The Chronicles of RPi - Its History

Under the ERC project a data collection platform was installed at CIMH. This displays data of all formats on a Google Maps based interface.

The main involvement for me was to write scripts, in Python,  that were used to parse out AWS (Automatic Weather Station) data from Windows based computers and send them to an ftp server using the sftp protocol. Since the AWS collection systems were Windows based, I had to install CYGWIN on them to implement a unix environment to take advantage of cron jobs. CYGWIN is good but I have my reservations over prolonged use of it, especially on more modern Windows systems. 

As anticipated, CYGWIN did not perform satisfactorily. Surprise surprise. CYGWIN + Windows 7 = Headache.

This then prompted me to find an entirely UNIX based solution after numerous complaints and countless system restarts. After all, the data collected from these stations and their eventual display on the platform rested squarely on my shoulders. (No pressure)

After weeks of sifting through user manuals and adjusting scripts,  I was able to communicate directly to the AWS data logger and retrieve the data. At this stage I was then able to implement some of the original snippets of code to complete the job. The original script not only parsed out the data for sftp upload but also made the data visible on an HTML page in a tabular format. This was a bit of forward thinking on my part as I envisioned issues arrising from the CYGWIN / Windows 7 combination.

HTML Table Displaying Attached Sensor Data

This is where it all began.

Until next time...

Marvin...