2 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (15-Mar-2007):
4 * Two bugs affecting the plotting of Fresnel zones were identified and fixed.
6 * A bug that produced some erroneous elevation angles in SPLAT! Path Loss
7 Output (-plo option) files was identified and fixed.
9 * Text documentation in Spanish was added (thanks to Charles Esobar).
11 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
14 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (22-Dec-2006):
16 * All graph plotting has been enhanced to include distances, azimuths,
17 and in some cases, elevation angles, in numeric form. Height
18 plots (-h option) now include a contour of the Earth's curvature.
19 A new -H option was added that behaves the same as -h, except its
20 display of heights is normalized to the heights of the endpoints
21 along the plotted path. Graphs now default to PNG rather than GIF
22 format to reflect gnuplot's current trend away from .gif output.
23 (.gif is still available if your version of gnuplot supports it.)
24 Postscript output is now generated in enhanced color.
26 * SPLAT! can now determine and plot Fresnel Zone clearances. A new
27 -f command-line option permits the Fresnel Zone frequency (in MHz)
28 to be specified, otherwise it can be determined from .lrp files when
29 path-loss calculations are performed. Antenna height requirements
30 for 60% clearance (0.6 F1) and 100% clearance (F1) of the First
31 Fresnel Zone now appear in Obstruction Reports. These zones are
32 also displayed graphically in height plots (-h or -H options).
34 * Support for antenna radiation patterns has been added. SPLAT! now
35 reads normalized azimuth and elevation antenna field pattern data
36 from separate .az and .el files when Longley-Rice studies are performed.
37 One degree azimuth and one tenth degree elevation pattern resolution
38 is supported along with azimuthal pattern rotation and mechanical
41 * A bug in the interpretation of the -n and -N command-line options
44 * Negative geographical coordinates in DMS format are now (hopefully)
45 interpreted and displayed better than before.
47 * SPLAT! data handling can be changed from imperial units (feet/miles)
48 to metric (meters/kilometers) units using the new -metric switch.
50 * SPLAT! can now generate topographic maps without plotting
51 line-of-sight or path loss coverage. These maps are centered
52 approximately on the given tx_site, extend out to a radius
53 provided by the -R switch, and can be populated with county
54 boundaries and city names, just like SPLAT!'s traditional
55 line-of-sight and path loss maps.
57 * Support for user-defined terrain files (ground clutter) has been
60 * SPLAT! can now generate .geo Georeference Information Files
61 when .ppm topography and coverage maps are created, permitting
62 the integration of SPLAT! generated maps with X Amateur Station
63 Tracking and Information Reporting (www.xastir.org) software.
65 * SPLAT! can now generate .kml Keyhole Markup Language files that
66 when imported into "Google Map", dramatically illustrate the RF
67 path between transmitter and receiver locations when performing
68 point-to-point analyses.
70 * Support for exporting Longley-Rice path loss contour studies to
71 external data files has been included. SPLAT! path loss files can
72 be used for performing coverage or interference studies outside of
73 SPLAT!. They can also be modified externally (with antenna pattern
74 data, for example) through scripts or small utilities, and imported
75 back into SPLAT! to generate coverage maps based on the revised
76 data without having to re-run any time intensive Longley-Rice path
79 * The documentation was updated to reflect the new features and
80 functionality of the software.
82 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
85 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (01-Apr-2006):
87 * An srtm2sdf utility was added to permit SPLAT Data Files to be
88 derived from the latest 3-arc second SRTM (STS-99 Space Shuttle
89 Radar Topography Mission) digital elevation model data. The
90 quality of this data is *significantly* higher than that of older
91 USGS Digital Elevation Models previously used by SPLAT!. Despite
92 the higher quality, some voids in SRTM data sets still exist.
93 When voids are detected, the srtm2sdf utility replaces them with
94 equivalent elevation data found in existing SDF files (presumably
95 generated from older USGS elevation models). If older SDF files
96 are not available, voids are handled through pixel averaging or
99 * Coding changes were made that in concert with the new srtm2sdf utility
100 should allow SPLAT! to function over all regions of the planet for
101 which SRTM-3 elevation data is available.
103 * SPLAT's SDF search path priority has been changed. SPLAT! now
104 searches for needed SDF files in the current working directory first.
105 If the needed file isn't found, SPLAT! then searches in the path
106 specified by the -d command-line option, or in the $HOME/.splat_path
109 * The color scheme used by SPLAT! in the generation of Longley-Rice
110 path loss maps was noticeably improved.
112 * A new command-line option (-db) was added to allow constraints
113 to be placed on the maximum attenuation contours plotted on
116 * A possible array overflow condition in the ReadPath() function was
117 identified and fixed.
119 * Some very slight coding modifications were made to permit warning-free
120 compilation under GCC 4.x.x.
122 * The usgs2sdf utility was modified John Gabrysch (jgabby@gmail.com) to
123 properly handle the latest USGS DEM file format, and to properly scale
126 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
129 By John A. Magliacane, <kd2bd@amsat.org> (29-Jan-2004):
131 * Extensively modified by J. D. McDonald in January 2004 to include
132 the Longley-Rice propagation model using C++ code from NTIA/ITS.
133 In addition to analyzing line-of-sight propagation paths, SPLAT!
134 now generates multi-color maps illustrating predicted signal
135 strength (path loss), path loss graphs, path loss reports,
136 and terrain height graphs. The default earth radius, as well
137 as the default line-of-sight and path loss analysis range used
138 by SPLAT! may also be modified using new command-line options.
140 * splat.c was renamed to splat.cpp to reflect changes necessary
141 to merge with Longley-Rice C++ code. A C++ compiler (gcc/g++)
142 is now required to compile SPLAT!.
144 * The documentation was updated to reflect the new features
147 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
150 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (10-Jun-2002):
152 * Coverage areas are now processed four times faster than before.
155 * Determination of antenna height above average terrain (HAAT) based
156 on FCC Part 73.313(d) (Prediction of coverage) has been added.
158 * Site analysis report generation has been added when coverage mode
159 is invoked. These reports include ground height above mean sea
160 level, antenna height above mean sea level, antenna height above
161 average terrain, and average terrain calculated at azimuths of 0,
162 45, 90, 135, 180, 225, 270, and 315 degrees.
164 * Added site location information in degree, minute, second format,
165 as well as antenna height above average terrain to the content of
168 * Elevations below sea-level are now safely handled.
170 * Greyscale of topographic maps generated by SPLAT! is now referenced
171 between the highest and lowest elevations in the survey, instead of
172 between the highest elevation and sea-level. This change in reference
173 permits regions below sea level to be discernible in the map, and
174 allows subtle terrain variations to be clearly evident over regions
175 having relatively flat terrain.
177 * The documentation was updated.
179 * Several other minor coding changes/bug fixes were made.
181 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
184 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (14-May-2002):
186 * SPLAT! now buffers data while reading bzip2 compressed SPLAT
187 Data Files (SDFs). A 100 MHz Pentium now loads compressed SDF
188 files 208% faster than before, and takes only 2 seconds longer
189 than an uncompressed file.
191 * Configuration, compilation, and installation scripts now invoke
192 bash instead of sh. The -ffast-math compiler option was removed.
194 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
197 By John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (22-Apr-2002):
199 * The maximum number of transmitter/repeater sites handled
200 per analysis has been increased from two to four.
202 * Improved the configuration, compilation, and installation scripts.
203 Now ./configure compiles and installs the program, man page, and
204 all associated utilities in one command.
206 * Some minor coding changes were made, including the addition of an
207 #include <stdlib.h> in each of the utilities to silence a compilation
208 warning issued by gcc version 3.x.x about the use of the exit() function.
210 * The README and documentation files were updated.
212 ----------------------------------------------------------------------------
215 by John A. Magliacane <kd2bd@amsat.org> (08-Apr-2002):
217 * First public release of SPLAT!