ODTK 6.5.0 Release Notes

ODTK 6.5.0 is a maintenance release. Note that a new ODTK 6.5 license is required in order to upgrade to it.

Measurement models

Space based measurement models have been updated to work for the observer orbiting any central body and observing an object about any other central body (e.g. an Earth orbiting observatory tracking an asteroid).
Mendes-Pavlis troposphere correction model added for SLR measurement support (IERS 2010 convention)
IERS troposphere model for radio frequencies added
Normal point range model now includes the general relativity correction

Simulator

Option to create one file per pass. This more accurately reflects what someone might see in operations.

Force models

The empirical force model now allows the ability to estimate a constant acceleration.
Specify the maneuver in Delta-V units
Specify maneuver mass loss as a single mass decrement over the maneuver interval.

Interoperability

The initial state tool now supports reading states from a Vector Covariance Message (VCM).
A JPL Spice file can be used as a reference ephemeris.
The ability to read in one (1) way bistatic Doppler and one (1) way bistatic range measurements from tracking data supplied in the UTDF format has been added.

Resolved issues

These release notes contain information on system and disk space requirements for installing and running ODTK; information on new capabilities and features introduced in the current version of ODTK, including issues resolved from the prior version; transition information -- cautions, workarounds and operational tips -- to help maximize your successful use of the product; and a brief introduction to online help resources.

New Capabilities and Resolved Issues in ODTK 6.5.0
Tracking No.	Description
65700	The Mendes-Pavlis (troposphere) atmospheric correction model recommended in the IERS 2010 conventions for SLR measurements has been added.
69056	The IERS troposphere model (2010) for radio frequencies has been added. Note that only the GMF mapping function is available. The VMF mapping function has not been implemented.
73250	File per pass option has been added in Simulator
82696	The option to not model light time delay, in order to process pre-corrected measurements, has been added to the ground and space based right ascension and declination models.
89651	Graphical residual editing now works properly in cases where multiple observations of the same type from the same sensor exist for the same satellite at identical times. Previously, when one observation of a particular type was selected for editing, all other observations of the same type from the same sensor to the same satellite would also be edited.
91466	For Empirical Forces, the ability to estimate constant acceleration from the sinusoidal acceleration has been added.
92036	The Initial State HTML Utility can now initialize the satellite's state by reading a Vector Covariance Message file. See more at the ODTK Attribute Syntax.
92134	The ability to use satellite reference ephemerides in SPICE format has been added.
93157	The Filter attribute function ViewRestartData now returns the full lower triangular representation of the state error covariance matrix.
93366	A new attribute method has been added to allow the update of leap second information while ODTK is running.
93416	The capability has been added to specify maneuver magnitude uncertainty in Delta-V units for FinMinDeltaV maneuvers.
93419	An option has been added for finite maneuvers specified as Delta-Vs to specify the mass loss as a single mass decrement over the interval.
93995	A new option to model two way range in the solar system barycentric frame has been added to the MeasurementStatistics options. The new setting, which is off by default, allows for more appropriate modeling of range measurements to objects in deep space.
94550	Reference ephemeris checks in the Simulator have been improved to allow for the care where a custom simulation schedule is specified that restricts the simulation of measurements for a satellite using a reference ephemeris to within the span of the reference ephemeris, even if the reference ephemeris does not cover the entire simulation interval. Prior versions of ODTK required that reference ephemerides covered the entire time span of the simulation, regardless of the existence of a custom simulation schedule.
95610	The ability to read in one (1) way bistatic Doppler and one (1) way bistatic range measurements from tracking data supplied in the UTDF format has been added.

System requirements

This section includes ODTK system requirements.

Supported operating systems

Windows 7 32-bit and 64-bit
Windows 10
Windows Server 2008, 2012

Starting with version 6.3.2, ODTK is not supported on Windows XP.

Starting with version 6.5, ODTK is not supported on Windows Vista.

ODTK runs as a 32-bit application in a 64-bit Windows environment. Code samples are compiled for use in Visual Studio 2012.

Hardware requirements

Hardware	Requirements
CPU Speed	2+ GHz
Processor	Intel Core Duo, SSE2 (or greater) Pentium 4 or Xeon Processors, or AMD Phenom or better CPU
Memory / RAM	3+ GB
Disk Space	4+ GB
Network Hardware	Network Card required

ODTK can use up to 3 GB of memory/RAM and will take advantage of multiple processors if available depending on the type of analysis being done.

An ODTK installation requires 200-300 MB of disk space. Running a typical scenario, such as the Sapphire demo scenario that accompanies ODTK (3 satellites, 5 trackers x 3 days), takes about 600MB disk space for simulator, filter, and smoother runs. During such a run the memory footprint of ODTK is slightly over 110Mb.

Compatibility with Windows Server 2008

Windows Server 2008 installations must have the Desktop Experience option turned on before running the ODTK install. This option is available from the Windows Control Panel.

Microsoft recommends running services under a specific user account and does not recommend running under the SYSTEM account unless absolutely necessary.

If you run ODTK under the Local System (SYSTEM) account on a 64-bit system you will need to create a C:\Windows\SysWOW64\config\systemprofile\Documents folder and verify that the C:\Windows\System32\config\systemprofile\Documents folder properly links to it and that both have appropriate permissions.

If you plan to run multiple instances of ODTK on the server you will need to ensure that the system is configured to reserve enough Desktop Heap Memory for each session. See blogs.technet.com for a discussion of the settings in HKEY_LOCAL_MACHINE\SYSTEM\CurrentControlSet\Control\Session Manager\SubSystems

We recommend reserving ~256k of Desktop Heap for each instance of ODTK running on the system.

Transition issues

It is suggested that you review the following list of cautions, workarounds and operational tips before using the current version of ODTK:

Updating Custom Report and Graph Styles for ODTK 6

The database tables from the various *.*run files (*.filrun, *.smtrun, etc.) used by the Static Product Builder have been updated to reflect the changes in the naming of the solar radiation pressure parameter from Cp to Cr. Additional columns have been added to support the new additive and relative options for the solar radiation pressure and drag parameters. Users that have created their own custom report and graph styles in earlier versions of ODTK will need to update them to work with ODTK 6.3.0. Use the procedure below to update your reports. Graphs do not have an equivalent procedure, however you should test each custom graph to ensure that it continues to function as desired. If not, edit the graph style and update it appropriately.

Changes in Database Table Contents

From release to release, the contents of database tables used in the definition of report and graph styles may change, usually through the addition of new elements to the record definitions. These changes can impact the content of custom report styles created by the user. Before attempting to use a report style generated with a version prior to ODTK 6.3.0, a Verify Database operation should be performed and a new copy of the report style should be saved to a new directory. Overwriting the old style will cause that style to work incorrectly with the prior version of ODTK. The Verify Database operation is performed by highlighting the report style in the Static Product Builder, clicking on the Edit button then right clicking on the Database Fields and selecting Verify Database. After the verification completes, save the style.

Scripting Guide Updates

Please see the ODTK Scripting Help Topics for changes to scripting interfaces and additional scripting examples.

Unresolved issues affecting the current release

You should be aware of the following limitations and unresolved issues affecting ODTK as of the date of this release.

Unresolved Issues
Tracking No.	Description
07071	Tracker satellites cannot share tracking IDs with GPS constellation PRN numbers. If a scenario contains both an optical tracker satellite and a GPS constellation, and the tracker satellite has a tracking ID between 1-36, the tracking ID will become ambiguous.
10186	Users should not name objects using class names like Filter, Smoother, Simulator. Refer to the "VBA to VB.NET Migration" section of the ODTK Help.
23349	LaunchPad doesn't format dates in local format, it always uses MM/DD/YYYY even if machine is configured to show dates as DD/MM/YYYY.
29439	To avoid abnormal terminations that may occur when FLEXlm code is run with Windows Data Execution Prevention enabled, you need to change the DEP settings: Open the "System Properties", click on the "Advanced" tab and click on "Performance, Settings" button. This will bring up a dialog with three tabs. Click on the "DEP" tab and set the option to: "Turn on DEP for essential Windows programs and services only". You may need to restart the computer after that.
30517	The Plugins tab does not refresh the SupportsSave column. When you add a new plugin tracking data reader and click Apply, the column labeled SupportsSave is not refreshed. By default the value in this column is false, but after you add a new tracking data reader that supports save, then the value in this column should be true. The user must dismiss the panel and pull it back up to get the correct value.
31034	After a long predict, the covariance is quite large. A very large measurement update can drive the filter covariance negative.
31802	A GPS constellation object does not populate the PRNList until properties are applied. We suggest that when you first assign a source file to a GPS constellation, you press Apply before double-clicking on the PRNList to view its contents.
32139	State File To SP3 utility limits output to GPSSatellites named PRN01, PRN02, etc.
36839	If ODTK aborts or runs out of disk space then any active runfile is not saved in a valid state. This issue cannot be corrected without a big impact on processing speed (opening and closing the file and opening to append). The user is advised to monitor disk utilization and plan for large run files from ODTK to avoid disk space issues.
42672	Dynamic Earth Data does not use file find paths. Do not attempt to change the location from the default location.
45226	ODTK does not support saving and loading of files that use multi-byte character sets.
52010	Older AMD chips do not support "Streaming SIMD Extensions 2 (SSE2)". SSE2 was first used in ODTK v6.0. The following AMD chips do support SSE2: AMD K8-based CPUs (Athlon 64, Sempron 64, Turion 64, etc.) AMD Phenom CPUs and newer
73396	Creating a report from the Static Product Builder and then choosing to export it to "Text" format may cause a crash. This is caused by a problem in the Crystal Reports package itself. Users are recommended to export to the Tab Separated or Comma Separated Value formats instead.
75024	There is an issue when exporting report data to CSV or TSV format of a field or fields possibly being missing. If this occurs there is a workaround: Edit the Style in question Right click on a field in question, choose "Format..." Go to the first tab and uncheck "Suppress" flag. Save report style into "My Documents/ODTK 6/Styles"
77998	There are a few styles, such as Avg, Daily Avg, and Satellite Pos Vel, that use suppress conditionals to produce the requested data. Some reports that contain these styles cannot be exported to a CSV format using Crystal Reports. The workaround is to use a different export format or use ODTK's native .exp styles.