SETI League Technical Manual -- Software
Suggestion for SETI Logging Software
contributed by Daniel Boyd Fox (foxd @ indiana.edu)
I have an idea that may help in the writing of a SETI logging
program. ( Actually I was going to use it on a future version of SETIFOX
but I'm willing to share the idea. ) Since a lot of the home seti systems
are going to be home brew with a number of different pieces of equipment
using different search strategies, etc, it would make sense to be
able to greatly vary the type of commands and procedures the logging
program can carry out. I propose that the program be set up with script
files that are written by the user to carry out the search strategy the
user wants. These script files would be similar in concept to the script
files many modem programs use to log into a bbs and retreive certain
files and log out automatically. In the case of a seti script file it
would be a set of procedures for recording, processing, and responding to
the data. With a limited set of math functions the script file could be
set up to control a wide range of equipment with serial interfaces,
including: radios, antenna positioners, modems, etc.
This would also save time since changing search strategies would be more
a matter of editing a script file rather than rewriting the program.
This would not eliminate the inevitable rewrites, but it would cut down
on them.
73
Daniel
