[McIDAS #USW-595984]: 20200416: GLM imagery / McIDAS / CoD processing

Hi Mike,

re:
> I'm working to transition from the TTU GLM set to the Vlab set that just
> came online.  In making sure my dev environment was able to make the TTU
> FED the same as I'm doing in production, I realized something that's going
> to make me resurrect a two year old issue: [McIDAS #USW-595984]
> https://www.unidata.ucar.edu/support/help/MailArchives/mcidas/msg05948.html
> 
> The crux of the matter is this:  abincalb.inc originally had a max value
> for FED at 16.0, which you had based on 1-min aggregations.  When I went to
> 5-min aggregations I found that was too low and ended up going to 100.0.
> At that point my abincalb.inc file used in production is a custom one,
> which isn't great, but what's worse is I forgot about it until I realized
> my dev environment wasn't matching!
> 
> Using a slightly older v2020 I edited that value to 100.0 (line 288 for me)
> and the visualizations now match what I make in production.  While I
> haven't done this yet, I expect I'll need to do the same for my new
> server's environment (latest v2020) as I can already tell that imagery is
> also too hot.
> 
> That being said, here's a comment of yours from that above exchange:
> 
> The redesign of the ABIN ADDE servers will
> have those kinds of values specified in a (set of) configuration file
> that can be edited.  I say set since my original discussions with SSEC
> were to support something like the CORE, SITE and USER configuration
> file sets like other commands.
> 
> Unfortunately, the only way to modify the values right now is to change
> the values in the abincalb.inc file and then rebuild/reinstall the ABIN
> servers.

Yes, exactly.  The need to modify an include file and recompile a routine
is one of the major weaknesses of the current ABIN ADDE servers.  I have
exchanged emails with the MUG about the need for the servers to be totally
re-written including the idea of creating a new ADDE server that will
just handle Level2 products like the TTU and Vlab GLM products and more
(CSU/CIRA GeoColor, DebraDust, CloudSnow and the long list of Level2
products distributed in NOAAPort).  The crux of the problem is the variability
in data values in a number of the products as a function of weather, and the
mapping of product data values to BRITnesses so that they can be visualized
as images.  The MUG folks are not opposed to the idea in principle, but
I left with the impression that I would be the only person working on the
project (at least at the beginning), so it comes down to me having the time
to dedicate to this major rewrite.

re:
> I know you've done a bunch of work on the ABIN servers since then, so my
> question is can a user modify this setting in a configuration file, and if
> so how?

Unfortunately, no.

re:
> If that is still not the case, and modifying abincalb.inc is still the only
> way to do this, then I _almost_ want to request setting that value to 100.0
> officially so it's no longer custom.  But the next thing that occurs to me
> is the Vlab GLM set has Level2 data at 1-min aggregations, AND Level3 data
> at 5-min aggregations.  So with that, is there a way a different max value
> for both could be supported?  

No, not in the current implementation of the ABIN servers.  This is one of
their major weaknesses!

re:
> Like I said, I haven't tried visualizing the
> Vlab set yet so if that is already the case let me know and I'll try to
> confirm that.

The needed overhaul is still to be done, and I want to get to it, but other
things keep cropping up.  Sigh!

I'm sorry that I don't have something better to report!

Cheers,

Tom
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Ticket Details
===================
Ticket ID: USW-595984
Department: Support McIDAS
Priority: Normal
Status: Closed
===================
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