Channel Configuration

Introduction

Channels are configured via text files in Nova. Most channel configurations following a similar structure outlined within this section.

Configuration

To setup a channel in Nova several tokens and files are required.

Cluster File

Each channel within the system is defined within the cluster file. This section contains many of the basic channel properties such as window size, field of view, orientation, etc. Below is a listing of the available tokens.

Token	Description	Valid Values
CHx_NAME	The name of the channel	A string with no spaces. Some special characters are allowed such as “-” and “_”.
CHx_IGMODE	The type of channel	OTW SENSOR ISECT FRONTEND PAGER VIDEO_BLENDER DISTRIBUTOR
CHx_WINSIZE_X	The X resolution of the channel	Integer
CHx_WINSIZE_Y	The Y resolution of the channel	Integer
CHx_WINPOSX	The upper left starting position of the channel	Valid Integer Position withing the computer desktop
CHx_WINPOSY	The upper left starting position of the channel	Valid Integer Position withing the computer desktop
CHx_OFFSET_HOR	The horizontal offset of the channel	-180.0 to 180.0
CHx_OFFSET_ROLL	The roll of the channel	-180.0 to 180.0
CHx_OFFSET_VERT	The pitch of the channel	-180.0 to 180.0
CHx_PIXEL_DEPTH	The bit depth of the channel	32 = 8 bit 30 = 10 bit
CHx_ZBUFFER_DEPTH	The Z buffer depth of the channel	32
CHx_MULTISAMPLE_MODE	The anti-aliasing setting of the channel. For render channels the typical setting is 8X.	OFF, 2X, 2X5TAP, 4X, 4X9TAP, 6X, 8X, 16X, 8XQ, 16XQ
CHx_TIME_OFFSET	Additional time offset (in msec) applied. Normally should be left at 0.0 msec. However, when running 2- node 120Hz where each node is rendering at 60Hz, set one of the nodes in the pair to 8.333ms to cause it to extrapolate 1/2 of a 60Hz frame forward in time further than the other.	0.0, 4.166, 8.333
CHx_PCI_ADDRESS	The PCI address of the GPU to target Nova window rendering to (optional). W hen used with Quadro GPUs (NV_gpu_affinity), one display per GPU, and direct render (no RDP or Optimus), the Nova window is automatically positioned and (if FullScreen ON) sized to place it on the specified GPU's display, overriding CH#_W INPOS[XY ] and possibly CH#W INSIZE[XY ] as well. Valid Formats = DDDD:bb:dd or bb:dd, where DDDD = PCI Domain ID (or 0000 if not specified), bb = PCI Bus ID, and dd = PCI Device ID (all in hex). EXAMPLES: 0000:d5:00, 0000:73:00	DDDD:bb:dd bb:dd (DDDD is assumed to be 0 if specified in this format)
CHx_SWAP_INTERVAL	Sets the number of VBlank periods between buffer swaps on the GPU (0 disables VSync).	1: Normal Operation 0: Disable VSync
CHx_SENSORHOST_RETURN	For several NVG Stimulated channels this is set to ON for the primary channel and all other channels are set to OFF.	ON, OFF

Weapon Configuration

If weapon channels are defined their configuration will also be defined within the cluster.cfg file. This definition applies to sensor channels and any channel that will have a different paging center from the primary eyepoint (ownship). Below is an example of a Weapon Channel with ID 3.

CODE

##########################################
#Weapon 3 - MWIR Pod
##########################################
Weapon3_Name                                "MWIR Pod"
Weapon3_SensorIdList                        3
Weapon3_SensorHostDllList                   comboSensorHost.dll
Weapon3_ConfigSensorHostInterfaceFileList   config_sensorhost_if_combo.cfg
Weapon3_DigitalSensorResolutionX            2048
Weapon3_DigitalSensorResolutionY            2048
Weapon3_DigitalSensorNumSamples             4
Weapon3_DigitalSensorReadbackLevel          5
Weapon3_DigitalSensorPolygonAspect          1.25
Weapon3_DigitalSensorPreStabArrayAspect     1.0

Within the software directory there are cluster file template references to aid in the setup of various channels.

E:\CM\software\<version>\data\versions\baseline\cluster_template.cfg
E:\CM\software\<version>\data\versions\baseline\cluster_template_SMVP_combos.cfg

IGConfig Entry

Each channel is defined within the igconfig.ccfg file. This file tells the aeAdmin application which channels to load when starting a configuration.

Channel Override File

Each channel has an override configuration file which is specified in the igconfig.ccfg file. The purpose of the override configuration file is to load up all of the channel specific system tokens. This file also allows the user to change settings only for that specific channel.

Each channel override file typically includes at least two main files to represent the hardware type and node type.

For a standard OTW channel running on a Nucleus system these files would look similar to the following. The files references are relative to the software branch on the system under E:\CM\software\<versions>\data\

CODE

INCLUDE versions/n8.0/renderOTW.cfg
INCLUDE versions/n8.0/nucleus.cfg

After the included base files additional tokens can be added to the override file which will only affect that channel. Most of the time tokens are added for performance or visual fidelity of the scene. Turning down or even off some advanced features will help with performance.