ALF Debugging Tool

ALF is a tool for debugging waveforms that is intended for Release 0.7.0. It allows for a visual realization of waveforms as well as probing capabilities.

The ALF tool got its name from the popular 1980\'s television show. The cat eating feature of ALF is "under development." For more information on the inspiring television program, consult http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alternative_Life_Form

This tool is in "maintenance" mode.

• experimental/ALF/trunk/ALF Development trunk

Installation

Here are the instructions for installing ALF and its dependencies. Remember that commands prefixed with $ implies the command should be run with regular permissions, while # implies the command should be run as root.

1. Install customInterfaces: experimental/customInterfaces/trunk/customInterfaces

   $ svn co https://ossie.wireless.vt.edu/repos/ossie/customInterfaces/trunk/customInterfaces
   $ cd customInterfaces
   $ ./reconf
   $ ./configure
   # make install
   

2. Create python bindings for IDL

   $ cd /usr/local/include/standardinterfaces
   # mkdir idl_py
   # cd idl_py
   # omniidl -bpython -I../.. ../*idl 
   

If the omniidl command above returns an error similar to "No module named python" you might need to use the -p option to specify a path for it, e.g:

#omniidl -p/usr/local/lib/python2.4/site-packages  -bpython -I../.. ../*idl         

3. For the time being, you may need to add the following directories to your ossie.pth file:

   ~/src/WaveDev/wavedev 
   /usr/local/include/standardinterfaces/idl_py
   /sdr/tools
   

4. For the plot feature to work, you will need python\'s numpy package. Numpy is used in calculating FFTs.
   1. One good place to find numpy is sourceforge. Download numpy-1.0.1.tar.gz. After unzipping and untarring the file, go to a terminal and navigate to the numpy-1.0.1 directory. From there run

      $ python setup.py install
      

   2. Alternatively, numpy can also be installed through Yum, viz

      # yum install numpy
      

5. Get the source code for ALF. Execute the following commands while in your desired source directory:

   $ svn co https://ossie.wireless.vt.edu/repos/ossie/experimental/ALF/trunk/alf/
   $ cd alf
   $ ./reconf
   $ ./configure
   $ make install
   

6. Add __init__.py to both /sdr and /sdr/tools,

   $ touch /sdr/__init__.py
   $ touch /sdr/tools/__init__.py
   

Running ALF

1. Start OmniNames.sh if you have not already:

   $ omniNames.sh
   

2. Start nodeBooter

   $ nodeBooter -D -d path/to/DeviceManager.dmd.xml
   

3. Navigate to the alf directory (default is /sdr/tools/alf), and start ALF:

   $ python ALF.py
   

The top left window will list your available waveforms, which must be installed to /sdr/waveforms. Left click on the desired waveform, and select "install".

Installed waveforms are displayed in the bottom-left window. To view the waveform, right click on it in the bottom-left window and select "display". Your waveform will then be displayed on the right window. Note that in the current version of ALF, all devices will be ignored in the display.

When the waveform is displayed, you can right-click on the ports to use the various analysis tools (e.g., plot).

Point of Contact

DrewCormier