packetraven 1.1.1

Balloon payload telemetry over APRS

PacketRaven

PacketRaven is a front-end data aggregator / dashboard, designed to track the progress of high-altitude balloon payload flights via location telemetry.

pip install packetraven

Usage:

to start the client, run the following:

packetraven

usage: packetraven [-h] [-k APIKEY] [-c CALLSIGNS] [-s] [-p PORT] [-l LOG] [-o OUTPUT] [-t INTERVAL] [-g]

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -k APIKEY, --apikey APIKEY
                        API key from https://aprs.fi/page/api
  -c CALLSIGNS, --callsigns CALLSIGNS
                        comma-separated list of callsigns to track
  -s, --skipserial      skip attempting to connect to APRS packet radio
  -p PORT, --port PORT  name of serial port connected to APRS packet radio
  -l LOG, --log LOG     path to log file to save log messages
  -o OUTPUT, --output OUTPUT
                        path to output file to save packets
  -t INTERVAL, --interval INTERVAL
                        seconds between each main loop
  -g, --gui             start the graphical interface

Python API:

to retrieve packets directly from https://aprs.fi:

from packetraven import DEFAULT_CALLSIGNS, APRSfiConnection

callsigns = ['W3EAX-8', 'W3EAX-12', 'KC3FXX', 'KC3ZRB']
api_key = '' # enter your APRS.fi API key here - you can get a free API key from https://aprs.fi/page/api

aprs_fi = APRSfiConnection(callsigns, api_key)
aprs_fi_packets = aprs_fi.packets

print(aprs_fi_packets)

or parse packets from a radio sending parsed APRS over a USB connection:

from packetraven import APRSPacketRadio

serial_port = None # leave None to let PacketRaven guess the port name  

radio = APRSPacketRadio(serial_port)
radio_packets = radio.packets

print(radio_packets)

or connect to a PostGreSQL database running PostGIS:

from packetraven import APRSPacketDatabaseTable

hostname = 'bpp.umd.edu:5432' 
database = 'bpp'
table = 'packets'

username = 'username'
password = '1234'

table = APRSPacketDatabaseTable(hostname, database, table, username=username, password=password)
table_packets = table.packets

print(table_packets)

Features:

current:

• parse APRS packets from USB radio
• retrieve packets from https://aprs.fi
• output packets to file
• plot altitude

in development:

• flight track plotting
• live track prediction
• Iridium telemetry and commands
• live chase navigation