Weather monitor installation
Back to weather monitor
Installation issues
Required packages
Some of the packages are merely for convenience, but most are required to run the intended applications.
libreadline-dev libopencv-dev libgpiod-dev gpiod cmake subversion aptitude apt-file telnet ntp ntpdate nmap lsof libpaho-mqtt-dev libpaho-mqttpp-dev (if not available, then not needed) python3-paho-mqtt python3-opencv python3-setproctitle mosquito mosquitto-dev mosquitto-clients libusb-dev libcli11-dev (maybe not available) libgeographiclib-dev libpaho-mqttpp-dev qt6-base-dev qt6-tools-dev qt6-charts-dev libxkbcommon-dev sudo apt install libreadline-dev libopencv-dev libgpiod-dev gpiod cmake subversion aptitude apt-file telnet ntp ntpdate nmap lsof python3-paho-mqtt libpaho-mqtt-dev python3-opencv python3-setproctitle mosquitto mosquitto-dev mosquitto-clients libusb-dev libcli11-dev libgeographiclib-dev libpaho-mqttpp-dev qt6-base-dev qt6-tools-dev qt6-charts-dev libxkbcommon-dev
For Python install
pip install geographiclib
or
sudo apt install python3-geographiclib
Build
Code is found here (on SVN)
cd ~/svn svn co svn://repos.gbar.dtu.dk/jcan/weather_monitor
The Qt C++ code is then in ~/svn/weather_monitor/qt_monitor
Build by
cd ~/svn/weather_monitor/qt_monitor mkdir -p build cd build cmake .. make -j3
Debug build by
cd ~/svn/weather_monitor/qt_monitor mkdir -p build cd build cmake -DCMAKE_BUILD_TYPE=Debug .. make -j3
Run once to create a configuration file, then edit to configure.
./gnss_qt nano gnss_qt.ini
Debug run with valgrind
valgrind ./gnss_qt
CMake problem
GeographicLibConfig.cmake
The find package
find_package(GeographicLib REQUIRED)
in cmake fails, as the file GeographicLibConfig.cmake is not found.
This can be fixed by renaming the provided file FindGeographicLib.cmake by
cd /usr/share/cmake/geographiclib sudo ln -s FindGeographicLib.cmake GeographicLibConfig.cmake
XKB
Missing library, and CMake complains:
-- Could NOT find XKB (missing: XKB_LIBRARY XKB_INCLUDE_DIR) (Required is at least version "0.5.0")
The solution was to install
sudo apt install libxkbcommon-dev
This occurred on Raspberry Pi 4-5 using the 64-bit default OS.
XCB-plugin
When trying to start the Qt app on reboot I got:
Could not load the Qt platform plugin "xcb" in "" even though it was found.
I inserted
export QT_QPA_PLATFORM=xcb
into the 'on_reboot.bash' that is activated by crontab on reboot.
and installed
sudo apt install qt5dxcb-plugin
No, it didn't help. Use desktop-file
Autostart QT-GUI app at boot
Make a desktop file in ~/.config/autostart/
cd cd .config mkdir -p autostart cd autostart nano qt_monitor.desktop
Insert the following
[Desktop Entry] Name=Gnss_qt Exec=/home/local/on_reboot.fromDesktop Type=Application Terminal=true NoDisplay=false X-KeepTerminal=true StartupNotify=true
The file /home/local/on_reboot.fromDesktop is an executable bash script with the following content;
#!/bin/bash # script to start applications after a reboot # cd /home/local/svn/weather_monitor/qt_monitor/build ./gnss_qt -d 2>out_err.txt >out_console.txt
This seems to work better than crontab with an @reboot entry, as it has the XCB issue described above.
Configure
After the gnss_qt is run the first time, there should be a default configuration file, this will need to be modified. E.g. similar to this:
[service] logpath = /home/local/svn/weather_monitor/log/log_%d/ ; the '%d' will be replaced with date and timestamp (must end with a '/'). = max_logging_minutes = 60.0 log_service = true [mqttin] ;broker = tcp://10.59.9.201:1883 broker = tcp://10.197.217.56:1883 context = ublox9/ clientid = ublox9_in function = nmea/ system = ublox9/ log = true print = false use = true [gnss] ;input = ../../../log/gnss_2025_06_18.nmea input = ../../../log/log_24h_asta_mqtt.txt input_use = false log = false interval_sec = 0 logtime = false [ini] ; set 'saveconfig' to 'false' to avoid autosave = saveconfig = true version = 2285 2025-06-26 07:20:46 [mqttinw] broker = tcp://192.168.2.216:1883 context = not used clientid = weather_in function = system = weather7/ log = true print = false use = false [weather] input = ../log/weather-xxx.txt input_use = false log = false interval_sec = 60 logpathload = /home/local/svn/weather_monitor/log/w1 logpathsave = /home/local/svn/weather_monitor/log/w2 logload = false
Each group corresponds to one of the modules in the app:
- Group [gnss]. Input can be from a file, either directly from the receiver /dev/ttyACM0, or a logfile generated by the MQTT streamer for NMEA messages. Set input_use = true to use this alternative.
- Group [mqttin]. It is for use with an MQTT server that streams the NMEA messages. Change the IP in the [mqttin] group and change to use=true. The NMEA messages are assumed to be in the payload of the message, and the subject as described (subscribing to 'ublox9/nmea/#').
- Group [mqttinw] is the input source for weather information.
Autostart MQTT talker
Autostart the MQTT server for weather monitoring.
Create an on_reboot.bash file
cd nano on_reboot.bash
Fill it with
#!/bin/bash # script to start applications after a reboot # # Run the weather app mkdir -p /home/local/svn/log cd /home/local/svn/log # save the last reboot date echo "================ Rebooted ================" >> rebootinfo.txt date >> rebootinfo.txt # start camera server (allow camera to be detected) sleep 0.2 cd /home/local/svn/weather_monitor/weather_talk/build/ ./weather_talk 2>w_talk.err >w_talk.out & echo "weather talk started with PID:" >> /home/local/svn/log/rebootinfo.txt sleep 0.1 pgrep -l weather >> /home/local/svn/log/rebootinfo.txt # exit 0
Next, make an on reboot crontab job
crontab -e
Select an appropriate editor, and add this line at the end of the file:
@reboot /home/local/on_reboot.bash
Hardware
Cables
The RS-485 cable to the weather station is extended using network cable:
- weather cable yellow (A) to ethernet white (twist with green)
- weather cable blue (B) to ethernet green
- weather cable brown (10-30V) to ethernet brown + white (pair)
- weather cable black (GND) to ethernet blue + white
- (ethernet pair orange - NC)
