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WR-10X

User Manual HVMI Product Generator

Draft version

Document Code:

OM-11838-01

WR-10X

HVMI product generator

Himet

Confidential

The copyright in this document is the property of Himet. The document is supplied by Himet on the express understanding that it is to be treated as confidential and that it may not be copied, used or disclosed to others in whole or in part for any purpose except as

authorized in writing by Himet. HIMET S.r.l. - S.S. 17 ovest, 36 67100 L’Aquila Italy

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Index Index …………………………………………………………………………………………………………. 3 List of figures ……….……………………………………………………………………………………….. 5 Changes page …………….………………………………………………………………………………… 6 Acronyms list .……………………………………………………………………………………………….. 8 1. General information ……………………………………………………………………………………..10 2. Structure of the call function ……….………………………………………………………………….. 11 2.1. Product configuration mode ……….………..…………………………………………………... 12 2.2. Product generation mode …….......……………………………………………………………… 16 2.3. Error code return …………....……………………………………………………………………..18 3. Product registration file ……..…………………………………………………………………………..19 4. Colortable file …………………………………………………………………………………………… 20

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List of figures Fig. 2-1 Configuration graphic interface ………………………………………………………………… 12 Fig. 2-2 Comparison between the Surface-type (left) and the Contour-type (right) interpolations .. 13 Fig. 2-3 Comparison between the Surface-type (left) and the Contour-type (right) interpolations

with the median filter application ….…..….……………………………….…………………… 14 Fig. 2-4 Log file ……………………………………………………………………………………………. 14 Fig. 2-5 Available information in the HVMI product, UTC time format (above), CEST/CET time

format (below) …………………………………………………………………………………….16 Fig. 2-6 HVMI product in text format .….………………………………………………………………... 17 Fig. 3-1 Product registration file …….…………………………………………………………………… 19 Fig. 4-1 Colortable file ……………………………………………………………………………………. 20

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Changes page

WR-10X HVMI product generator

October 2010 First version (release 1.0) Rev. 01

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Acronyms list

Acronym Meaning

HVM / HVMI Horizontal Vertical Maximum Indicator

MCR Matlab Compiler Runtime

GUI Graphical User Interface

UTC Universal Time Coordinated

CEST Central Europe Summer Time

CET Central Europe Time

RGB Red – Green - Blue

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1. General information This manual describes the generation tool operation properly developed by Himet for the HVMI product generation. The HVMI product generator can be integrated in the environment developed by Eldes related to the WR-10X radar system management through a proper product registration. The HVMI product generator has been developed by Himet in matlab environment and later compiled as shared library in order to assure a full integration with the .NET environment. This kind of technology requires the MCR aid, a software engine distributed royalty free by Mathwork and included in the installation package of Eldes management and control software. The HVMI product generator supports two operating modes: 'product configuration' and 'product generation'. The shared library makes available to the management software only one function called HVM_Constructor which is characterized by a call process complying with Eldes specifications related to product generators implementation which can be completely integrated in the management environment of the WR-10X radar system. The HVMI product generator package includes the HVM_Constructor.dll product library, the link file, HVM_Constructor.ctf, related to the MCR software engine, a specification file of the product generator version, Version-LOG.txt, an authentication and registration file of the product, dati_registrazione.txt, necessary to the registration of the product generator in Eldes management environment, a colortable file, Colortbl_HVM.txt, necessary to the HVMI graphic product generation. The HVMI product generator operates on a specific PPI scan collection univocally found through the acquisition date expressed in the format 'yyyymmddhhmm' (year, month, hour, minute) PPI-rnn-yyyymmddhhmm-B-rrrr-eeee-x where “eeee” is the elevation expressed in tenths of a degree, “rnn” is the alphanumeric acronym of the specific radar, “rrrr” is the range of radar expressed in hundreds of meters and "x" specifies whether the data are "corrected by clutter" or "not corrected by clutter" (respectively, “x” may assume the letter "C" or "U"). The generic scan collection will be hereinafter referred to as “PPI scan”.

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2. Structure of the call function The HVM_Constructor function can be used calling it through the following syntax directly extracted by the help of the relating Matlab function: function [err] = HVM_Constructor(FileDate,PathSource,PathDest,Colortbl,ConfigFile,OpMode,TimeFormat,RadarNumber)

%HVM_CONSTRUCTOR – Management algorithm of the integrated data processing for the HVMI product % generation related to single polarization Weather Radar. % % Input parameters definition: % % 1) "FileDate" - "FileDate" is a string relating to the scan date % Type - 'yyyymmddhhmm' % % 2) "PathSource" - "PathSource" is the path from which the .z file to be processed % must be taken. % Type - 'C:\Programmi\WR-10X\DataFiles\DATA'. % % 3) "PathDest" - "PathDest" is the path in which the products generated by the dll % must be saved. % Type - 'C:\Programmi\WR-10X\DataFiles\HVM'. % % 4) "Colortbl" - "Colortbl" is the absolute path including the colortable files % to be used for the product generation. % Type - 'C:\Programmi\WR-10X\Bin\Colortbl\Colortbl_HVM.txt'. % % 5) "ConfigFile" - "ConfigFile" is the absolute path including all files related % to the configuration file. % Type - 'C:\Programmi\WR-10X\Bin\HVM_Config.xml'. % % 6) "OpMode" – "OpMode" determines the operating mode to be called. If the % "OpMode" value is 1 the algorithm for the HVMI product generation % is executed directly. If the "OpMode" value is 0 the specific GUI % for the HVMI product configuration is activated. % Type - [0,1]. % % 7) "TimeFormat" - "TimeFormat" determines the mode of the product execution % hour recording, UTC (TimeFormat = 1) or Local Time CET/CEST % (TimeFormat = 0). % Type - [0,1]. % % 8) "RadarNumber" - "RadarNumber" is an alphanumeric string relating to a specific % radar identifier. This identifier is composed of a letter % which refers to the network including the radar and of a % two digit number indicating the specific radar in the network. % Type - 'rnn'. % % Output parameters definition: % % 1) [err] - "err" returns a numeric code for error notification. If (err = 0) % no errors have been generated, if (err = 1) at least one error has % been generated and the program flow is stopped. % Type - [0,1]. % %--------------------------------------------------------------------------

The detailed description of the architecture of the HVMI product generator does not concern the scope of this manual.

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2.1. Product configuration mode When the HVMI product generator is called in product configuration mode, Eldes radar management application makes available to the user a special graphic interface. The GUI is shown below.

Fig. 2-1 Configuration graphic interface

The graphic interface includes three separate sections called, respectively, ‘Product Parameters’, ‘Default Option’ and ‘Saving Option’ with a clear meaning of identifiers. All controls made available by the interface are described in details below. The HVMI product generator has the function to generate the HVMI product related to “PPI scan” passed to the HVM_Costructor function as input parameter. The HVMI product returned by the HVM_Costructor function execution in product generation mode, can have either a graphic format or a text format. The five check boxes, called Generate GIF, Generate PNG, Generate TIFF, Generate JPEG, Generate BMP have the function to enable and disable the product generation in the related format. Multiple selections are allowed and it is possible (even if not recommended) to disable the generation of all the available product formats. The Pop-up menu called Image size allows to select one among the five possible sizes for the graphic products. The possible sizes, expressed in pixels, are 480x480, 520x520, 640x640, 820x820 and 1024x1024. The Pop-up menu called Visual interpolation allows to select one between the two possible graphic interpolation algorithms to be used during the graphic products generation. The possible choices are Contour or Surface.

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The Surface-type interpolation, accurately represents the HVMI image without any kind of smoothing application in the transition area between a radar cell and the adjacent cells. The Contour-type interpolation, makes the HVMI product areas, which are characterized by very close

colors in the scale, homogeneous. This kind of graphic interpolation is particularly suitable for the representation of thunderstorm formations typically characterized by a greater uniformity in the space distribution of radar echoes in comparison with the case in which the HVMI product represents ground-clutter echoes. The stressing of the contours is however performed according to the original characteristics of the image through a level scale having a number of levels equal to the number of the colortable colors used for the product generation. The following figure shows two representations of the same thunderstorm phenomenon generated, respectively, by the Surface-type and the Contour-type interpolation:

Fig. 2-2 Comparison between the Surface-type (left) and the Contour-type (right) interpolations

The slider "Height radar site (asl) [m]" sets the height of the radar site (in meters above sea level) and the height is displayed in the appropriate text box. The radio button "Height of HVMI" may be used to select the reference height (sea level or radar site), shown in the HVMI figure. The check box called 'Median filter' has the function to enable or disable the median filter application during the graphic product generation. The median filter is a technique known in image processing field, mainly used for the 'speckle' noise reduction that is the reduction of isolated points in a noisy image. When the check box 'Median filter' is enabled, becomes active the pop-up menu 'Size' which allows to select the depth of the applied median filter. A representation of the same thunderstorm phenomenon represented in the previous figure but with the application of the median filter, Size 3, is shown below.

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Fig. 2-3 Comparison between the Surface-type (left) and the Contour-type (right) interpolations with the median filter application

The check box called 'Save product generation log on file' has the function to enable and disable the specific log file update related to the HVMI product generator. If this option is enabled without an existing log file, a new log file will be created. The HVMI product generator log files are generated each month and show, in a text format, all the available information regarding the HVMI products generation. The log file name fulfils the following format: HVM-Generator[yyyymm].log.txt The log files are saved in the …\ WR-10X\Bin\LogFiles. proper folder. The typical content of a log file is described in the following figure.

Fig. 2-4 Log file

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The 'Default option' section includes two Push Buttons called respectively 'Save default' and 'Load default'. Save default saves the configuration set on the GUI in a proper .XML file, whose name is obtained adding the _default suffix to the name of the configuration file passed to the function as input parameter. Load default loads in the GUI the controls configuration extracted by the above mentioned default configuration file. If a default configuration file is not available, 'Load default' loads a "factory" default configuration. The purpose of this check is to allow the user to recover at any time a preferred configuration previously saved. The 'Saving option' section includes three push buttons called respectively Save and Exit, Save, and Exit. Save and Exit saves the configuration set in the GUI in a proper .XML file whose name is passed to the function as input parameter. Once settings are successfully saved, the GUI will close. Save performs the same action of 'Save and Exit' except for the fact that once the configuration is successfully saved, the GUI continues to be open. Exit closes the GUI without saving the settings. Once the settings are saved in the proper configuration file, this is read each time the GUI is opened and the settings included in the file are loaded and show on the GUI. If no configuration file is included in the search path passed to the function as input parameter, the GUI will be opened with a "factory" default configuration.

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2.2. Product generation mode The HVMI product generator called by an higher level application with OpMode=1 generates the HVMI products related to a specific 'PPI scan' applying the settings saved by the GUI in the proper .XML configuration file. A list of the necessary information for the products generation is the following: date necessary to univocally find the specific 'PPI scan', radar acronym (alphanumeric string), search path for the binary files to be processed for the HVMI products generation, colortable file necessary to associate the color scale to the reflectivity values, configuration file for loading the settings to be used during the products generation and a parameter called TimeFormat which may assume the value 0 or 1 in order to apply, respectively, the display of the date in UTC format or CET/CEST format (local time). The HVMI product generator saves all products in the…\ WR-10X\Bin\DataFiles\HVM proper folder. The generated file, apart from the specific extension, follow the same procedure concerning the name construction: HVM-rnn-yyyymmddhhmm-B-rrrr-eeee-x In particular, the product file name includes the following information: 'HVM is the product acronym, 'rnn' is the alphanumeric acronym of the specific radar, 'yyyymmddhhmm' is the specific 'PPI scan' date, 'rrrr' is the range expressed in hundreds of meters, "eeee" is set to "0000" and "x" specifies whether the data are "corrected by clutter" or "not corrected by clutter" (respectively, “x” may assume the letter "C" or "U"). A detail of the available information superimposed on the images produced in case of both UTC and CET/CEST time information is given in the following figure.

Fig. 2-5 Available information in the HVMI product, UTC time format (above), CET/CEST time format (below)

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2.3. Error code return Apart from the nature of the call, configuration or product generation modes, the HVMI product generator returns a numeric code related to the processing result. A code equal to 0 indicates that the processing has been successfully completed, a code equal to 1 indicates that a generic error occurred as a result of which the processing has been stopped. Besides the generic error code returned by the HVMI product generator to the calling program, in case of error, detailed information related to the specific error occurred is available. The detailed information is written on the console, if there is any available and, if the log file update has been also activated, in the log file.

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3. Product registration file The HVMI product generator is supplied together with the product registration file dati_registrazione.rwx (is a .txt type with renamed extension). The content of the file is described in the following figure.

Fig. 3-1 Product registration file

The registration file includes all the necessary information for the correct registration of the HVMI product generator in Eldes radar management environment. For further information about the meaning of each field refer to Eldes specification concerning the creation of products generation tools compatible with the radar management environment. The last field of the registration file is necessary for the configuration of the products viewer integrated in Eldes environment and strictly depends on the type of product. Through the ToolTip parameter, using a macro system (for a detailed description refer to the above mentioned specification), the calculations to be associated to the dynamic ToolTip lines available in the images viewer are univocally determined. A list of information related to the HVMI product is given below:

1) the distance [Km] from the radar site of the cell pointed by the mouse (Distance). 2) the reflectivity values range [dBZ] in which the reflectivity associated to the cell pointed by

the mouse is placed (Reflectivity).

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4. Colortable file The HVMI product generator creates graphic products mapping the reflectivity levels with colors which are specified in a proper colortable file. A colortable file is provided as an integral part of the package but it is possible, at any time, to change it modifying the association between colors and reflectivity levels or modifying the specified levels number. An example of the colortable file supplied with the HVMI product generator is shown in the following figure.

Fig. 4-1 Colortable file

The colortable file, Colortbl_HVM.txt, is composed of five columns. The first column shows a sequential number, the second column shows the reflectivity levels, columns three, four and five show the three RGB (expressed in 256 levels) which specify the color associated to the specific reflectivity range. The colortable reading logic is the following: from -inf to -20dBZ the color [0 0 0] (black) is applied, from -20dBz to -15dBz the color [165 255 255] is applied and from +95dBZ to +inf the color [165 0 142] is applied. The colortable can be changed adding, reducing or modifying existing colors and levels provided that the following conditions are fulfilled:

1) the color [0 0 0] [black] must always be associated to the first reflectivity range; 2) the reserved color [242 0 0] must not be used in the colortable in order to allow the textual

information to be superimposed; 3) the number of the colortable lines must be equal to (multiple of 8)+1, that is 9,17, 25,33,....

The maximum rows number is 49 (48+1); 4) the second column, the level of reflectivity, must be integers and sequential increased

values. The maximum value is 95 dBZ.

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