The main goal of the Radar SideCar software project is to create a highly adaptable environment for running signal processing algorithms. Users configure signal processing streams using XML configuration files that define how information flows from algorithm to algorithm and how data flows from machine to machine in the SideCar LAN.
There are several applications available which provide a graphical interface to the user:
- AScope - a software oscilloscope for viewing data samples (additional info)
- BScope - a rectangular representation of radar returns - contrast with PPIDisplay's polar display (additional info)
- Master - a process manager application that shows the active processing streams running in the SideCar LAN
- Playback - an application that can playback recorded data files. Supports playback rate changing and looping when it reaches the end of a data file
- PPIDisplay - a simulation of a phosphor plot position indicator (PPI) display. Even has a crude simulated decay effect for those that can't live without phosphor decay (additional info)
Various signal processing algorithms can be found in the Algorithms directory.
Building has worked on various Linux and MacOS X systems. Nearly all of the code is C++ with some bits in C. The code relies on the following external libraries:
- ACE - should work with at least version 5.5
- Boost C++ Framework - built and tested using v1.60.0
- Qt - built and tested using v4.8.7. Will not compile under v5
- Zeroconf - on Linux, requires Avahi's mDNS API emulation support (legacy)
- OpenVSIP - vector signal and image processing library
CMake scripts control the building process, and require at least v3.6. The usual way to
build is to create a build directory, move into it and then execute cmake to generate Makefiles, like so:
% cd ~/src/sidecar
% mkdir build
% cd build
% cmake ..
If successful, one should then just type make to build the executables
Many but not all of the source headers have JavaDoc-style comments. Using doxygen, one can convert them into
a static web site:
% cd ~/src/sidecar
% doxygen doc/Doxyfile
The HTML output will reside under the docs/. It is available online at
https://bradhowes.github.io/sidecar/index.html