Task List and Time Estimates for McIDAS-V Transition

October 14, 2004

(revised July 2006)

 

(note: all time estimates are in person-weeks unless otherwise noted)

 

Mc-X to Mc-V Bridge (? wks)

(Need code on the IDV side to fetch the Mc-X frame buffer data, color table and navigation so that what's displayed in Mc-X will show up navigated in IDV as an image. Thus, users with their own code that produces graphical/image output will be able to see it in Mc-V....this is the "bridge" between the old ways and the new ways...)

 

Frame information & manipulation/allocation (concepts - 12 wks)

(The issue here is the concept of frames.  While VisAD uses time-locked loops, there is nothing, per se, that deals with logical groupings of frames.  The IDV does have the notion of groups of images in a multi-pane manner which may be exploited up to the extent of the memory of the machine...the bigger issue is that in Mc-X,  you can have 8 bits/pixel; in Mc-V it's more likely to be 32 bits/pixel - we need to deal with that).

 

            FRMLIST

            COMBINE

            MAKFRM

            FRMSAVE

            Virtual frames

            Opposite

            PANEL

            FRMLABEL

 

Specific Applications

(Some of these apps are just commands/"formulas" to do; others produce some interactivity, like PCMW, that will require more effort).

            PLAX (2)

            BAR (2)

            IMGPLOT [scatter plots] (2)

            PCMW (6)

            Interactive EB (2 - if possible)

            FRNTDISP (2)

            Meteorogram (6)

            WWDISP& ADVDISP (4)

 

Utilities

(Miscellaneous user converter programs and scheduler. Initial ideas are that cron will be used for the scheduler, however, conceptual issue in whether commands run within the active session or not.)

            CHILL (2)

            HEAT (2)

            DATELIST (2)

            Convert units (2)

            Scheduler [auto updates to loops] (8)

            String tables [shells variables?]

 

User ID/project for accounting (2)

(Only required at sites that require this feature will need to make a logon process.)

 

Command line scripting (6)

(Jython for the scripting language to replace Mc-X Batch files and McBASI)

 

Text output search & edit (4)

(Create console that output text goes to that has search capability)

            TFILE

            TFIND

            READ [read text file from server]

 

Data output to files

(Ability to write local Area files in addition to more customized netCDF files)

            Image (8)

            Grid (2 netCDF)

            Point (2 netCDF)

            Text (2)

 

Weather Text

(Ability to list raw & decoded weather text with filters)

            Data listing WXTLIST [MOSRPT, OBSRPT] & decoded [UALIST] (8)

 

Querying static databases [stations, country codes, etc.]

            STNLIST (4)

            CCODE (2)

 

Cursor functions

Defining cursor types & colors (4)

Position cursor (2)

 

Images

(Specialized functions that Mc-X does with images)

            Local datasets (6)

            Utilities [AXFORM, ADUMP, GRDIMG, SU] (6)

            Filters (8)

            Lagrangian displays (4)

            LEO, GEO (6)

            Data probes [units, PRDUTIL, IMGPROBE] (via server = 4)

 

Point

(Big issue: define new vertical coordinate system in such a way that other data can be added to the display even if the vertical coordinates don't match).

            Isentropic cords (12)

            Pressure cords (2)

            Histogram (4)

            Color coded data plotting (2)

 

Grids

            Manipulation & stats (8)

            Color coded data plotting (4)

 

Navigation [6 months or nav server] (40)

(Polar orbiter navigation is the biggest expense. We don't have a navigation expert)

            Plot orbital tracks

            Calculate subpoint, viewing angles, etc.

 

Loop management

(Simulate current Mc-X functionality in response to what we learned in the survey)

            DEFLOOP, MOVIE (8)

            Briefing frames (8)

 

ADDE servers & Java (32)

(Question: Do we convert current ADDE servers into Java to run locally? Or, continue for native code libraries. Embrace the dataset management commands).

            Local? DSSERVE

            DSINFO, DATALOC

 

User Interface

(Long tail...)

            Dynamic GUI (30)

            Connection from Mc-X frame object to VisAD Data object (10)

            Image data chooser (4)