GOLD Tracks Generator

The GOLD Tracks Generator is a script that generate random tracks in OTH-T GOLD format. Data generated by the script simulates the movement of tracks and is sent to clients via TCP or UDP transport protocol.

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Features

• The GOLD Tracks Generator script generates OTH-T GOLD messages of XCTC type (The Enhanced Contact Report message).
• The body of generated XCTC message contains of segments with CTC set immediately followed by XPOS set.
• The script allows to send the following tracks:
  • one single track in specified position or random position;
  • multiple tracks randomly located within a designated range from specified position;
  • multiple tracks in random positions around the world.
• Tracks details are randomly generated at script startup and conform to the OTH-T GOLD specification.
• Generated tracks are resent to the selected host periodically (every 10 seconds). Each time a message with tracks is sent, the position of tracks is updated based on their speed and course.
• The script can be run with the following options:
  • choice of TCP or UDP transport protocol;
  • choice of network port;
  • specifying IP address or hostname;
  • specifying single track position or center of tracks area;
  • specifying the max distance of tracks from specified position (nautical miles).

Generated OTH-T GOLD msg example:

ZNR UUUUU
P 091316Z NOV 21
FM GOLDTX
TO ALL
BT
UNCLAS
MSGID/GOLDTX/XCTC/0001/NOV
CTC/T14460/UNEQUATED-TEST1//FFS/MER/4492/UP///TGT/24///16///ORP344240756/LRAJ
XPOS/09131622Z4/NOV21/LL:064513N9-1061124W5/SRN25////036.6T/40KTS////UNK
CTC/T50650/UNEQUATED-TEST2//CLH/AIR/F8614/UK////03///10///ORP554779250/GKIE/10
XPOS/09131622Z4/NOV21/LL:661414N2-0665303W3/PHOTO////163.4T/16KTS////NTDS
CTC/T10447/UNEQUATED-TEST3//MON/AIR/P7393/JA///SUS/15///24///COM855379354/IZBL/08
XPOS/09131622Z4/NOV21/LL:532653N4-0994229E5/SRN25////031.1T/46KTS////NTDS
ENDAT
BT







NNNN

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Getting Started

Use the following instructions to run the script on your local machine.

Requirements

Python third party packages:

• pyproj

Installation with venv

The script can be build and run locally with virtualenv tool. Run following commands in order to create virtual environment and install the required packages.

$ virtualenv venv
$ source venv/bin/activate
(venv) $ pip install -r requirements.txt

Running the script

Script usage:

(venv) $ python main.py -h
usage: main.py [-h] [-n NUMBER] [-c COORDS] [-r RANGE] [-t {tcp,udp}] [-p PORT] ip_address

The script generates random OTH-T GOLD tracks

positional arguments:
  ip_address            Remote host ip address/hostname

optional arguments:
  -h, --help            show this help message and exit
  -n NUMBER, --number NUMBER
                        GOLD tracks count (default: 1)
  -c COORDS, --coords COORDS
                        GOLD track position or center of tracks area in format 5430N-01920E (default: random)
  -r RANGE, --range RANGE
                        Max track distance in nautical miles from the specified position (default: 0)
  -t {tcp,udp}, --proto {tcp,udp}
                        Choose UDP transport protocol (default: tcp)
  -p PORT, --port PORT  Remote host port (default: 2020)

You can start the script using one of the following examples:

# Run script with default options (1 track, port 2020 TCP, random position) and send msg to 192.168.1.10 host.
(venv) $ python main.py 192.168.1.10
# Send GOLD msg with some default options (1 track, random position) to 192.168.1.10 host on 2021 UDP port .
(venv) $ python main.py -t udp -p 2021 192.168.1.10
# Send GOLD msg with 10 tracks randomly located within a 10 nautical miles from 5430N 01920E position (port 2020 TCP).
(venv) $ python main.py -n 10 -c 5430N-01920E -r 10 192.168.1.10