News
7th February 2024
FLIDAS version 4.15.1 has been released. This version supports a new, separately available plug-in for a specific Ethernet parameter decoding. It also has a lot of usability improvements.
New NDO plug-in:
- This plug-in decodes parameters from UDP packets that contain fixed sized data blocks (network data objects = NDO) starting at a fixed position that need to be decoded as separate messages.
- This is a separate plug-in as it will not be applicable to many projects.
- If you think you can use it or think it can be generalized to your use case, get in contact
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- More details on parameter and ICD configuration are available on the UI
- A bunch of improvements on the filtering on parameters in Parameter Set/List View:
- filter for comments
- filter in hierarchy elements
- filtered vs. complete selection
- save filter setup
- Apply filter when dragging tree segments
- ...
- Drag & drop of parameters from the selected parameters area in the parameter set view
- A bug was fixed that only decoded the first occurrence of a PCM supercommutated parameter within a minor frame (only in PCM non-throughput mode in live data streaming)
General new features:
- When you need to select files or streams in a dialog you see its assigned color and compatibility with the active ICD mapping and possible problems.
- Other smaller improvements and bug fixes
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
14th November 2023
FLIDAS version 4.15.0 has been released. This version adds support for binary UART and user defined computer-generated data parameter decoding and introduces a recording gap view.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- New ICDs for:
- user defined computer-generated data
- binary UART (this has been requested often but it comes with some assumptions that your recorder and system must satisfy)
- The parameter list and parameter set view can be filtered for parameter names
- The table gauge on instrument panels can show the comment field of the parameter
- Enumeration definitions for parameters can define the numeric value in hexadecimal
- You can use a "save as" for ICD Mapping, Parameter Set and Instrument Panels
- Performance warnings when working with large parameter sets or sample amounts in Parameter Graph or Parameter Table View can be configured
- A bug for parameter decoding on multiple subchannels of the same channel has been fixed. The bug could happen when:
- You process files (streams were not affected) and
- you use message data or UART data type and
- Connected ICDs to multiple subchannels of the same channel. Many recorders seem to avoid this in the first place as subchanneling comes with some trouble. They often use a one subchannel per channel approach on CH10 data types that require subchannels.
In this case the decoded data of one subchannel was correct but the others not. If you were affected, it is unlikely that you would not have seen it.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- A new Recording Gap View allows checking a selection of channels for gaps where no data has been recorded. The results are displayed in a colored table to show you where the channels had a common or single longer pause in the data and see their points in time.
- There is a packet entry viewer for user defined computer-generated data
- A new CH10 verification check can check if CH10 packets use data type versions that are valid for their data type.
New features in the free version:
- User defined computer-generated data packets are now split into "packet entries" so the binary data can be seen on the GUI
There are some more smaller bug fixes and improvements on robustness and usability.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
12th June 2023
FLIDAS version 4.14.0 has been released. This version upgrades to a new version of the user interface framework used for FLIDAS. There are also some other improvements.
FLIDAS upgraded to the latest version of the Eclipse RCP framework. As a result from this the required system configuration is now Windows 10 or later and Java 17
or later. Java 32-bit is not supported anymore, you will need a 64-bit Java installation. Note that even if you have a 64-bit Windows system you might still
run Java 32-bit. Details about Java installation can be found in the installation chapter 2.1. It is usually an easy installation of free software you can do
yourself without an administrator.
You may still be able to run FLIDAS with older Windows and Java (but 64-bit). A quick test worked out on Windows 7 and Java 11. However this is unofficial and without
liability. Still you can report problems.
New features in the free version:
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Time markers can be persisted between sessions working on the same CH10 file. An additional properties file will be stored when you enable it during loading.
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The time markers can now be seen when you right-click the file and go to Properties > Time Markers. You can also edit them there and im-/export them to share with other applications.
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You can also create time markers for UDP live data streams with the intent to export them after your testing session.
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You can read just a part of a CH10 file. For example if you have a very big file and are just interested in a part in the middle you can configure approximate start and end positions in the file and FLIDAS will read the TMATS and then just the section you selected.
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FLIDAS will start with maximized window. This solves some strange behavior on some multiple screen configurations.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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The Parameter Graph View now supports zooming with the mouse wheel to the mouse pointer.
There are some more smaller bug fixes and improvements on robustness and usability.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
27th March 2023
FLIDAS version 4.13.0 has been released. This version primarily improves support for TMATS PCM ICDs.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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Improvements on PCM TMATS ICD:
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Support for fragmented measurements.
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Parity supported on the parameter level.
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Support for new binary formats:
- Bit weights
- One's complement
- Offset binary
- Sign magnitude binary in both options
- Support for pair set data conversion type using the linear interpolation option
- PCM time parameters
- Enumerations can now use any integral binary format, not only unsigned binary
The detailed properties displayed for each Parameter look a little bit different in the new version. This is because a lot of changes took place under cover
for the PCM TMATS ICD improvements. These are things that are likely to lead to improvements in other ICDs as well in the future.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
10th January 2023
FLIDAS version 4.12.1 has been released. This version is primarily a quick bug fix for the support for Safran Data Systems recorder CH10 file segmentation. Users that don't use these files don't need to update.
New features in the free version:
- There was a problem reading segmented Safran Data Systems CH10 files when one of the segments started at or after a 2 GByte offset. This is fixed.
- The reading of segmented Safran Data Systems CH10 files now supports also non default filenames as long as they end with "_rxxxxfxxx.*" (x is a single digit).
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
14th December 2022
FLIDAS version 4.12.0 has been released. This version primarily adds support for Safran Data Systems recorder CH10 file segmentation and audio from numeric PCM parameters.
New features in the free version:
- CH10 recordings from Safran Data Systems often segment the single recording into a sequence of files. FLIDAS can now load them as if they were one file. The files must match the default naming scheme.
- All functionalities that receive or transmit UDP data allow selecting the network interface card to use in the computer in case a multicast IP address is used.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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Numeric PCM parameters can be exported to a WAV file. This is intended for audio exports but could be used for other things as well. The full numeric range of the parameter will be mapped to the full range of the WAV file samples.
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The CVSD to WAV export can be configured to skip gaps in the PCM reception or fill gaps with silence.
There are other smaller changes and corrections.
Also there is a general change in the pricing. The price calculation for upgrades was reduced. Until now it was 40% of the release price per year, now it changes to 35%. In order to keep the investment of existing
upgrade customers, the prices of the releases have been increased in a way that the price for a year of upgrades is like the price before. The increase in the release price also reflects the current inflation rate
and features that have been added since the last price change 21 months ago. Existing and potential customers with existing quotes can still order for the quoted price.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
13th September 2022
FLIDAS version 4.11.0 has been released. This version primarily adds support for the latest IRIG106-22 standard and iNET-X.
New features in the free version:
- Adaptations to the IRIG 106-22 release. Some changes include:
- CH10 verification checks for changes to test conformity of updated recorders
- Decoding of Analog I/Q recordings (format 3). The analog packets of this format can be used where the regular packets can already be used. I.e. you can export and do parameter decoding for example. However format 3 comes with high sampling rates, so you might run into performance issues if you try to process longer time frames)
- The deprecated video formats (1/3) will be reported as invalid in 2022 if you verify a CH10 file. However they are still supported with the previous FLIDAS features.
- The XML CH10 mapping has been adapted to include the new release flags in the packet header and TMATS CSDW.
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The configuration of tables in FLIDAS was adapted. For all tables that can be configured, there is a context menu now that you can reach with a right-click on the table header. You can manage the visible columns, widths and order a lot easier than before. The save symbols previously used to save the column setup have moved to this menu as well.
- A bug in the XML to CH10 conversion of structurally defined Ethernet messages created wrong fillers and led to unreadable data in some cases. It has been fixed.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- iNET-X data recorded as CH10 Ethernet can be used to:
- export the protocol data to a CSV file
- create an iNET-X communication summary listing message periods by stream ID, summarizing message counts and errors etc. As usual you can directly jump to the detected problems.
There are other smaller changes and corrections.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
8th June 2022
FLIDAS version 4.10.0 has been released. This version primarily adds support for user interface scaling and basic support for TSPI format 1.
New features in the free version:
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Windows allows scaling the user interface (Windows start menu > Settings > System > Display > Scale & Layout). There were several problems how FLIDAS reacted to this external scaling
that should be fixed now. If you find remaining problems, report them. Note that you should restart FLIDAS after changing the scaling. There is also a preference page for handling
possible problems. You can also reset individual configuration of table column widths there.
- TSPI format 1 packets will be decoded into separate packet entries. This is only basic decoding as the specification in IRIG 106 still needs improvement.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- TSPI format 1 packet entries can be displayed in a structured way.
- TSPI format 1 data can be exported to CSV.
- The XML CH10 mapping can include the XML source code into a generated CH10 file as computer generated user defined data.
- The binary content of a selected packet can be exported to a file. This can be used in different situations but also to extract the XML source code mentioned in the previous item.
There are other smaller changes and corrections.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
28th February 2022
FLIDAS version 4.9.0 has been released. This version primarily adds minimum and maximum definition to parameters.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- Most ICDs now allow defining a minimum and maximum value for numeric or enumeration parameters. If these remain undefined, the values are calculated to the maximum range. For this purpose new columns have been added to the CSV ICDs, mostly creating a new file format version. Migration is easy by adding the two columns. Old file format versions stay supported but do not allow definition of minimum and maximum but still provide the calculated minimum and maximum. Affected ICDs are:
- MIL 1553
- ARINC 429
- CAN bus
- Analog
- UDP
- Message data
- NMEA 0183 hardcoded (has fixed minimum and maximum)
- PCM (CSV version only - TMATS version only has calculated minimum / maximum)
- Recording events (unchanged version number)
- UART ASCII (unchanged version number; no calculation of minimum and maximum if omitted)
- The parameter graph view can now scale the values to the minimum and maximum defined in the ICD.
- The following gauges can pick up the minimum and maximum defined in the ICD:
- Strip chart
- Bar graph
- Dial
- There is a preference whether to prefer automatic scaling of values (from observed minimum and maximum) over ICD scaling (minimum and maximum defined in ICD).
New features in the parameter streaming plug-in:
- The parameter graph live processor can now scale the values to the minimum and maximum defined in the ICD.
New features in the free version:
- CH10 publishing can loop after the end of the file is reached. This creates a stream where the time jumps back in the end which is not supported by FLIDAS. However a customer requested this for publishing to other receiving software.
There are other smaller changes and corrections.
If you have issues with licensing: The calculation of minimum and maximum values for parameters uses an external library for higher degree polynomials. So the Apache Commons Mathematics Library has been added (in the commercial parameter or parameter streaming version). It uses an open-source license. The licensing information on FLIDAS has been updated.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
11th November 2021
FLIDAS version 4.8.0 has been released. This version improves support for message data type and IENA.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- IENA data in the message data type is supported in the following areas. The message data must directly contain the IENA packet without further wrapping.
- IENA communication summary
- IENA to CSV export
- The IENA to CSV export can now optionally export the payload bytes as well
- The IENA communication summary now displays the bit rate of each IENA key and in total
- The PCM communication summary now calculates the percentage of time that no frame lock existed
New features in the free version:
- The channel activity live processor now indicates recent activity or errors with color codes
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- There is a simple CSV ICD to decode message data type to parameters. A message ID is used to distinguish messages and parameters can be mapped to fixed positions.
There are other smaller changes and corrections.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
3rd August 2021
FLIDAS version 4.7.0 has been released. This version improves support for CH7 analysis and adds support for TSPI NMEA 0183.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- The CH7 protocol can be summarized on the source packet level. You can see the streams, content types and even chapter 10 channels contained with their bit rate, protocol errors, low-latency status and more.
- TSPI / CTS format 0 / 2 data can be exported to CSV.
- The NMEA 0183 protocol viewer and NMEA 0183 to CSV exporter now support TSPI format 0 sources as well.
- The previous version improved the robustness of NMEA 0183 decoding by always requiring a checksum if a checksum has previously been detected on the input. This has been relaxed to require it only for the sentence types that had checksums before.
- The IRIG 106 Chapter 7 decoding was changed to detect more protocol errors and reject them earlier. In effect it is possible to decode more data on some streams but it also shows that some current hardware does not respect the specification (encapsulation packets of different source packets are mixing. The new CH7 summary will reveal this.).
New features in the free version:
- TSPI / CTS packet formats 0 and 2 are decoded to the packet entry level. Format 1 is not supported as the Chapter 11 definition is not done properly so it is undecodable without additional information. If you can provide sample data or can give information on it, please get in touch. The support can then easily be done.
- Time channel offsets can now be predefined in the preferences to easier reuse them when opening a CH10 file or creating a live data stream.
- The performance of exporting data to files on network drives has improved significantly for most exporters.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- The Navigation Data View and NMEA 0183 hardcoded ICD now support TSPI format 0 (NMEA 0183) sources as well.
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Several improvements in NMEA 0183 hardcoded ICD:
- HDOP, PDOP and VDOP parameters added
- Latitude, Longitude and UTC time is now also decoded from GLL sentence
- Some improvements on parameter validity depending on FAA mode etc.
- The parameter "Satellites in View" has been renamed to "Satellites Used". If it is contained in your Parameter Sets or Instrument Panels you need to update it.
- A bug was fixed that decoded latitude always with a positive sign, even for the southern hemisphere
New features in the commercial streaming plug-in:
- The CH7 Live processor had some changes:
- Streams with detected errors show in red. (Note that the live processor processes data on the encapsulation packet level and not source packet level. The CH7 summary on a recorded file will detect more error types)
- The throughput column has been renamed to bit rate and is measured in MBit/s
There are other smaller changes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
3rd May 2021
FLIDAS version 4.6.0 has been released. This version improves support for distributed CH10 multiplexer sources.
New features in the free version:
- FLIDAS now supports CH10 files and live data streams from sources with independent real time counter (RTC) timing. The source must be indicated in the upper bits of the channel ID
(multiplexer source ID, MSID). For each MSID there must be a time channel. Live data streams will drop packets from each MSID until a valid time packet for the MSID was received.
The TMATS configuration must still be done in a single TMATS with a single R-group (either from CH10 file / stream or as external TMATS file). When opening a file or creating a live data steam you can choose to ignore the separate MSID handling which essentially brings you back to the way FLIDAS worked before.
- FLIDAS now uses secondary header times instead of RTC time if secondary headers are present. For channels using secondary header timing, no other RTC based time channel is required.
Secondary header checksum checking is now automatically enabled. You can disable secondary header time use when opening a CH10 file or creating a live data stream. This brings you back
to the old FLIDAS behavior.
- You can configure time offsets between time channels. This allows fixing time offsets between various time channels and secondary header time sources especially leap seconds offsets
but also local time can be adjusted. Although this feature is targeted at multiple time source scenarios (i.e. distributed systems) you can also offset the time in a single time source scenario.
- The filtered CH10 exporter now includes all the time channels in the MSIDs of the selected channels.
- Some rare issues with live data stream timing are fixed
- RTC sync errors in the packet header now prevent decoding of RTC timing. Instead a fallback time will be used.
New features in the commercial streaming plug-in:
- You can replay audio from analog data types in a live data stream to your speakers.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
- The robustness of NMEA 0183 decoding has improved. If on any NMEA 0183 source a checksum is detected (by protocol it is optional) it will be required for the rest of the data or the sentence will be considered to have a wrong checksum.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
16th February 2021
FLIDAS version 4.5.0 has been released. This version delivers first features to support CH10 files from independent CH10 multiplexer sources.
New features in the free version:
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CH10 files that merge data from independent CH10 multiplexer sources and use the multiplexer source IDs (MSIDs) to distinguish sources can be split into separate files that can then be
properly processed by FLIDAS and possibly other software. The merged files are often no valid CH10 files as they have independent relative time counters (RTCs) and time decoding is
not (yet) possible with FLIDAS. After the file is split the processing of time is possible. Files of this kind are appearing more, for example when merging ground recording and airborne
CH10 data acquisition transmitted to the ground recorder as CH7 PCM. Within the IRIG 106 standard groups there are discussions (and Data Bus Tools is involved) to give recommendations
on this. It is intended to deliver more support for this in FLIDAS.
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The "number of source bits" used to decode the multiplexer source IDs (MSIDs) are now shown in the General TMATS Properties.
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Many internal changes in FLIDAS reduce the dependency on the real time counter (RTC) in order to increase support for independent CH10 multiplexer sources in one file or stream. This
will also help with a future "Version 2 Packet header" that is in discussion within the IRIG 106 standard group and that might drop the use for RTC completely for these packets in
favor of an absolute time.
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CH10 files can use IRIG 106 Chapter 4 time stamps in secondary headers or packet entries. These are not properly defined in the standard and therefore cannot be safely used as time
reference. In the past users could choose to interpret the time stamps as time since new year (choosing an option during file loading or live data stream set up). This option does no
longer exist and the time will always be interpreted this way. This is the only implementation seen so far and there is no safe meaning for the time stamp anyway, not even the way of
interpreting it as time without date like done before by default.
- Jump to a recording event in the Packet View of a single channel
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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Allow parameter decoding from incomplete MIL 1553 messages. Messages with a missing status word or incomplete word count often still come with decodable data or status words.
You can now indicate in the ICD that you want to decode data also from faulty messages. This especially enables you to decode data from a transmitter when the receiver is offline
and does not confirm reception.
- Bugfix for MIL 1553 status word parameter decoding. In the past, status words from RT addresses > 15 were not accessible.
- Jump to a recording event in the Replay Control Gauge and Parameter Graph View
- Jump to a time marker or recording event in the Navigation Data View and Parameter Table Viewer
- PCM parameters are now supported up to 64 bit
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
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The Recording Event Packet Entry Viewer now also displays the name and description of events.
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The MPEG Transport Stream Summary no longer displays the minimum and maximum period between two transport stream packets of the same PID (as the timing in CH10 is not as expected here).
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The MPEG Transport Stream Summary displays the bit rate per PID.
- Jump to a time marker or recording event in the NMEA 0183 Protocol Viewer.
- The Hex Packet View does more coloring of sections for some packet types.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
30th January 2021
There was a bug in the FLIDAS free version (commercial not affected). The CH10 to XML export was not working. The bug is fixed now and there are no other changes. The release is called 4.4.0.1
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
11th November 2020
FLIDAS version 4.4.0 has been released. This version improves usability for instrument panels and parameter graph viewer.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
- You can speed up or slow down the replay of data in instrument panels
- You can create time markers or jump to time markers during the replay of data to instrument panels
- In the parameter graph viewer you can step through the data sample by sample using the cursor keys. To support this a new sampling mode is available where every sample is included in the graph and not only the changed samples.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
5th September 2020
There was am update on 9th September 2020
Customers are requesting test data from time to time. Often no public domain data is available. To overcome this some public domain test data has been converted to a valid CH10 file.
The original data is from a big number of recordings from a four engine short haul regional aircraft. The original data can be found on a NASA website.
The data made available here is a flight from the 14th September 2001 from Mineapolis - Saint Paul International Airport to Cincinnati / Northern Kentucky International Airport. The flight itself lasts 1:30 hours while the recording is about 1:50 hours.
The data has been converted to ARINC 429 using standard parameter definitions for these equipments:
- 002: Flight Management Computer
- 004: Inertial Reference System
- 006: Air Data System
- 007: Radio Altimeter
- 029: ADDCS and EICAS
Not all available data has been converted but may be in further releases. The sampling rate of parameters is 16, 8, 4, 2 or 1 times per second.
The CH10 file comes with five FLIDAS ICD files describing the contained parameters. The files are CSV files so everyone should be able to read it and use the data also without FLIDAS. Note that the parameter length
includes the sign bit. The data set also contains a FLIDAS ICD mapping file which associates the ICDs with the according Arinc 429 subchannels. Another part of the data set is a FLIDAS instrument panel file offering
some visualization of the parameters using maps, attitude indicator, airspeed indicator etc.
ICD mapping, ICD and instrument panel files are supposed to reside in the same directory.
For properly using the FLIDAS ICDs you need to make sure you use a "." as decimal separator. You could do this by using an English (US) localization for example (in FLIDAS: Window > Preferences > General > Locale)
or adapting the CSV files manually.
You can download the dataset here (about 3-4 MB).
For those interested: The data was converted using the XML CH10 Mapping defined in the CH10 Programmers Handbook (RCC document 123-16) appendix P/Q (or RCC 123-20 appendix Q/R) and implemented even in the free FLIDAS version.
The original Matlab data was extracted to CSV files. These were loaded from a custom Java program that created the XML file which was then converted to CH10 using FLIDAS.
28th August 2020
FLIDAS version 4.3.0 has been released. This version mainly improves instrument panels and offers a new type of external live processing support.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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There are some new gauges for instrument panels:
- Table gauge
- Airspeed indicator
- Altimeter
New features in the data streaming plug-in:
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A customer wanted to process live PCM data outside of FLIDAS with an own application. He did not want to implement the access to the IRIG 106 CH10 UDP data stream.
He asked for an easy solution to stream out data from FLIDAS. FLIDAS can now stream out raw data as a UDP stream. The payload of the UDP stream is just the raw data without any additional protocol.
This way own applications can just connect to the UDP stream and easily process the data. The feature is available for:
- PCM throughput channels
- UART subchannels
FLIDAS relies on customer requests for new features. So if you are in need for some features that look generic enough for other user as well, suggest them. If you are a
customer within the upgrade program you will also get your required feature for free if it is selected for implementation within your upgrade period. For non-generic feature requests you can of course also order customization plug-ins.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
29th May 2020
FLIDAS version 4.2.0 has been released. This version mainly improves instrument panels.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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A strip chart gauge has been added for instrument panels.
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Analog full live decoding parameters: In the past analog data was not fully decoded to parameters when processing live data (i.e. instrument panels or parameter live processors
- raw data processing and non-live processing was always complete). The reason was that this potentially high sample rate data can cause performance problems for decoding of
data and continuous display updates although the observer on the screen does not see the rapid changes anyway on current value displays. Only one sample was decoded from each
CH10 packet (i.e. at least one every 100 ms). FLIDAS now adds the option to use full decoding in some places where it makes sense. For each analog parameter you will now see
a second parameter with the extension ".full" which will do the full decoding. This makes sense only for displays that show a history of values over time (i.e. a curve).
Still high sample rates and/or long time spans of display can cause performance issues. Use of these new parameters is optional and you can still use the limited decoding as well.
The new strip chart gauge can use these parameters.
New features in the parameter streaming plug-in:
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The parameter graph live processor can now use analog full live decoding parameters (see above).
Free version:
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When publishing a CH10 file you can now publish a subset of channels or a time slice.
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The XML CH10 mapping (converting CH10 files to readable XML and back for manipulation, creation of artificial files etc.) has some new elements:
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Ethernet packets now have a structured XML representation wrapping around the MAC frame.
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PCM data now has a structured XML representation wrapping around throughput data or packed/unpacked minor frames.
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NMEA0183 messages can now be explicitly defined and use an auto generation for the checksum, carriage return and line feed. This is useful when manually defining or manipulating GPS data in UART messages.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
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When converting CH10 files to XML using the XML CH10 mapping, users can now suppress the generation of detailed XML for data types they choose. This leads to shorter, faster to convert files.
The data will still be defined but as simple raw data.
There were several bug fixes, especially in the area of analog data decoding. Most of them were in really unlikely data formats that have never been seen in real files (sample bit sizes > 32 bit
or unpacked LSB padded mode). Also parameter decoding (not raw data processing) of 32 bit analog parameters was wrong when the MSB was set. It is unclear if there are any 32 bit analog CH10
devices on the market.
There is another bug fix about the treatment of PCM throughput parameters during CH10 file replay to instrument panels when changing the replay position.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
19th March 2020
FLIDAS version 4.1.0 has been released. This version extends instrument panels to the use with CH10 files (not only live data streams) and adds new gauges.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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Instrument panels can now also be used with CH10 files.
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An attitude indicator (artificial horizon) and a map gauge has been added for instrument panels.
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The parameter tutorial in the manual now teaches the use of instrument panels with CH10 files.
New features in the parameter streaming plug-in:
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The parameter graph live processor can now also display absolute timestamps instead of relative ones.
New features in the data streaming plug-in:
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All raw data live processors can now also display absolute timestamps on the curve instead of relative ones.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
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A bug was fixed in the NMEA 0183 sentence processing. When only the last two bytes of a sentence were recorded, the processing terminated before.
There are other smaller changes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
20th January 2020
FLIDAS version 4.0.0 has been released. This version adds user defined instrument panels with gauges to display live parameters.
New features in the parameter streaming plug-in:
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Users can create instrument panels and add gauges to it to display live parameter values. The instrument panels are saved and can be associated with an ICD mapping and reused on different files. Gauges available so far are:
- clock to display the live data stream time
- bar graph
- dial
- simple value display
- compass rose
Note that you can replay CH10 files locally and receive them as live data steam to use instrument panels. Possibly future FLIDAS versions will work directly with instrument panels on CH10 files.
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In case you miss the save buttons in the ICD mapping view and the parameter set view: They moved to the save symbol in the upper right of the views.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
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Asynchronous parameter sampling produced several lines of results for the same time stamp if parameter existed at this time on different channels. Now these are joined to one line of result.
There are other smaller changes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
04th December 2019
There is a new free tutorial about IRIG 106 chapter 10 recoding files available.
It indroduces to general chapter 10 file topics and covers also related topics like the organizations behind the standard and other chapters of IRIG 106 like PCM, TMATS and recorder command and control.
It is more directed to people new to the topic who think about introducing CH10 in their flight tests.
The tutorial is a rework of a short training course that has been given to a customer.
17th October 2019
FLIDAS version 3.18.0 has been released. This version mainly improves IRIG 106 chapter 7 support.
New features in the commercial data streaming plug-in:
-
CH10 data from a live IRIG 106 chapter 7 PCM stream can be published as CH10 UDP stream on a network.
-
TmNS messages (Telemetry Network Standard, IRIG 106 Chapter 24) from a live IRIG 106 chapter 7 PCM stream can be transmitted as UDP packets on a network.
-
You can inspect a live IRIG 106 chapter 7 PCM stream and show information from it.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
The hex packet view has been improved to show the detailed section of each position within a CH10 packet (like "these bytes store the RTC") as well as
the selected offset within the section and packet.
Free version:
-
The Active Data Stream Tasks View has been removed. Instead the Data Stream Tasks are organized below its source in the FLIDAS Repository.
-
For specific uses of incoming CH10 UDP data streams suffering from power losses there were improvements. When a device continues transmission after a power loss it will transmit
with inconsistent sequence numbers. FLIDAS now accepts this after a configurable gap so for example a recording can keep on recording the situation around the power loss. Before
FLIDAS rejected the inconsistent sequence numbers. But after a power loss also the RTC values of the CH10 packets will be inconsistent. FLIDAS will try to detect this and
report it although it can do nothing to correct it. A new verification check will also try to detect this situation.
In general Live Displays have been renamed to Live Processors as more and more features do background processing rather than displaying something.
There are other smaller changes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
26th August 2019
Diversified Technical Systems (DTS) has agreed to be published as a new user of FLIDAS in the customer list.
Many customers sadly do not allow to be listed at all.
05th August 2019
FLIDAS version 3.17.0 has been released. This version mainly updates to the recently released 2019 version of IRIG 106.
Free version:
-
MIL 1553 16PP194 packets will be decoded to packet entries.
-
The new IRIG106-19 PCM DQE packets have been added to be decoded on the packet level.
-
The XML CH10 mapping has been updated to support the IRIG106-19 revision flags
-
The XML CH10 mapping does no longer allow to validate XML files against an external XSD file (the conversion was based on the internal XSD file anyway).
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
There is a CH10 format verification check for the PCM DQE packet introduced in IRIG106-19.
New features in the commercial parameter plug-in:
-
The tutorial for parameter decoding has been updated in the manual. It is now based on PCM decoding and comes with sample CH10 and ICD files.
There are other smaller changes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
31st July 2019
Hensoldt has agreed to be published as a new user of FLIDAS in the customer list.
Many customers sadly do not allow to be listed at all.
25th July 2019
The 96th Test Wing at the Eglin Air Force Base from the US Air Force has agreed to be published as a new user of FLIDAS in the customer list.
Many customers sadly do not allow to be listed at all.
23rd July 2019
The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has agreed to be published as a new user of FLIDAS in the customer list.
Many customers sadly do not allow to be listed at all.
11th June 2019
FLIDAS version 3.16.0 has been released. This version mainly improves the quick look capabilities in live streaming.
New features in the commercial data streaming plug-in:
-
Live display of discrete raw data including a graph of a single discrete.
-
The video live streaming can be configured with a UDP port address, so you can see multiple videos at the same time in an external application.
-
The raw data live displays for PCM, MIL-STD 1553, ARINC 429 and Analog can now apply a user defined scaling.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
The video replay from file can be configured with a UDP port address to stream to an external application.
-
Some PCM throughput recordings seem to stop the recording if no stable data is received (instead of recording more or less random data like other recorders).
IRIG 106 does not define how this should be. FLIDAS will now try to detect gaps in the PCM stream, go out of frame sync and sync in again. In result the PCM bit rate must now be indicated in TMATS.
New features in the commercial parameter streaming plug-in:
-
The parameter graph live displays can now apply a user defined scaling.
New features in the commercial parameter plug-in:
-
Workaround for a bug caused from some OpenJDK Java versions: Printouts of the parameter graph in landscape orientation had an improperly positioned text output.
Free version:
-
The Packet entry view can now be filtered to a specific subchannel.
-
When opening a CH10 file or creating a CH10 live stream you can explicitly select which data source of the TMATS section you want to use in case there are more. If you configure nothing FLIDAS will use the first available data source.
-
There are some more consistency checks on TMATS. The channel view will display the channel related problems as before but now distinguish between problems that might restrict FLIDAS features (displayed in red) and inconsistencies that will most likely not cause any problem for FLIDAS (displayed in yellow).
-
Fixed leap year problem for recorders recording the year wrongly as 2000 in some cases.
FLIDAS now gives more details on third party licenses that apply to the underlying Eclipse framework.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
11th February 2019
FLIDAS version 3.15.0 has been released. This version mainly adapts FLIDAS to newer Java versions.
Java topics
Summary:
- FLDIAS now runs on Java 9 and later as well
- The commercial FLIDAS license had to be changed in the area of support for old Java versions
- Java 8 as well as 32 Bit Java support may be discontinued after September 2019
In more details:
In the not widely adopted Java 9 some things changed that made some older application not run out of the box as it was always experienced before.
This was an attempt to straighten some things up in Java. In order to support the newer Java version, FLIDAS needed to migrate to a newer version
of the underlying Eclipse Platform. It was migrated to the newest version that still officially supports 32 Bit Java versions.
Another Java issue is that the Java update policy of Oracle changed. They have now completely open-sourced Java and it is easy to get releases from different distributors
based on the same source code. The previous commercial FLIDAS license had a clause that newer FLIDAS releases may terminate support for Java versions that were beyond the Oracle's
"end of public updates" date. This date has come for Java 8 now (but FLIDAS keeps supporting it for now). This date has also passed for Java 9 and 10. A definition based on
"end of public updates" does not make sense anymore in the new Oracle Java update policy as this would mean it runs out for each version half a year after release.
The commercial FLIDAS license has changed now. The support for any Java version may be discontinued one year after a new Oracle LTS (long term support) version is released. This should be every
three years and will give everyone one year to migrate to the latest LTS version. And of course you are then still allowed to use older FLIDAS versions with the older Java
versions (see license section in manual).
Although the support guarantees are based on the Oracle dates, you are not limited on Oracle Java. Oracle will require a commercial Java license for commercial use or the
Oracle JDK for the future. You can get free versions based on the same source code for example even from Oracle from another website than before:
jdk.java.net. An example for other builds of the same source code is adoptopenjdk.net. Both builds come
without installer. You can even integrate them in the FLIDAS directory without installation if you follow the manual chapter 5.1 for portable installation. For this it does not matter
if you download a "JDK" or "JRE".
Oracle is still contributing development even to the open source Java and there are other big companies like IBM supporting it. There is no worry about obsolescence.
Since Java 9 only 64 Bit Java versions are distributed by Oracle. This means that by the new FLIDAS license the support for the last 32 bit version of Java 8 could be terminated
one year after the JDK 11 LTS (long term support) version was released. This means 32 Bit FLIDAS support is not guaranteed beyond September 2019. This does not mean it will
be immediately dropped but there is no guarantee anymore.
To clarify this: This FLIDAS release just allows using Java 9 or later. You can still stay on Java 8 if you prefer.
Other changes
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
Users can configure time stamp output, especially for CSV exports.
-
Communication summaries for message data channels to show cumulated errors, message periods, lengths etc.
-
Payload exporting for message data subchannels.
Parameter plug-in:
-
Fixed a bug where separate time stamp asynchronous sampling was not possible anymore for some types of data (used in multi-file CSV or MAT export).
Free version:
-
Preferences can be ex- and imported.
There are other smaller changes and bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
24th January 2019
FLIDAS version 3.14.0 has been released. This version mainly improves raw data export and supports more data types.
New features in the free version:
-
The packet entries of message data packets will be decoded.
-
Fibre channel (PH layer, format 0) packet entries will be decoded (FS layer, format 1 was supported before already).
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
Export UART packet entries with their properties to a CSV file.
-
Export data from a message data channel to a CSV file. Segmented messages will be joined.
-
Export fibre channel packet entries (FS or PH level) with their properties to a CSV file.
-
The Ethernet to PCAP export has been extended to export also when only the Ethernet frame's payload was recorded. In this case the PCAP file assumes there is an IPv4 or IPv6 content.
There is one smaller bug fix.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
9th November 2018
FLIDAS version 3.13.0 has been released. This version mainly improves support for embedded protocols (IENA + Chapter 7) and CH10 verification.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
CH10 verification:
- New data type specific checks for almost all data types (only for the channel specific data words for now)
- Existing checks have been improved
- More general checks
-
IENA packets can be exported to a CSV file (no payload, just protocol information for analysis).
-
A new group of exporters extracts data from a PCM channel with IRIG 106 chapter 7 data. The support is up to the 2017 standard but without Reed-Solomon error correction (ask if you need this).
- Export of CH10 data to a CH10 file
- Export of Ethernet frames to a PCAP file
- Export of IP packets to a PCAP file
-
The TMATS replace reporter now supports injecting a TMATS record in a file without a TMATS record.
Free version:
-
The XML CH10 Mapping now allows the includeFile tag everywhere, where raw data could be used before. Before it was only possible on TMATS packets. Now it can be used for example to load image files into image data packets or even to merge whole CH10 files into other ones. XML files following the previous standard will still be converted.
There are some other smaller bug fixes and improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
16th August 2018
FLIDAS version 3.12.0 has been released. This version mainly improves protocol error analysis and localization and adds some IENA support.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
Most communication summaries have been extended to collect information of protocol errors and special events. These are displayed with their time stamps and more details on a new page of the
communication summary. It is possible to navigate from there into the actual CH10 packets / packet entries to see all the details and see the event in its temporal context. This feature has been added for these communication summaries:
- MIL-STD 1553
- ARINC 429
- CAN bus
- UART
- Ethernet
- PCM
- Time
- MPEG transport stream
- IENA
-
There is a new IENA Communication Summary to summarize IENA messages and errors. IENA is an Airbus Ethernet protocol but also used by Curtiss-Wright / Acra FTI. Take care to configure the
MAC / IP / Port filters correctly for you data if you do not follow the Airbus specification.
-
The PCM communication summary now also summarizes frame sync losses in PCM throughput mode.
Parameter plug-in:
-
The support for some different floating point encodings has been added: MIL-STD-1750A 32 and 48 bit floats and VAX / DEC "D" 64 bit floats are now supported for PCM, MIL-STD-1553, UDP and CAN bus ICD types.
Free version:
-
You can configure the numeric output for some parts of FLIDAS in the General Preferences. This will provide scientific notation where very long numbers have been used before.
You can manually switch it off if you require a compatible output to old FLIDAS versions.
There are some other smaller bug fixes and improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
28th May 2018
FLIDAS version 3.11.0 has been released. This version mainly adds an ICD format to decode text based UART communication to engineering values.
New features in the parameter plug-in:
-
Text based UART communication can be decoded to parameters. Since there is no high level specification how UART should be decoded the ICD makes some basic assumptions that hopefully
cover a wider range of applications. If it does not fit to your UART protocol, feel free to write an email so the ICD can be further generalized.
-
Most ICDs now support character parameters using 7-bit ASCII. The ICDs that implement this are:
- MIL-STD 1553 Simple CSV
- CAN Bus Simple CSV
- Ethernet UDP Simple CSV
- PCM Simple CSV
- ARINC 429 Simple CSV
-
In the Parameter Graph View you can manually configure the minimum / maximum value to be displayed for each curve.
-
You can define a sequence of bytes within a PCM minor frame as a "Byte Array" with raw data in the PCM Simple CSV ICD. This gives access to the raw data for more specialized features. An already prototyped
feature based on this is a PCM video live replay for a specific camera. Since this is a proprietary standard it will not be part of the standard FLDIAS. However the Byte Array is a
standard feature and may be used in other situations as well.
-
The new Byte Array parameters from the PCM ICD can be exported to a binary file. FLDIAS does not care what type of data it is. In the above example with the camera it leads to a
simple export functionality for the video that can be replayed with standard video players.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
When UART is displayed as text in the UART Text Protocol Viewer or UART Packet Entry Viewer, all line breaks will be displayed as line breaks, even if they are from other platforms
(i.e. Linux / Mac style line breaks will also be displayed on Windows). Existing UART protocols seem to use all kind of possibilities to terminate a line.
Free version:
-
Secondary header binary chapter 4 time stamps are treated differently now. They are not fully specified in IRIG 106, as regards to what the time stamp relates to. In the past FLIDAS
just decoded the time and not the date part and created a time stamp related to the date of the rest of the recording. Now there is a GUI option when loading CH10 files or creating
live data streams to assume that the time stamp contains the microseconds since new year and therefore also the day of year. For some recorders this might be the fact and some
recordings contain chapter 4 time stamps significantly different form the rest of the file.
-
The XML CH10 Mapping XSD file has been updated. For the above mentioned binary chapter 4 time stamps it is now possible to define a day component of the time stamp that is larger than 255.
This is another deviation from the officially published XSD file in the RCC documentation. But still XML files conforming to the RCC documentation can be converted to CH10 with FLIDAS.
FLIDAS will just also convert properly in more cases and offers language extensions.
There are some other smaller bug fixes and improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
12th May 2018
Data Bus Tools has just confirmed the participation at the European Telemetry and Test Conference 2018 (ettc2018) in Nuremberg, Germany from 26th to 28th June 2018.
It is colocated with the Sensor + Test 2018 trade fair.
You can meet us at the booth 2-205 from STT-SystemTechnik.
19th March 2018
FLIDAS version 3.10.0 has been released. This version mainly adds CH10 file format verification and improves file debugging support.
New features in the basic commercial plug-in:
-
The format of CH10 files can be verified (same functionality as CH10 validators). A lot of general checks have been implemented and some checks focusing on the new features of IRIG 106-15 and IRIG 106-17 to support verification of recent recorders.
The difference to existing validators is that FLIDAS already has a lot of debugging features (like inspecting packet content and structured hex packet view) and now directly links from the GUI list with the detected errors to all these features
for easy debugging. Existing customers had troubles with recorders before and had to spend a lot of time to investigate and prove these problems that can now be automatically detected. Of course this is also useful to recorder developers themselves.
-
The structured hex packet view has been improved in several ways:
- It is now possible to open the view from a packet entry and highlight the data that belongs to it.
- The packet trailer visually distinguishes filler and data checksum bytes
- Recording indices and events now also show the separate packet entries
-
There is a new packet entry viewer for fibre channel FS level (format 1).
-
There is a summary for recording events.
Free version:
-
Fibre channel FS level packets are now decoded to packet entries.
-
Fixed potentially wrong display of time stamps in recording index root index.
-
Fixed wrong display of a specific corrupted MIL-STD 1553 message type (RT-RT messages with no TX response displayed a fake RX status but were clearly indicated as invalid)
-
Fixed wrong method of secondary header checksum calculation
There are some other smaller bug fixes and improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
23th January 2018
FLIDAS version 3.9.0 has been released. This version mainly improves support for Linux and adds features for UART decoding.
New features in the free version:
-
FLIDAS has been adapted to the latest version of the underlying Eclipse RCP framework. This solved a lot of Linux GUI issues related to GTK3. Recently there has been a request of an existing customer for Linux use of FLIDAS.
-
The CH10 UDP data stream format 3 (introduced in the IRIG106-2017 release) reception has been adapted to clarifying explanations of the author.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
When viewing UART packet entries the entries can be decoded to text for a quick look with different text encodings.
-
The UART data of a complete subchannel can be shown in a separate text display with selectable text encodings.
-
The Ethernet communication summary has been adapted to support IP4 fragmentation on the UDP packet analysis. Also some new protocols are detected.
Parameter plug-in:
-
The parameter graph view now shows the full selected time range instead of the time range from the first to the last sampling.
There are some other smaller bug fixes and GUI adaptations.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
30th November 2017
FLIDAS version 3.8.0 has been released. This version offers support for PCM bit error rate tests and adds the missing IRIG 106-17 XML TMATS support.
New features in the free version:
-
CH10 Files can be opened directly by double-clicking them in the Windows Explorer (see the installation section in the manual).
-
The IRIG 106-17 XML TMATS specification has now been released by the RCC about 3 month later than the rest of the standard. FLIDAS now supports the changes.
-
A bug has been fixed to allow to connect the same TMATS P section to multiple PCM Channels in the R section.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
A new PCM BERT Protocol Viewer checks a recorded PCM throughput Channel for conformance with a pseudo random bit stream from a bit error test. PN11 and PN15 are supported.
Data Streaming plug-in:
-
A new PCM BERT Live Display checks an incoming PCM throughput Channel from a Live Data Stream for conformance with a pseudo random bit stream from a bit error test. PN11 and PN15 are supported.
Parameter plug-in:
-
In some situations supercommutated PCM Parameters produced one value too much per minor frame. This value has been flagged as invalid before. Now the bug is fixed and the correct number of values will be created.
-
Enumeration Parameters can now also be used with their raw value for display in the Parameter Graph View and for export in the different Parameter to MATLAB Exporters.
Parameter streaming plug-in:
-
Enumeration Parameters can now also be used with their raw value for display in the Parameter Graph Live Display.
There are some other smaller bug fixes.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
20th September 2017
FLIDAS version 3.7.0 has been released. This version adapts to the IRIG 106-17 release and offers some XML CH10 mapping extensions to allow hardware and software developers creating test data for IRIG 106-17.
Since the IRIG 106-17 specification has not been completely published (the XML TMATS is delayed), all features have only been implemented without the TMATS XML 2017 support.
This will most likely be added with the next version.
New features in the free version:
-
Support for network time packets (IRIG 106-17).
-
Support for streaming configuration packets (IRIG 106-17).
-
Support for fibre channel FS layer packets (IRIG 106-17). Only packet level decoding, no packet entries.
-
Support for UDP Data Streaming format 3 (IRIG 106-17).
-
Added IRIG Time Source property to normal time packets (IRIG 106-17).
-
Correction for time packets: The standard requires that packets with a time format of "None" are invalid. The time stamp in these packets is now ignored.
-
The maximum sizes of UDP packets in the UDP data streaming has been increased in IRIG 106-17. The FLIDAS preference for the default maximum reception size has been changed to work with new data stream
publishers. However this comes with a performance overhead so you might want to reduce it if your publishers do not send large UDP packets. If they do and you have changed
the default value in the past, then you might need to adapt your value manually to the new maximum now.
-
Added features to XML CH10 Mapping. This means the implemented XML CH10 mapping now no longer conforms to the RCC published version but extends it.
The RCC only updates this about every four years but we want to keep this new technology evolving. Since the existing RCC document is solely based on our specification we
will offer the extensions to the RCC but there is no guarantee that they accept it. Files valid by the official specification remain valid under the extended one.
We keep a free download of the FLIDAS version implementing the official release downloadable. The new features are:
- Network time packets (IRIG 106-17)
- added IRIG Time Source attribute to Time Packet definition (IRIG 106-17)
- Added version markers for IRIG 106-17
- Intra packet time stamp generation within raw data sections
- Corrected use of ERTC definition. Now a relative definition of ERTC reaching backward in time is possible
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
Support for alternate code complement PCM frame synchronization (IRIG 106-17).
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
13th September 2017
The Canadian Armed Forces have agreed to be published as a user of FLIDAS. They have been using it for almost a year now in their
Aerospace Engineering Test Establishment (AETE).
The users are however not allowed to give any personal statements due to their internal policies. Many customers sadly do not allow to be listed at all.
20th July 2017
FLIDAS version 3.6.0 has been released. This version focuses on parameter decoding for new data types: CVSD, Ethernet UDP and discretes.
Especially the CVSD audio features could only be implemented because a customer provided sample data for it. Often the implementation of new features requires samples and will
be implemented in the regular versions of FLIDAS without additional payment from customers. So if there are generic feature requests that you can support with sample data, please provide it.
The Ethernet UDP and discrete features were only implemented because of requests of a prospect customer also without payment.
The new features in more detail:
Parameter plug-in:
-
The PCM CSV and TMATS ICDs have been extended to support CVSD audio parameters.
-
CVSD audio can be replayed from CH10 files to the speakers.
-
CVSD audio can be exported to wave files.
-
There is a new CSV ICD format for discretes. In results this data type can be used with all parameter based features.
-
There is a new CSV ICD format for UDP on Ethernet. In results this data type can be used with all parameter based features. Since UDP is not defining anything about the layout of
avionics data please consult the manual of what can be achieved with it. It is intended to reach the same amount of flexibility as with TMATS definitions for Ethernet parameter decoding.
Send feature requests if you need more.
Parameter streaming plug-in:
-
CVSD audio can be replayed from a live data stream to the speakers.
-
The PCM parameter decoding on Live Data Streams now supports supercommutation as well.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
Exporting of discrete raw data to CSV files.
-
PCM to CSV raw data exporting can now include lines for the loss of minor frame synchronization (on PCM throughput mode)
-
The PCM packet entry view now includes lines for the loss of minor frame synchronization (on PCM throughput mode)
Free version:
-
A new manual section (in the Data Streaming reference) covers the analysis of data stream problems. Data streams strongly depend on preconditions external to FLIDAS so this gives
guidance in tracking down the source of a problem if you cannot properly receive data
There is also one important bug-fix on the PCM decommutation in the packed mode. The last PCM word of each minor frame in packed mode has been decoded wrong if the bits of the minor frame were no multiple of the used alignment of the recorder (mostly 16 bit, sometimes 32 bit). In reality most people seem to use the throughput mode of PCM anyway.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
29th May 2017
FLIDAS version 3.5.0 has been released. This version focuses on usability improvements and frequency spectrum analysis for analog live data. There are also new system requirements.
Free version:
-
FLIDAS is now using the latest Eclipse framework under the surface. This was needed to catch up with bug-fixes provided there. This comes with a change in the system requirements as we
announced last September. FLIDAS now requires Java 8. Keep in mind that Oracle stopped security updates for Java 7 two years ago. Also the Eclipse framework is no longer tested
on a Windows XP / Vista configuration so this is no longer officially supported by FLIDAS (Microsoft stopped security patches for Windows XP three years ago and for Vista lately).
Although Eclipse is no longer tested under this configuration it will highly likely still run on it. Also Java 8 may run on Windows XP but receives no support as Oracle says.
If you run FLIDAS on this configuration you do it on your own risk. You may keep and use older version of FLIDAS as long as you comply with the license terms (concurrent use restriction).
-
As a result of the new Eclipse framework the help system is back to normal available in a separate window so you can easier keep it open and navigate while working.
In addition most dialogs are able to display context help inside the dialog so the help is not covered by the dialog.
-
The workflow on exporting, protocol viewing etc. has become easier. You can now multi-select channels and subchannels before opening the wizards and the further configuration
will be skipped if it is not possible to include further channels / subchannels.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
The commercial FLIDAS license has changed (see manual for details). It now defines when Java / Windows configurations become unsupported for upgrades and grants customers the right
to keep on using old versions on their old system configuration.
Data Streaming plug-in:
-
Analog Raw Data Live Display: You can now analyze the frequency spectrum of incoming analog live data using an FFT.
There are also several bug-fixes and robustness improvements against invalid files. Some of the bug-fixes are:
- Use of CH10 Data Type filters prevented CH10 file loading.
- Lost CH10 analog packets from UDP data streams could lead Analog Raw Data Live Display to stop working.
- Live Data Streams that haven't used a TMATS override file could display false overload indications and display no data in Raw Data Live Displays. This happened only under further rare conditions.
There has been a clarification on the exported time stamps created using the Time Representation Wizard Page. If these indicate nanoseconds since something then this will always be
based on an 86400 seconds day and not be modified by leap seconds. If the date represented by this uses leap seconds or not depends on your time source.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
13th March 2017
FLIDAS version 3.4.0 has been released. This version focuses on new Live Display capabilities and commercial features for the XML CH10 Mapping. It also improves the performance.
Free version:
-
The performance of the initial file loading has improved in many situations. The performance increase depends on the individual properties
of the CH10 files and the used computer environment. The focus was to improve performance of CH10 files that consist of a lot of small CH10 packets and during testing the loading times dropped here
to 40%. Also the loading time of CH10 files located on network drives dropped to 15% for small packet files and 70% for big packet files.
-
A small but useful feature allows copying a single table cell of almost all tables to the clipboard so you can easily transfer it to other applications.
-
Added a question mark symbol to most dialogs to get context help. This shows the same help page that you would have found with the F1 key before.
Basic commercial plug-in:
-
Exporting CH10 files to XML (using the XML CH10 Mapping) has now additional options to influence the generated XML code. The options now also allow for a binary identical
conversion cycle CH10 > XML > CH10 even in the special cases where before only equivalent files have been created. Also some options generate code that is easier modifiable
if you want to manually modify the XML to create modified CH10 files.
Data Streaming plug-in:
-
Analog Raw Data Live Display: This Live Display shows a graphical plot of a single Analog Subchannel from an incoming live stream.
There are further performance improvements in the area of creating MATLAB (MAT4) files and in analog sample handling.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
19th January 2017
FLIDAS version 3.3.0 has been released. This version focuses on new Live Display capabilities and introduces TMATS ICD definitions.
Parameter plug-in:
-
PCM ICDs can now also be defined in ASCII TMATS as an alternative to a CSV file. The TMATS must be mapped from a separate file. This is a first cut on TMATS ICDs.
It does not support all the features as sometimes the TMATS specification is not clear enough for an implementation or the use of an option seems to be quite small.
This ICD should be a starting point growing with user requests. Later perhaps other data types than PCM will also be supported by TMATS ICDs.
-
The detailed Parameter definitions can be inspected in the Parameter List View and the Parameter Set View.
-
Bug fix: Since last version the rarely used ARINC 429 Discrete data type was not working. It has been fixed.
Data Streaming plug-in:
-
ARINC 429 Raw Data Live Display: This Live Display shows information on incoming ARINC 429 messages on a single Subchannel. A single raw value can be selected for a graphical plot.
Free version:
- Bug fix: If a PCM subframe ID counter uses LSB first ordering and the PCM stream does as well the processing has been wrong. To our knowledge no hardware implements LSB transfer order so it shouldn't be an issue.
There are some more smaller bug fixes and improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
14th September 2016
FLIDAS version 3.2.0 has been released. This version focuses on new Live Display capabilities and an official XML CH10 Mapping.
Parameter Streaming plug-in:
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Live display of single numeric Parameters in a graph.
Data Streaming plug-in:
- MIL-STD 1553 Raw Data Live Display: This Live Display shows an RT status overview, subaddress data and mode code information from a MIL-STD 1553B bus. A single raw value can be selected for a graphical plot.
- The PCM Raw Data Live Display has been improved with a value and time axis and an auto scaling mode optional to the full range of the value axis.
Free version:
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The XML CH10 Mapping proposed by Data Bus Tools in reply to a request from the IRIG 106 specification committee has now been officially accepted and published by the Range Commanders Council.
The specification can be found in the RCC document 123-16 "IRIG-106 Chapter 10 Programmers Handbook" appendix P/Q.
The specification can be downloaded from:
- The official RCC site
(public access to this server is changing from time to time due to US DoD policy although the standard is approved for public release with unlimited distribution).
- A document mirror on www.irig106.org
- The Data Bus Tools website also contains
an excerpt of the relevant part for convenience.
Since this is published by the RCC now the FLIDAS functionality is no prototype feature anymore but part of the regular version.
Accidentally the RCC has published a newer version of the XML CH10 mapping than agreed so FLIDAS catches up with this to support the XML Version 0.3.1 which adds
automatic parity generation for ARINC 429. To reuse your existing XML you must rename the Data attribute within ARINC429Message tags to Raw32. If you want auto parity generation you can switch to the Raw31 attribute in combination with the GenerateWrongParity attribute.
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Some people have recorders that generate time stamps without years and have no proper year information even within the CH10 TMATS. For them there is a new option when opening a CH10 File or Live Data Stream to use the start year provided on the GUI even if there is year information in TMATS.
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CH10 Data Type Filters have been added to suppress the video formats 3 and 4 and fibre channel and also user defined data packets. If you upgrade from an existing version these packets are automatically filtered out. You have to enable this type of data and save the setting once within the dialog to open CH10 Files and once in the dialog to open Live Data Streams when you need it.
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Some dialogs ("Wizards") have been harmonized and have separate sections in the manual now. Especially the CH10 File opening now also uses these Wizards and
looks similar to opening a Live Data Stream. This also means that some settings for opening CH10 Files that have been in the General Preferences have
moved to these Wizards now and must be saved there as default configuration. You must one time manually configure these defaults separately for CH10 File loading and Live Data Stream creation. The things to configure are on the CH10 data type filter pages and on the File loading / Live Data Stream Properties pages.
It is intended to discontinue Windows XP and Java 7 support. Both are no longer supported by the developers.
This doesn't mean FLIDAS will definitely not work with Windows XP anymore. Oracle claims that Java 8 can be installed
on Windows XP but there is no support for it in case it fails under special system configurations. For new customers we will try to avoid any Windows XP or Java 7 dependencies.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
19th July 2016
FLIDAS version 3.1.0 has been released. This version focuses on Parameter decoding and PCM raw data capabilities on Live Data Streams. There are only insignificant extensions in the free version.
Data Streaming plug-in:
- PCM Raw Data Live Display: This Live Display shows raw data from an incoming PCM stream and continuously updates it. It displays a full major frame with its minor frames and allows a graphical plot of a selected PCM word.
Parameter plug-in:
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Parameter decoding for Recording Events: You can define a simple ICD to use Recording Events together with other decoded Parameters. For example
you can correlate the Recording Events with other Parameters in a graphical plot.
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Parameter List View: There is a new View showing all available Parameters in a hierarchical tree. It is used for drag and drop of Parameters for Parameter Live Displays.
Parameter Streaming plug-in:
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This is a new Plug-in. It contains the Parameter related parts for Data Streaming. It will be part of the delivery to customers with the Data Streaming and Parameter Plug-ins.
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Parameter Table Live Display: Table display of Parameters coming from a Data Stream with continuous updating. Parameters can be from any CH10 Data Type that is already supported by FLIDAS for Parameter decoding.
In future versions more Live Displays like the PCM Raw Data Live Display shall be introduced to further data types like MIL-STD 1553B. Also there shall be some work on configurable display pages for Parameter Live Displays including graphical widgets.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
20th June 2016
FLIDAS version 3.0.0 has been released. This version mainly creates the base for a new line of features: Processing live data from UDP Data Streams. Most of the first features are for free.
Free version:
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Recoding data from CH10 UDP Data Streams
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Publishing CH10 Files as CH10 UDP Data Streams. This feature is mainly for testing FLIDAS itself but can also be used to publish data to other software.
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Live Data Streams: This adds an incoming CH10 UDP Data Stream to the FLIDAS Repository similar to a CH10 File. The features available for processing the live data are called Live Displays and can be used concurrently.
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Live Display of statistics of incoming Data Streams per Channel
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The TMATS View will now show the content of the TMATS override file if one has been used.
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The existing help system had problems with the latest Java release. The online help changed to use only the help system formerly used for the context sensitive help (i.e. not in an external window).
Data Streaming plug-in (this will be a new commercial plug-in but is right now provided to existing customers for free as it has only a few features):
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Videos from an incoming CH10 UDP Data Stream can be streamed to an external Video player for live replay.
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Display PCM statistics from incoming CH10 UDP Data Streams to verify PCM operation.
Parameter plug-in:
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The line width for printing Parameter graphs can now be configured.
To get familiar with the new Data Streaming go through the new Data Streaming tutorial in the manual.
A general note on UDP Data Streaming: The UDP protocol is not guaranteed to operate without data loss and gives no guarantees on delays on Ethernet. These are results of the UDP and Ethernet
specification. The operating systems used for FLIDAS are not real-time capable. This makes guarantees on the delay between occurrence of data and the display impossible. All of these
restrictions apply to other CH10 software using UDP Data Streaming and Windows / Linux OS as well and are results of IRIG106 and your system environment. If your testing cannot sustain potential data loss and unknown delays it is up to your
judgement to use it or not. The free version can already be used to test data losses and performance in your environment and you can ask for evaluation versions of the commercial features too. However
usually regular PCs can handle hours of reception without data loss and achieve a delay of one or two seconds depending on your choices on the synchronization mode. Both delays are mainly due
to the requirements in the IRIG 106 CH10 Standard and FLIDAS usually adds only some milliseconds to the delay. FLIDAS will make use of multi-core CPUs and the use is recommended for Data Streaming.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
11th April 2016
Our customer TAURUS Systems GmbH agreed to release some information about a project within which the department for Missile Engineering and Flight Trials started to use FLIDAS and a dedicated plug-in as their primary CH10 processing software.
Read more about this sample project here.
29th March 2016
FLIDAS version 2.11.2 has been released. This version offers some improvements not fitting into the scope of other versions.
Also the warranty period has improved for new customers.
Free version:
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Most Exporters can now be configured what time representation they shall use. This defines the type and format of time stamps
the exports are using. Available options are several absolute or relative time formats and the freedom to use no,
one or several time representations on the same export.
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The configuration pages of Exporters and Protocol Viewers that were able to save their configuration in the past will now save
it separate for each context. This means you can have different default configurations for example for the
sampling mode used in the Graph View or the Parameter to MAT export. To use this you need to reconfigure your defaults one time
with the new version.
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There is a new concept of TMATS defaults. You can configure some TMATS attributes in your Preferences and these will be
automatically set for each CH10 file you load unless it defines an own value for this. This way you can configure values that
always have the same setting for your recorders. Right now only one attribute is configurable but others can be added when needed.
Currently the analog format used for decoding your analog samples (two's complement, offset-binary ...) can be configured. This
value is often missing and required separate treatment for each file.
Basic version:
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The external video player used for MPEG TS replay via UDP stream can now be automatically started.
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The old Analog to MAT 4 Exporter that has been replaced by a more general version in the last release has now been removed.
There are more minor usability improvements not listed here.
We have further simplified the license contract. The old license contract limited the warranty to one year in most cases. The new license
removes this restriction therefore falling back to the regular German law which currently defines the default warranty period to two years.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
15th to 16th March 2016
Christian Rueck, owner of Data Bus Tools participated at the Range Commanders Council (RCC) meeting in Redstone Arsenal in Hunsville, AL in the USA.
The RCC is defining the IRIG 106 standard and the main goal of the meeting was to discuss open issues for the upcoming 2017 standard before a draft is released.
The XML CH10 Mapping proposed by Data Bus Tools and implemented by our FLIDAS software made it to the draft of the official
IRIG 106 Programmers Handbook that should be released soon. The prototype implementation is available for free download.
19th January 2016
FLIDAS version 2.11.1 has been released. This version offers some minor improvements and bug fixes not fitting into the scope of other versions.
Free version:
- The Channel View now offers an average and peak bit rate calculation for the bit rates on CH10 level per Channel or for the whole file.
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The prototype for the XML CH10 Mapping is now integrated in FLIDAS. There is no separate version anymore. It will not affect regular behavior
but as soon as you use the new features you must be aware that these might change in the future and there will be no migration support for you.
Also the features may be discontinued. Commercial versions therefore do not include these features unless explicitly requested (for free).
Basic version:
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The Analog to MAT 4 Exporter is still available but will be removed in the future. There is a new Analog MAT Exporter supporting MAT4 and compressed MAT 5 format. It also offers other new options. For migration note that the new exporter uses little endian byte order rather than big endian (shouldn't matter unless you manually decode the files. In this case you might need a slight change).
Some more improvements and details can be seen in the version history in the manual.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
11th December 2015
FLIDAS version 2.11 has been released. This version offers improvements for the Parameter Graph View and new ICD options and has additional support for a common problem coming from the IRIG 106 specification regarding Subchannels. It also contains some bug fixes.
Free version:
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Preferences for Subchannel numbering: Before IRIG 106 2015 the standard failed to specify how Subchannels are
numbered in TMATS. This led to a situation that different recorder vendors used different numbering systems. IRIG 106 2015 now defines 1 as the first
Subchannel in TMATS so that this corresponds to Subchannel number 0 in the CH10 data section. FLIDAS adapted the numbering of
Subchannels accordingly so all channel numbers visible to the user are now 1-based. This especially means that all exports where
previously a Subchannel 0 was indicated will now report Subchannel 1. Users have a new Preference dialog where they can indicate
if their recorders start Subchannel numbering at 0 or 1 in TMATS separate for each CH10 Data Type. The default values will give you the
same result as in the last release.
Parameter plug-in:
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Parameters in ARINC 429 ICDs can now ignore SSMs.
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ARINC 429, MIL-STD 1553 and CAN bus ICDs now support decoding using polynomial equations.
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The Parameter Graph View has added features:
- A secondary cursor to show the difference in value and time between both cursors. The distance between both can be frozen to a fixed time.
- Printing of up to four curves on one paper
Basic version:
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Bug fix for Analog to CSV export: Old versions could cause additional exported lines without samples when the Subchannels had a different sample rate and the fastest Subchannel was not exported.
Some more improvements and details can be seen in the version history in the manual.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
Also the FLIDAS version containing the XML CH10 Mapping has been updated in a separate free release. It contains the same features as the regular free release with additional prototyping functionality.
16th October 2015
FLIDAS version 2.10.2 has been released. The version offers some bug fixes for the separate time stamp asynchronous sampling and adds two communication summaries.
Basic version:
- Communication summary for time stamp Packets. This allows analyzing the stability of the RTC counters and other time source related problems.
- PCM minor frame communication summary. This allows analyzing the quality of a PCM recording by checking minor frame durations, lost frame syncs and inconsistencies in the subframe ID counters.
Parameter plug-in:
- Bug fixes for separate time stamp asynchronous sampling.
AIDASS plug-in:
- Default choices for all TRF header fields can now be configured in the Preferences
Some more improvements and details can be seen in the version history in the manual.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
2nd September 2015
FLIDAS version 2.10.1 has been released. This version offers a small bug fix and some smaller usability improvements. Also the XML CH10 Mapping has been updated in a separate free release.
Parameter plug-in:
- The Parameters to multiple CSV files Exporter introduced in last version filtered out enumeration Parameters. This was not intentional and has been fixed.
- ARINC 429 ICDs have a new encoding type for discretes. These offer the possibility of using numeric values instead of enumeration values but making use of the same SSM definition as enumerations.
Some more smaller improvements in the free version can be seen in the version history in the manual.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
XML CH10 Mapping (separate version):
- Specification: Structured CAN packtes have been added
- Specification: Options to declare IRIG 106-15 version has been added
- Prototype implementation: structured CAN bus support
- Prototype implementation: Packet entry time stamps are now precisely converted from CH10 to XML. In effect valid files have been converted between CH10
and XML in tests back and forth and have been binary identical except the described differences in the carriage return / line feed behaviour in TMATS which is ignorable (but can also be solved precisely).
17th August 2015
FLIDAS version 2.10 has been released. This version integrates the changes from the latest IRIG 106-15 release and adds Exporters to multiple files at once.
Free version:
- Packet level support for the new fibre channel, MJPEG and MJPEG 2000 data types.
- Added new Ethernet data type attributes.
- Added new analog Subchannel disablement via TMATS
Basic version:
- Analog to WAV export now works with several Subchannels to multiple files at once
Parameter plug-in:
- New sampling modes for separate time stamps. Instead of taking a sample of all Parameters when any parameter was recorded these modes just sample the single recorded Parameter with an own time stamp vector. This is supported by the Sampled Parameters to MAT and CSV Exporters now to create separate files with separate time stamps for each Parameter.
Some more smaller improvements can be seen in the version history in the manual.
See the FLIDAS page for more details and the free download.
25th June 2015
The prototype for the XML to CH10 mapping has been updated. It now also supports conversion from CH10 to XML. It is now possible to turn CH10 files in XML, modify some properties and convert them back to CH10. This can be used
to create specific test cases from real recordings by injecting errors. It can be used in CH10 recorder and software validation or development testing.
The prototype is available for free download as long as the specification evolves. Find out more on:
The specification of this XML language was a Data Bus Tools response to a change request (CR031) by the RCC.
See the XML CH10 mapping page for more details.
1st June 2015
FLIDAS version 2.9 has been released. This version improves the overview over data traffic and supports the preparation of test data.
Basic version:
- All communication summaries have changed. The general idea was to summarize errors where they belong and enable a better error source location. For example parity errors on a bus are not specific to a specific message type but are the result of a unreliable transmission medium. There are also other improvements. Here some more details:
- MIL-STD 1553: An additional RT overview displays all RTs with color coding to show activity and errors on both busses and shows RT status flags.
An additional bus overview page shows errors on the physical medium and bus load.
- ARINC 429: An additional bus overview summarizes the errors and does bus load calculation
- Ethernet: Used bit rate is calculated
- CAN Bus: Used bit rate and bus load is calculated
- All communication summaries have an additional page with general statistics of processed duration, CH10 Packet errors while processing and more.
- The raw Packet inspection in the Hex Packet View had two changes:
- The color coding also highlights separate Packet Entries for many CH10 data types.
- Modification of single positions is possible. This shall support preparation of specific test data for recorder and software developers or people verifying their new equipment.
Errors can for example be injected and the changed CH10 files can be used for replay. The new mode requires a simple configuration to protect customers who do not want to allow CH10 modification at all.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
14th April 2015
FLIDAS version 2.8 has been released with three new feature groups:
Free version
- Introduction of time markers. These are user defined points in time that can be used to define time slices for exports or to locate points in time in other views. Almost all time stamps available on the GUI can be used to create a time marker with a note.
Basic version:
- Analog raw sample export to CSV. This export function allows overriding some TMATS properties or even allows applying a specific analog format decoding that cannot be defined in TMATS but is actually used by some recorders.
- Video preview of MPEG transport streams using UDP streaming to external video players
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
09th March 2015
FLIDAS version 2.7.1 has been released. This version primarily improves usability:
Free version
- Much of the configuration of Exporters can be saved as default
- Context menus on many places have been reorganized
- Channel and Subchannel selection on exports has a preselection when there is only one item and selections can be made through double-clicks
- Double-click actions have been added to show Packets of a Channel, Channels of a file or navigate to a NMEA 0183 data set within the map display
Parameter plug-in:
- ICD Mappings support relative paths to ICDs or Parameter Sets (relative to ICD Mapping file)
- Parameters can now also be exported to compressed MAT version 5 files
Basic version:
- Software derandomization for PCM channels
- Decoding of further PCM attributes related to derandomization
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
26th January 2015
Data Bus Tool proposed a specification for an XML to CH10 mapping in response to a change request (CR031) by the RCC. There is also a prototype implementation available for download. Comments for improvement are welcome.
See the XML CH10 mapping page for more details.
16th January 2015
FLIDAS version 2.7 has been released. This version primarily improves CAN bus support, also for Zodiac Data Systems DATaRec4 customers:
Parameter plug-in:
- Support for CAN bus ICDs in CSV format to decode to Parameter level. This allows exporting and display of CAN bus Parameters decoded to engineering units in parallel with the other CH10 data types already supported for decoding.
- Change for MIL-STD 1553 CSV ICDs: The definition of little endian Parameters was changed to cover more likely customer requirements.
Basic version:
- CAN bus raw data to CSV export
- CAN bus communication summary to analyze message and error counts and periods
A new DATaRec4 CAN bus plug-in is available to integrate CAN bus data included in CH10 files in the Zodiac Data Systems DATaRec4 format. The plug-in allows working with this CAN data as with regular CH10 CAN buses. This plug-in also demonstrates the capability of integrating vendor specific data formats into FLIDAS on a plug-in base.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
20th November 2014
FLIDAS version 2.6.1 has been released. This version primarily offers improvements for Parameter export and display:
Parameter plug-in:
- Export of decoded numeric Parameters to MAT files for example for direct use in MATLAB (file format 4, still supported)
- Support for PCM Parameters that are fragmented over several adjacent data words
- A new Parameter sampling mode that samples every Parameter occurrence even if the Parameter value didn't change
Free version:
- Bug fix for a memory leak on closing views in FLIDAS and the core Eclipse framework
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
04th November 2014
FLIDAS version 2.6 has been released. This version mainly adds analog CH10 Data Type Parameter decoding and improves the graphical display of Parameters:
Parameter plug-in:
- Decoding of analog raw data to Parameters in engineering units
- Zooming in Parameter graph view
Free version:
- Creating new CH10 files by filtering existing ones by time and Channels. The new file does not formally fulfill the CH10 specification but works with most software. This is a way to send in data for debugging.
- Default file names when exporting data. Also protection from overwriting files.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
2nd October 2014
Some information about the FLIDAS architecture has been released to show how it achieves extensibility and platform independence and can be used as a building block in your flight testing department.
See here how the software is designed to do so..
23rd September 2014
FLIDAS version 2.5 has been released. This version mainly adds a graph display for Parameters and some video features:
Free version:
- Massive performance increase for video exporting if video Channels don't use the optional "intra packet time stamps". This is a special case but in fact the most widely used. Depending on your system environment the performance might increase by 10.
Basic version:
- Video MPEG transport streams can be analyzed and summarized. Some protocol information and summarized errors inside the video stream will be displayed.
Parameter plug-in:
- Display of decoded Parameters in graphs
There are further smaller usability and robustness improvements.
The system requirements have changed to require a Java version of at least 7. This is right now only formally since Java 6 reached the end of its supported life this February. This version should still run under Java 6. However future versions might make use of Java 7 features without further announcements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
29th August 2014
FLIDAS version 2.4.1 has been released. This version mainly adds supercommutation for PCM Parameters:
Free version:
- More control over the directories you start in when choosing a file. This can now also be based on a history for this type of file selection rather than configurable defaults.
- Fixed a bug in the underlying Eclipse framework (problems in certain situations of rearranging views)
Parameter plug-in:
- Added supercommutation for PCM Parameters to PCM CSV ICD
- Stricter error checking on input data from CSV ICDs
There are further smaller usability and robustness improvements.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
13th August 2014
FLIDAS version 2.4.0 has been released.
This version mainly adds Parameter decoding for PCM Channels:
Free version:
- PCM subframe ID counter decoding
Basic version:
- Performance improvement for PCM throughput decommutation
- PCM Subframe ID counters will be exported in the PCM CSV export, visible in the PCM Packet entry viewer (minor frame view) and related TMATS properties will be visible in the PCM Channel properties.
- Exporter to replace TMATS records inside CH10 files
Parameter plug-in:
- Definition of PCM Parameter decoding in CSV ICDs. First only simple formats are supported (no measurement fragmentation, supercommutation will only produce one measurement per minor frame)
- More predefined NMEA 0183 Parameters
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
5th August 2014
Starting with the new GSS100r 1.3 version, information on this product will only officially be released through the website of our partner MBS Electronics to guarantee a single source of information.
21st July 2014
FLIDAS version 2.3.0 has been released.
This version adds features and usability improvements for various areas that did not fit into the themes of the previous versions:
Free version:
- Show full TMATS data without any interpretation and search inside
- A new manual section provides a reference from application areas to related features
- Possibility to scale the width of table columns by a factor. This is useful when using installations with larger font sizes
Basic version:
- Hex Packet View now shows data interpretations on the selected byte(s) (like signed / unsigned / binary / different endianness...)
- Export of raw PCM stream in throughput mode to binary file
- Possibility to limit the number of displayed PCM words per minor frame in Packet Entry view to reasonable amount (to overcome windows related problem with many table columns)
- Support for NMEA 0183 sentences that exceed the maximum length of 80 characters
Parameter plug-in:
- Asynchronous Parameter sampling for export and view: Take samples on every change rather than time discrete now alternatively possible
- Suppress error messages on invalid Parameter values in CSV exports or Parameter Viewers. This has changed to suppress the messages completely and leave out the data instead for better external processing in case of invalid data.
- Parameters can now have a comment defined in the ICD that can also be used in exports. Customers use this to have long and short names of the same Parameter.
- User defined maps for flight route replay. These can cover smaller areas like a test range instead of using the included world maps
- Possibility to configure the content of the headers in Parameter to CSV exports
A few more bug fixes and usability improvements exist.
Other objectives of this version were:
- The testing on Linux (and a little Solaris) intensified for a prospect customer and resulted in some fixing of GUI flaws on these operating systems. Remember that you can always request to have the free version for Linux as well.
- Changes to support plug-ins down to the level of CH10 file parsing. This allows the creation of plug-ins with support for example for DATaRec 4 specific data types or CH10 data types that are not yet official part of the standard without placing them into the official releases.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
23rd June 2014
FLIDAS version 2.2.0 has been released.
This version primarily adds PCM support on Protocol level. There were also significant changes to the free version.
Free version:
- Decoding of PCM Packets to Packet Entries
- Override settings of CH10 files with external TMATS file (possibility to provide missing TMATS attributes)
- Automatic checking of TMATS Properties of Channels and Subchannels for problems for further processing
- Update / backup covered in manual
Basic version:
- Display of PCM minor frames
- Export of PCM minor frames to CSV files (Excel, Matlab, ...)
- Display of more TMATS PCM Channel Properties (especially minor frame setup)
Parameter plug-in:
- Suppress error messages on invalid numeric Parameter values in CSV exports. Allows external processing of exported numeric parameters even in case of invalid data.
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
26th May 2014
FLIDAS version 2.1.1 has been released.
This version adds support for Unicode UTF-8 character encoding. In effect this allows the use of other language's letters like Japanese, Chinese or Cyrillic in Parameter names and engineering units. It also allows additional mathematical symbols there. The writing direction is unchanged left to right.
See the FLIDAS page for more details or visit us at the European Telemetry and Test Conference 2014 (etc2014) in Nuremberg, Germany from 3rd to 5th June 2014 in booth F-205 for a presentation.
28th April 2014
FLIDAS version 2.1.0 has been released. This version primarily adds support for MIL 1553B Parameter decoding, adds features to general Parameter handling and widens the scope of protocol level analysis.
The most important changes are:
Parameter plug-in:
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Definition of CSV files for MIL 1553B (format 1) ICDs for Parameter decoding of data or status words
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Support for free hierarchical grouping or Parameters inside an ARINC 429 or MIL 1553 ICD
Basic version:
- The Packet Entry View can now locate protocol errors
Free version:
- The Packet Entry View can now show the content of several Packets
See the FLIDAS page for more details or visit us at the European Telemetry and Test Conference 2014 (etc2014) in Nuremberg, Germany from 3rd to 5th June 2014 in booth F-205 for a presentation.
24th April 2014
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Data Bus Tools has just confirmed the participation at the European Telemetry and Test Conference 2014 (etc2014) in Nuremberg, Germany from 3rd to 5th June 2014.
You can meet us at booth F-205. This will also be the first opportunity to see FLIDAS 2.1 with support for MIL-STD 1553 Parameter decoding.
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7th April 2014
13th March 2014
FLIDAS version 2.0.0 has been released. This version primarily adds concepts for decoding of raw data to engineering units. At first this is supported for ARINC 429 and some NMEA 0183 Parameters. These features are integrated in a new Parameter Plug-in that is an add-on to the basic version.
Some features have also been added to the other versions.
Parameter plug-in:
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Definition of engineering unit (EU) conversions for Parameters in an external ICD file (CSV text file. Can be used with Excel)
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Definition of Parameter Sets (group of parameters used in the same test situation) and joining of existing Parameter Sets.
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Tabular display and CSV export (e.g. Excel) of selected Parameter values (sampled with configurable period)
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ARINC 429 message based Export to CSV using Parameters (no sampling but export at time of occurrence. Export of protocol information and one included Parameter)
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Display and replay of NMEA 0183 signals (from UART subchannel or UDP packets) on map and instruments. This has been moved to this plug-in from the basic version.
- More detailed world map available as separate plug-in
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Support for:
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ARINC 429
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NMEA 0183 (e.g. GPS, Galileo, GLONASS and Beidou GNSS) on UART. Fixed ICD with most relevant Parameters from RMC and GGA sentences.
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Other CH10 Data Types on request or added with further releases.
Basic version:
- Time slicing for Protocol Viewers
- Definition of default directories for CH10 and export files
- The navigation data view has been moved to the Parameter plug-in to reflect that this works on the Parameter level
Free version:
- Configuration of the locale (i.e. influence the decimal separator, time stamp format etc.)
See the FLIDAS page for more details.
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