Version 2.0.0, December 8, 1998 For the latest version of TAC-32 visit: http://www.cnssys.com/tac32/ Features: Time: UTC Offset (Motorola UT+ receivers only) and leap second pending status (Motorola only) are now shown in the "UTC from GPS Time" box on the main screen when available. Satellites: The satellite view chart now includes a horizon line. This line is traced as satellites move and so takes at least 12 hours to fully form. The horizon line can be used to show blockages in satellite coverage. See the program Help for more information. The data is saved and retrieved between sessions and is cumulative. A reset button is available to initiate a new horizon survey. Display: Display of the receiver operational mode on the status bar. Logs: All logs are now opened in shared, read-only mode and automatically updated once per minute. Thus, logs may be read or copied without closing them. A new log file type, the "NMEA Common Format PVT log". The NMEA Common Format PVT log saves data in a common NMEA-0182 format regardless of the operating mode or type of GPS receiver. This allows for data collected simultaneously from multiple receivers to be compared without regard to the format of their specific messages. The message specification is included in Help under the "What is..." section. GPS Receivers: A new receiver type, "Generic NMEA", has been added. This supports a listen-only mode at any data rate for use monitoring any NMEA receiver. No control functions are supported in this mode. Motorola Receivers: Operator initiated self test for Motorola receivers (BIN mode only). Motorola VP: Added PVT6 (6-channel) emulation for the Motorola Oncore VP receiver to allow the VP to be set up for use with legacy software programs. Motorola GT, GT+, UT, UT+: Antenna status is displayed on the status bar (BIN mode only). Motorola UT+: 100 PPS support (BIN mode only). Support for GPS receiver internal self-survey (BIN mode only). Garmin: Added support for 9600 baud. Trimble: Added support for Trimble NMEA mode as part of the "Generic NMEA" interface. This is still "receive only". Implementation of the TAIP and/or TSIP protocols, to provide full support, is planned. XNTP: The $GPRMC message is now active in NMEA 2D and 3D modes to support xntpd (time server) interfaces. Help: Improved and updated the content of the Help files. Also made many improvements to the corresponding documentation (available as hard copy or in Adobe PDF V3 format). Windows NT Service Mode: Tac32 is now able to run as a Windows NT service. It can register itself as a service. Documentation is in Help/Contents/How Do I... Updates: Setup: The GPS receiver type search is now only performed when specifically requested. Thus the program will stay in the requested mode even if a receiver of that type is not found. This allows testing with similar receivers that do not conform to the program's command structure. Tac32 is no longer restricted to running only one copy of the program at a time. Screen: The maximized position of the main screen is now saved and restored (WinNT only). This allows you, for example, to resize the normal screen to show only the clock and use the maximized screen to show the full page. Coax Calculator: Addition of various LMR series coax cables. Settings: Settings are now saved when they are made instead of waiting for program shutdown. This eliminates problems if the program is terminated unexpectedly (say if your laptop battery fails). This also corrected an error in the geoid-ellisoid calculation on the Manual Reference position screen when entering non-local reference positions for addition to the data base. Internals: Replaced the internal inter-task communication mechanism with a new high efficiency mechanism. This improves performance. PC timekeeping is improved through dynamic process priority management. Manual Commands: The "xx" characters shown in some of the parameter fields have been removed. The Manual Command Dialog's command dropdown list now operates correctly (implemented case sensitive operations). Now allows manual commands in Generic NMEA mode. Passwords: The password field in the Help/About box now supports cut and paste to make it easier for a registered user to move the password from the e-mail announcement to the program. Corrections: Passwords: Implemented an encrypted password master list so the program doesn't have to carry around the unencrypted password in its .exe file where hackers can find it. Status: The status line now correctly reports "PVT6" instead of "VP" for these early Motorola receivers. Raw Data Views: Improved the operation to reduce flicker and improve performance. Serial Ports: Revised the operation of serial port initialization, port probing and dialog box initialization to improve the reliability of these functions. Time: Corrected a timekeeping error that occurred when manual 1PPS offsets were non-zero. This effected the Motorola VP when the offset was negative and the UT+ when the positive offset exceeded about 140 msec. NMEA Message Processing: Made substantial changes to the NMEA processing to improve compatibility and performance. Logs: Corrected errors in the Binary and Rinex logs that occurred when the @@Ea/Ba is disabled. Also for the Rinex log, when the @@Ek/Bk is disabled. These conditions occurred only during logging for special purpose post-processing experiments.