install-aiscatcher

This script does following:
(1) Clones AIS-catcher source-code from https://github.com/jvde-github/AIS-catcher
(2) Builds Linux executeable from source-code, & installs it in folder /usr/local/bin/
(3) Creates Systemd service to automatically start AIS-catcher when RPi boots, and run AIS-catcher in background.
(4) Provides Systemd commands to start stop, restart, and display status, and journalctl logs of AIS-catcher

Command to view Log:

sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 20

INSTALL / UPGRADE / REINSTALL
Copy-paste following command in SSH console and press Enter key.
The script will Install / Upgrade / Reinstall Latest Version of AIS-catcher and it's Systemd Service.

sudo bash -c "$(wget -O - https://raw.githubusercontent.com/abcd567a/install-aiscatcher/master/install-aiscatcher.sh)"

AFTER INSTALLATION IS COMPLETED, PLEASE DO FOLLOWING:

(1) If on RPi you have installed AIS Dispatcher or OpenCPN,
it should be configured to use UDP Port 10110, IP 127.0.0.1 OR 0.0.0.0

(2) Open file aiscatcher.conf by following command:

sudo nano /usr/share/aiscatcher/aiscatcher.conf     

The defalt content of above file are as shown below:

 -d 00000162
 -v 10
 -M DT
 -gr TUNER 38.6 RTLAGC off
 -s 2304k
 -p 3
 -o 4
 -u 127.0.0.1 10110
 -N 8383
 -N PLUGIN_DIR /usr/share/aiscatcher/my-plugins   

(3) In above file:
(a) Change 00000162 in "-d 00000162" to actual Serial Number of AIS dongle
(b) Change 3 in "-p 3" to the actual ppm correction figure of dongle
(c) Change 38.6 in "-gr TUNER 38.6 RTLAGC off" to desired Gain of dongle
(d) Add following line and replace xx.xxx and yy.yyy by actual values:
-N STATION MyStation LAT xx.xxx LON yy.yyy
(e) For each Site you want to feed AIS data, add a new line as follows:
-u [URL or IP of Site] [Port Number of Site]
(f) Save (Ctrl+o) and Close (Ctrl+x) file aiscatcher.conf

IMPORTANT: If you are Upgrading or Reinstalling, your old config file is saved as
/usr/share/aiscatcher/aiscatcher.conf.old

(4) REBOOT RPi ... REBOOT RPi ... REBOOT RPi ... REBOOT RPi

(5) See the Web Interface (Map etc) at
10.0.0.100:8383 (IP-of-PI:8383)

(6) Command to see Status sudo systemctl status aiscatcher

(7) Command to Restart sudo systemctl restart aiscatcher

(8) Command to Stop sudo systemctl stop aiscatcher

Determining the PPM Correction (for use in file aisctacher.conf)

(1) Install test software
sudo apt install rtl-sdr

(2) Determin the device index of the dongle for AIS-catcher by following command
rtl_test -t

(3) The device index will be 0 or 1, or 2 etc.
Use following command to determine ppm
NOTE: Replace n in command below by device index you found above
rtl_test -d n -p60

(4) Wait until the cumulative error value (in PPM) remains more-or-less the same for three consecutive minutes.
Note the last cumulative error value (in PPM) and use it in config of AIS-catcher.
For example if the value determined by above test is 7, the entry in config file will be -p 7

Logs:

Command to view full Log:

sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 20

Commands to view specific parts of log:

Command:
sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 200 | grep -o 'received.*'
Output:
received: 12 msgs, total: 59754 msgs, rate: 1.19834 msg/s

Command:
sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 200 | grep -o 'rate.*'
Output:
rate: 1.29752 msg/s

Command:
sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 30 | awk -F',' '{print $17}'
Output:
"ppm":4.340278

Command:
sudo journalctl -u aiscatcher -n 30 | awk -F',' '{print $16}'
Output:
"signalpower":-46.787212

In above command's last part, i.e. in {print $4}, substitute $4 by values listed in first column of the table below to get the output shown in second column of the table.

 

$n	Output Example
$1	Jan 05 04:48:16 debian11 aiscatcher[38575]: [AIS engine v0.42 #0] received: 16 msgs Jan 05 04:48:17 debian11 aiscatcher[38575]: {"class":"AIS"
$2	"device":"AIS-catcher"
$3	"rxtime":"20230105095333"
$4	"scaled":true
$5	"channel":"A" "channel":"B"
$6	"nmea":["!AIVDM
$7	3
$8	1
$9	4
$10	A B
$11	14eIvM6P00rDSONHv0pf4?vR2@:2 8h30ot1?0@<BbDPPPP3D<oPPEU;M418T@00BbDPPPPC=DoN0lU:2WQ8v
$12	25C"] 002"]
$13	"signalpower":-41.644276
$14	"ppm":-3.761574
$15	"mmsi":316206000
$16	"status":5
$17	"status_text":"Aground" "status_text":"Under way using engine"

 

To Uninstall AIS-catcher AND remove all its files

STEP-1: Stop & disable aiscatcher service, and remove aiscatcher service file.

sudo systemctl stop aiscatcher  

sudo systemctl disable aiscatcher  

sudo rm /lib/systemd/system/aiscatcher.service  

 

STEP-2: Remove files and folders pertaining to AIS-catcher.

sudo rm -rf /usr/share/aiscatcher

sudo rm /usr/local/bin/AIS-catcher

sudo userdel aiscat