     SatBatch - Automatically decode a bunch of bitmap & wave files

Purpose:

This program is a steering program for my SatSignal and WXtrack utilities.

It will process a folder full of wave files, gathered during the day by a
wave file capture utility such as Christian Bock's WXSat, and for each file
it will call SatSignal with the parameters appropriate to the particular
satellite.  The user has full control of the parameters.

If the "Process bitmaps" option is set, the program also processes BMP files.

SatBatch determines the satellite type using the same processing code that
is present in SatSignal, and uses the pass information generated for the 
day's passes by WXtrack to distinguish between satellites having the same
signal type but with different pass times (e.g. the NOAA series).


Installation & Usage:

Extract SatBatch.exe from the zip file to a suitable folder and run 
SatBatch.exe.  It is required that you have my SatSignal (registered) and 
WXtrack programs to run SatBatch.  These programs can be obtained from:

  http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk/software/wxsat.htm

You will need two other run-time libraries:

1 - If you don't already have Borland's run-time library, you will also need 
to download the file VCL40.zip from any site offering it.  For example:

  http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk/software/runtime.html

Extract the file VCL40.BPL from this archive and copy to your Windows System
folder (e.g. \Windows\System or \WinNT\System32).  

2 - Intel Signal Processing library

  See: http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk/software/runtime.html (limited)
  or:  http://developer.intel.com/vtune/perflibst/SPL/              (full)

Although the Intel libraries are quite large downloads, they may also be 
obtained from Intel on CD-ROM.  If you use the restricted libraries I provide, 
you should copy them into the same folder as the program.  Whilst the Intel 
libraries are supposed to work on other processors, there is some evidence 
that AMD processors are not properly supported, and may cause crashes.  If 
this happens to you, I suggest you look at the notes on my Web site.

  http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk/software/runtime.html#MSVCRT

If you have a Pentium III processor, and experience an external exception 
C000001D crash, please see updated Intel library despatchers at:

  http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk/software/runtime.html#PentiumIII

It is important that you remove all old versions of all the libraries when
installing new versions, otherwise the program may continue to use the older
files making your problem solving task more difficult.


Analysing "missing DLL" messages:

If Windows reports a missing library, you can find which is missing from the
error message reported by Windows:

  NSP??.DLL - Intel signal processing is missing
  VCL40.BPL - Delphi runtime library is missing


Notes:

The program is written for Borland's Delphi 4.03.  You do not need access to 
Delphi to run SatSignal.  The program has been developed on Windows NT 4, and 
runs on Windows NT4, 95 and 98.

Run WXtrack first to generate a list of passes for the day in question.  Your
active satellites in WXtrack should include the satellites in your wave file
collection.  SatBatch reads the PassList.txt file generated by WXtrack.  Note
that if you have used the WXtrack option to relocate the results files, 
SatBatch will look in the reloated folder for all WXtrack files, both 
PassList.txt and the pass-specific overlay data.

The first time you run the program, you should enter the location of your
wave file folder - typically this will be: C:\WXsat\WAV.

To start processing (scanning a folder for wave files), press the Scan button.

To abort processing, click on the counting down button.

To process wave files for a different day, first use WXtrack to generate the
PassList.txt file for that day, and then press the Reload Pass List button in 
SatBatch to force SatBatch to re-read the passes.  If you wish to save a pass
list from WXtrack, do so by renaming the file PassList.txt, as it will be 
overwirtten each time that WXtrack is run.  Rather than destroy the list of 
passes held in SatBtach you can use the Pass List, Append menu to add the 
contents of PassList.txt to the current passes.  There is no protection 
against reading any files, so if you feed the program a ReadMe.txt file don't
be surprised if it doesn't work!

The program will not attempt to process files for which the output file (.BMP 
or .JPG) already exists.

The program will timeout after 300 seconds waiting for SatSignal or WXtrack 
to process.  If this timeout is inadequate (perhaps if you have less than a 
200MHz processor), please let me know and I will make the timeout adjustable.

The program will generate overlays if the "Options, Overlay" menu item is 
checked.  It will _not_ attempt to add the overlays automatically, as there
is no guarantee of correct alignment.  You can do this quite simply afterwards
by running SatSignal itself.  I set up a right-click menu item for BMP file to
make this process even easier.

If the "Rename overlay files" option is checked, the program will attempt to 
rename the overlay bitmap and pass details produced by WXtrack to match the
actual source filename rather than the orbit pass name used by WXtrack.  This 
will ensure that an overlay can be viewed by subsequent processing, but it 
will no guaranteee correct alignment of the overlay with the image.

If the "Process bitmaps" option is set, the program attempts to process any 
BMP files in the source folder before processing any wave files.  This allows 
you to use WXSat to process the wave files into bitmaps as they are recorded,
and may save a little time.  All such files are processed as "NOAA APT" 
whatever their actual origin, and you may therefore wish to remove BMPs from
non-NOAA sources before commencing a processing run.

If the "Use Local time" option is set, the program will assume that the 
source files have been saved using local time rather than UTC time.  The 
program will convert the implied time from the filename into UTC before 
looking up the pass, and will rename any overlay files generated to match the 
actual filename.  Note that the name of this option may incorporate the name
of you local timezone.

The program will skip wave files smaller than about 60 seconds in duration.


Recent release information:

V1.3.0  2000 Feb 06  Add ability to accept filenames in local time
                     Allow WXtrack and its results to be in different folders
                     Add renaming of overlay text
                     Use DJT's common About Box

Earlier relase notes are in the file History.txt.


Program Status & Distribution:

This program is copyrighted software from David J Taylor, Edinburgh and is 
provided "as is", without any support.  Whilst I cannot answer queries 
relating to the use of this program, I would value any comments or 
suggestions for improvements you may have.


Acknowledgements:

Thanks to all the folks on the RIG and WXSAT mailing lists who have 
contributed valuable information, and to the folks who have registered
SatSignal thus encouraging me to continue.


Contacting the author:

Web site:  http://www.davidtaylor.freeserve.co.uk
E-mail:    davidtaylor@writeme.com
2000 February 06
