Colossus Record and Playback Tool

Owned by Ben Guy
Last updated: Mar 14, 2023 by Charlotte Dakin-Norris
4 min read

Introduction

The Colossus net record playback tool is for recording and playing back network data generated from a radar. When recording the tool will act as radar client and once connected to a client it will initiate the transfer of raw radar data and record this to a file of disk. This file will include configuration and health data alongside the raw FFT data.

When operating in playback mode, the tool will mimic a radar and act as a TCP Server. Other client applications can connect to the tool and receive data over the network in exactly the same way they would if connected to a real radar.

For a detailed description of the file format used by the tool to record the radar data please refer to https://navtechradar.atlassian.net/wiki/spaces/PROD/pages/2261712903.

Please be aware that you should not edit the recording filenames.

Contents

Recording Radar Data

Initiating Data Recording

1. Open a windows command prompt, and navigate to the directory containing the Colossus net record playback tool (ColossusNetRecordPlayback.exe).

2. Type in the executable name, followed by the verb “record” the -i flag, and then specify the I.P address of the radar you wish to record data from.

ColossusNetRecordPlayback.exe record -i 10.77.2.211

3. Press enter, you will see the radar data recording begin.

Other useful flags for recording:

Use flag -f followed by a space and a string to assign a prefix to the recording filename, default is “Radar”. Example: -f HDR200

use flag -m followed by a space and an integer to set a maximum file size for recording (in bytes), default is 2GB. Example: -m 10000000

use flag -c followed by a space and a boolean to disable use of compression while recording, default is false. Example: -c true

use flag -s followed by a space and a boolean to force usage of simplified filenames, default is false. Example: -s true

Monitoring Data Recording

Radar data recording will continue while the bottom most line in the command prompt window is displaying a filename. The recording tool will check that the RX packet rate matches the packet rate of the configuration of the radar.

Stopping Data Recording

1. To stop recording, press Ctrl+C simultaneously, while the command prompt window is selected.

2. You can verify recording has stopped when the command prompt returns to its rest state.

Playing Back Radar Data

Initiating Playback

1. Open a windows command prompt, and navigate to the directory containing the Colossus net record playback tool (ColossusNetRecordPlayback.exe).

2. Type in the executable name, followed by the verb playback the -f flag, and then specify the file path and filename you wish to play back.

ColossusNetRecordPlayback.exe playback -f C:\Local\Development\Tungsten\sdk\bin\Debug\2019\10\24\Radar_1_20191024090305094_CFDFE8.colraw

3. Press enter, you will see the program waiting for a client to connect and view the radar data.

Monitoring Playback

1. To monitor the radar data playback, open a radar data viewing app, such as RadarView-Lite.

2. In your selected app, change the data source I.P and port to the I.P and port that you previously set up. Default is 127.0.0.1 (localhost) and 6317

3. You should now see the radar data playing back in your app, looking similar to the following:

Stopping Playback

1 To stop playback, press Ctrl+C simultaneously, while the command prompt window is selected.

2. You can verify recording has stopped when the command prompt returns to its rest state.