What's New with IRAS
Updated October 28, 1997
This page contains information on the latest addtitions/changes to the Motif-IRAS package.
Version 102897 contains a few fixes and an enhancement to the flight track XSN module. The display window now accurately displays the entire selected time window. Also, aircraft altitude is displayed on top of the cross section.
Version 080497 contains an enhancement to the Grid Point Analysis function in the Echo Analysis module. Users can now specify the number of rows and columns for the output grid along with the grid spacing and center coordinate.
Version 040897 contains fixes to the stacked CAPPI and ATI analysis modules. The partitioned window enhancement created a problem in the stacked CAPPI code. The ATI analysis code would only allow ATI analyses for the lowest PPI elevation cut. ATI analyses for CAPPI displays were OK.
Version 030597 contains a fix to the CAPPI display module. The NEXRAD interface redesign of last summer caused an initialization problem that didn't occur before. Initial CAPPI display's would be blank.
Version 021897 contains fixes to the grid overlay module and ATI analysis module. As a result of the partitioned display enhancement, polar grids on unpartitioned PPI's and CAPPI's were shifted down 10 scanlines. Also, the ATI module wasn't calling the PPI and CAPPI display modules properly (each need partiton #).
Version 012397 contains a fix to the overlay package which deals with partitioned displays. The previous version shifted the overlay center point by about 20 scanlines. Also, several memory leaks were fixed.
Version 120896 contains a 4 panel display option for PPI/CAPPI displays. A selection was added to the Display Menu to display a PPI or CAPPI in up to 4 partitions. The user can select the elevation angle (PPI) or height (CAPPI), the field (for NEXRAD Level II data), and a type (PPI or CAPPI). At the present time the 4 panel display is for mostly display only. Most of the analysis functions will not work properly in a partitioned environment. It is planned to add these capabilities at a future date.
An option was added to the display menu for displaying range folding data in NEXRAD velocity and spectrum width displays.
Version 110196 contains a fix to the NEXRAD data tape extract tool. In the previous version, eond-of-file marks were not skipped properly and only one file could be extracted at one time. Also, a new display option has been provided for NEXRAD displays. Users can now display range folding information on velocity and spectrum width displays. A new button has been added to the Display Menu to control this feature.
Version 100296 contains a fix to the Flight Track XSN module. See the history file for details. Several serious bugs were fixed.
Version 090896 contains a fix for all XSN display types using NEXRAD data. The old version couldn't properly handle the lowest two elevation scans (split of Doppler and surveillance).
Version 090696 contains all of the functionality version 090296 was supposed to have. A few modules affecting the NEXRAD field select function were inadvertantly left out. The HPUX10.x version was the only one which was OK.
Version 090296 contains several fixes and new enhancements to the Motif-IRAS package. In the previous version, the NEXRAD Level II interface was overhauled and a field toggle was provided for the user to switch between the 3 NEXRAD fields (reflectivity, velocity, spectrum width). However, it became apparent that a direct mechanism was needed to set the field type prior to display. With this in mind, buttons were added to the display menu for the user to select a field prior to display. The default is still reflectivity.
A new enhancement has been added to the Units Control package. In addition to selecting the horizontal units for grid overlays, users can now define the vertical units for RHI and XSN displays. In addition to the default kilometers, users can now select thousands of feet as the vertical unit. Also, the selected horizontal unit is reflected in the range ordinate for RHI and XSN displays.
Some old legacy code in the aircraft flight track overlay package wouldn't allow users to display aircraft flight tracks over NEXRAD Level II radar data. This has been fixed in the latest version.
When users selec a new field for display, IRAS now remembers the values defined for the minimum and maximum display values. In previous versions, when a user switched to a new field, the default values were used.
Version 072496 contains a major change to the NEXRAD Level II data interface. Users can now switch fields (ie., dBz, Velocity, Spectrum Width)) by pressing the right mouse button while the cursor is displayed in the PPI/CAPPI Display Window. Also, when a NEXRAD file is openned, one is no longer presented a menu from which a field must be chosen. This should speed up NEXRAD Level II processing and display.
A new function has been added to the Echo Analysis package. "Grid Point Analysis" allows one to dump to file various interrogation information at selected grid intervals. The output is in an ASCII format. The grid is centered on the coordinate used as the center of the PPI/CAPPI Display Window. The information generated at each grid point is: Reflectivity, Maximum Reflectivity Maximum Echo Height, VIL, and Rain-Rate.
Any comments, suggestions, etc., should be sent to lron@dust.ias.sdsmt.edu