acarsd	0.01Alpha-3
Copyright (c) 2003 by KjM

email: acars@planespotting.net



DESCRIPTION:
------------

acarsd is an ACARS decoder for a LINUX-PC which attempts to decode
ACARS transmissions in real-time using a OSS (Open Sound System)

Although there is no warranty provided with acarsd, I would welcome any
comments, problem reports and other feedback you may have concerning
this software.

email: acars@planespotting.net


REQUIREMENTS:
-------------

1. PC 
2. LINUX Operating System with libc6 
   (i can create libc5 version on request)
3. Open Sound System (OSS) in a actual release
4. Radio receiver with audio cable for connection to soundcard,

I have testet acarsd with SUSE Linux 6.3 and 7.3 on a Pentium 1.8GHz
and on 200MHz Pentium


LICENSE:
--------

acarsd is FREEWARE. This software may be freely copied and distributed
providing that the program and accompanying files are not modified in
any way without prior written permission of the author. Any charges made
for distributing this software may not exceed that of the cost of the
distribution media. You are granted a license to use this software
providing you accept the disclaimer below.


DISCLAIMER:
-----------

Although this product has been tested by the author, he accepts no
responsibility for any damages caused by the use or misuse of this
software. This software is distributed 'as is' with no warranty
expressed or implied. The author will not be responsible for any losses
incurred, either directly or indirectly, by the use of this software.
Use this software entirely at your own risk. If you do not agree to
these terms then you must not use this software.


INSTRUCTIONS:
-------------

- Connect your radio receiver to the soundcard line-in socket via a
suitable audio lead and adjust the receiver volume. Note that you should
leave the receiver SQUELCH control open. Tune your receiver to the ACARS
transmission frequency in use in your area (I use the European Primary
ACARS Frequency of 131.725 MHz AM).

Some ACARS frequencies (in MHz AM) are:

131.725 European Primary
131.525 European Secondary
131.550 USA, Australia, New Zealand
131.450 Japan
129.125 USA Secondary
130.025 USA Secondary
131.475 Canadian (Company)

- start acarsd with ./acarsd. 
  You can optionally specify the following command line parameters:

Possible commands are:
-d device        use device 'device' instead of /dev/dsp
-s               run acarsd as server. Default OFF
-e               start in extended mode. Default OFF
-p port          start server on port 'port'. Default 40000
-i ip            bind server only to ip 'ip'. Default all ip's
-m 1,2           allow modification of database files. Default off
                 1 = only allow to add data
                 2 = allow to modify and add data

AT THE MOMENT PLEASE DO NOT USE THE SERVER MODE. THE SERVERMODE IS
STILL IN PRE-ALPHA VERSION!

- Set you airbandscanner volume so, that the volume-meter shows 5/6

- Wait for ACARS transmissions to occur. Decoded transmissions will be
displayed on the screen and logged to the file acarsd-YYYYMMDD.log which
rotate at midnight
Transmissions with parity errors are not logged!
Also all contacts are logged to a binary database (acarsd.db) for use in 
enhanced mode and for reports. 
If the software is in beta or release state i will provide the structure of the
binary database and/or a simple C API to access data.
In the binary database all contacts are logged if day, month, year, reg or
flightnumber are different. So 2 or more contacts with the same aircraft under
the same flightnumber are not logged at the same day!

- To quit press 'Q'. Sorry, this is my first ncurses program so i have
problems to restore your terminal session correctly. Please type reset to
restore your session.

OPERATION:
----------

All transmissions with the correct header *<SYN><SYN><SOH> are printed to
screen. Transmissions without the header are printed as:
Preample '*<SYN><SYN><SOH>' error

Characters received with parity errors will be displayed in green while
those received without error are displayed in white.

Example of successful logged message:
----------------------------------------------------------[ 01/04/2003 10:08 ]-
ACARS Mode: O  Aircraft Registration:.VP-BAH
Aircraft Type: Boeing 737-400
Message Label: 5U Block ID:   Message Number: M65A
Flight Number: SU0281
Operator: Aeroflot
Message Content: -
01 WXRQ   0281/01 UUEE/LIRF .VP-BAH 
/TYP 1/STA LIRF/STA     /STA 

The message content field is not shown if this field was not present.

If you run acarsd in extended mode (switch -e) then you'll see the following:

----------------------------------------------------------[ 01/04/2003 10:23 ]-
ACARS Mode: E  Aircraft Registration:.D-AIAR
Aircraft Type: Airbus A300
Message Label: 1L Block ID: 7  Message Number: M67A
Flight Number: LH3422
Operator: Lufthansa
Message Content: -
0033021470521+9666

3 contacts with this aircraft. First contact: 31/03/2003 22:52 as flight LH3400

IMPROVEMENTS:
-------------

If you have bug reports or wishes for the next version feel free to mail me
acars@planespotting.net
I try to improve the decoding routines and some other features.

TOOLS:
------
I hope some tools for acarsd are avaiable in the near feature.
From the first beta i give some informations about the structure of the
binary database and a little API for C programmers.

RELEASE HISTORY:
----------------

0.01Alpha-2  01/04/2003 
	     First Alpha Version


THANKS:
-------

I will send a big THANK YOU to the following people for some different reasons:

My Family     (for unterstand my hobby and the time which i investigate)
My Boss       (for detailed description on sound signals and how to detect it)
My Boss Whife (for help with FFT (acarsd is still running without it))
KD Baer	      (for informations about Radiowaves)
MM	      (for signal analyse and help to improve the detection routines)

and off course all you testers out there!

