PacketRaven

PacketRaven is a command-line dashboard that retrieves location telemetry sent by high-altitude balloon payloads. The program is designed to be run during a flight and display information in a terminal user interface (TUI):

Features

retrieves location telemetry from a variety of sources, including
- https://amateur.sondehub.org
- https://aprs.fi
- a TNC-equipped radio connected via USB
- a text file containing raw APRS frames
- a GeoJSON file with point geometries and telemetry
retrieves balloon flight predictions from https://predict.sondehub.org
plots variables such as altitude and ascent rate over time
estimates landing time (and, if doing a prediction, shows preficted landing location)

Instructions

Follow these instructions to create a new configuration file in a text editor, or use the following simple example:

# example.yaml
callsigns:
  - W3EAX-8
connections:
  sondehub: {}
  text:
    - path: http://bpp.umd.edu/archives/Launches/NS-111_2022_07_31/APRS/W3EAX-8%20raw.txt
    - port: COM3
      baud_rate: 9600

Download an executable from the Releases page.
Open a terminal window.
Run the executable you downloaded with start and a path to your configuration file:
```
packetraven.exe start example.yaml
```

[!TIP] Add --help to any command to show usage instructions.

[!NOTE] On MacOS or Linux, you may need to give the file executable permissions to run it:
chmod +x packetraven

You should now see the user interface. The program starts on the Log tab, which displays log messages. Use the up and down arrow keys to scroll.

[!TIP] Resize your terminal window, or zoom out / decrease the font size, as needed.

Upon first receiving new packet(s) from a callsign, a new tab will be created (shown in the top bar) for that callsign. Use the left and right arrow keys to switch between tabs.
While on a callsign tab, use the up and down arrow keys to switch between plots.
To quit, press q or Esc.

retrieve predictions

Run the executable with predict to retrieve a balloon flight prediction:

packetraven.exe predict "2023-08-16T10:00:00" -- -79 39 5 30000 9

[!WARNING] due to a limitation in the argument parser, you must prepend all negative values with --; for instance, -79 should be -- -79