F1) and 100% clearance (F1) of the First + Fresnel Zone now appear in Obstruction Reports. These zones are + also displayed graphically in height plots (-h or -H options). + +* Support for antenna radiation patterns has been added. SPLAT! now + reads normalized azimuth and elevation antenna field pattern data + from separate .az and .el files when Longley-Rice studies are performed. + One degree azimuth and one tenth degree elevation pattern resolution + is supported along with azimuthal pattern rotation and mechanical + vertical beam tilt. + +* A bug in the interpretation of the -n and -N command-line options + was fixed. + +* Negative geographical coordinates in DMS format are now (hopefully) + interpreted and displayed better than before. + +* SPLAT! data handling can be changed from imperial units (feet/miles) + to metric (meters/kilometers) units using the new -metric switch. + +* SPLAT! can now generate topographic maps without plotting + line-of-sight or path loss coverage. These maps are centered + approximately on the given tx_site, extend out to a radius + provided by the -R switch, and can be populated with county + boundaries and city names, just like SPLAT!'s traditional + line-of-sight and path loss maps. + +* Support for user-defined terrain files (ground clutter) has been + added. + +* SPLAT! can now generate .geo Geo-reference Information Files + when .ppm topography and coverage maps are created, permitting + the integration of SPLAT! generated maps with X Amateur Station + Tracking and Information Reporting (www.xastir.org) software. + +* SPLAT! can now generate .kml Keyhole Markup Language files that + when imported into "Google Map", dramatically illustrate the RF + path between transmitter and receiver locations when performing + point-to-point analyses. + +* Support for exporting Longley-Rice path loss contour studies to + external data files has been included. SPLAT! path loss files can + be used for performing coverage or interference studies outside of + SPLAT!. They can also be modified externally (with antenna pattern + data, for example) through scripts or small utilities, and imported + back into SPLAT! to generate coverage maps based on the revised + data without having to re-run any time intensive Longley-Rice path + loss calculations. + +* The documentation was updated to reflect the new features and + functionality of the software. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + +Release 1.1.1: +By John A. Magliacane, (01-Apr-2006): + +* An srtm2sdf utility was added to permit SPLAT Data Files to be + derived from the latest 3-arc second SRTM (STS-99 Space Shuttle + Radar Topography Mission) digital elevation model data. The + quality of this data is *significantly* higher than that of older + USGS Digital Elevation Models previously used by SPLAT!. Despite + the higher quality, some voids in SRTM data sets still exist. + When voids are detected, the srtm2sdf utility replaces them with + equivalent elevation data found in existing SDF files (presumably + generated from older USGS elevation models). If older SDF files + are not available, voids are handled through pixel averaging or + direct replacement. + +* Coding changes were made that in concert with the new srtm2sdf utility + should allow SPLAT! to function over all regions of the planet for + which SRTM-3 elevation data is available. + +* SPLAT's SDF search path priority has been changed. SPLAT! now + searches for needed SDF files in the current working directory first. + If the needed file isn't found, SPLAT! then searches in the path + specified by the -d command-line option, or in the $HOME/.splat_path + file. + +* The color scheme used by SPLAT! in the generation of Longley-Rice + path loss maps was noticeably improved. + +* A new command-line option (-db) was added to allow constraints + to be placed on the maximum attenuation contours plotted on + path loss maps. + +* A possible array overflow condition in the ReadPath() function was + identified and fixed. + +* Some very slight coding modifications were made to permit warning-free + compilation under GCC 4.x.x. + +* The usgs2sdf utility was modified John Gabrysch (jgabby@gmail.com) to + properly handle the latest USGS DEM file format, and to properly scale + Alaska tiles. + +---------------------------------------------------------------------------- + Release 1.1.0: -By John A. Magliacane (29-Jan-2004): +By John A. Magliacane, (29-Jan-2004): * Extensively modified by J. D. McDonald in January 2004 to include the Longley-Rice propagation model using C++ code from NTIA/ITS.