Technology Whitepaper
This paper describes the technical details behind the Tracking for the Beyond Blue
charity event. You can see the live images here
Satellite Terminal
 TC Communications, have provided a combined
GPS reciever and Inmarsat D+ Satellite terminal for the tractors as the
journey through the arid Australian interior. Unlike the dishes commonly
used to receive Satellite TV, the Inmarsat D+ terminal is about the size of
a discus used in sporting events, or about 20cm in diameter and 6cm high as
a single unit combining antennas and electronics.
This small package of electronics is programmed to uplink position reports
periodically to an Inmarsat Satellite in Geosynchronous orbit about 35,000
KM above the equator. Once receieved by the satellite, it is then sent to
one of the international earthstations operated by Inmarsat before being
sent to the TC Communications Offices in Sydney.
Radioactive Networks TeamTrack Interface
Once the position reports are receieved in the TC Communications offices,
the reports are then queued to be sent to the TeamTrack server software supplied by
Radioactive Networks. The first step involves a 'listener' program operating
in the TC Communications offices which accept the messages and then send
them to a server operated by NetIntellect in Albury using
a WebServices interface to the TeamTrack server and database.
The WebServices then ensures that the position reports are authenticated,
and then adds the positions to its SQLserver Database. This database is
running under Windows Server 2003 and IIS6.
OziExplorer Interface
GPS-OZ has provided maps for the
Australian OziExplorer software.
Radioactive Networks TeamTrack Pro software is used to connect to the
TeamTrack WebServices server in Albury, and upload the position reports into
OziExplorer as well as provide history and reporting functions.
In order to show what this would look like on the web, Radioactive Networks
have this software running on one of their machines in their Sydney offices,
and are using the SnagIt software to take
a Print Screen of the software every few minutes. The SnagIt software then
uploads the images to the Radioactive Networks Web Server, outsources with
PowWeb.Com, providing up to 300 GBytes of
bandwidth a month.
These static images are then linked to by the main Web Site being hosted by
NetInetllect
GoogleEarth Interface
One of the components of the Radioactive Networks TeamTrack suite is an
interface to Google Earth. This interface operates in two parts to reduce
CPU load under heavy usage. The exact details are commercially sensative,
but once again Web Services pay an important part. The interface ultimately
involves a specially formatted dynamic web page containing the current
location information and historical journey data.
This information is then decoded by Google Earth and displayed on the map.
Google has been set up to periodically request updated positions from the
server and display them on the screen. Once again, just like with
OziExplorer, screendumps are taken and uploaded to the Web Site.
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Copyright © 1994-2006
Radioactive Networks ,
darryl@radio-active.net.au
This page was last updated 2005-09-01 07:25:53
This page was last compiled 2006-05-17 08:26:13
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