SPx Radar Scan ConversionCambridge Pixel is a world-leading supplier of advanced radar display solutions. We
A key feature of our scan converter is the ease of adding radar into your existing Windows or Linux application. Our Radar Insertion technology allows the scan converter to insert its image into your Windows/Linux graphics application with minimal changes to the application. This allows application developers to build the graphics application with normal Windows or Linux graphics tools, optionally with third-party graphics toolkits. The SPx software adds the real-time radar image into the display window using capabilities of Windows and X11 to support real-time, highly efficient, multi-window compositing. The result is a real-time, smoothly-rotating radar image added into a multi-layer graphics applications. Cambridge Pixel supplies software and expertise to help you develop radar processing servers or clients. We'll be here to advise which software approach will work best, and we will support you in the software development process. If you contact Cambridge Pixel with a question you'll speak with a highly qualified engineer who understands radar and software. It's our unique blend of software and radar knowledge that makes Cambridge Pixel the world leader in this field. We recognise that there are different requirements for radar display - Windows/Linux, Client/Server, 8/16/24/32 bit, different display modes, underlay maps and overlay symbology etc. We provide solutions that can fit around different software architectures. If you have an existing Windows or Linux application we can insert radar as a software layer with minimal changes to your application structure. The SPx library supports multiple scan conversion methodologies, including:
High-performance, software-based radar scan-conversion
SPx-Scan is a state-of-the-art
COTS software component providing a high- SPx-Scan exploits the power of modern multi-core processors and graphics processor units (GPUs) to provide high performance, flexibility, low cost and freedom from propreiatry hardware. With SPx-Scan you write the application software in Microsoft Windows (Win32, MFC, .NET) or Linux X11, optionally using a third-party toolkit. SPx-Scan provides the radar scan-conversion module which creates the radar picture and handles display mixing with the graphics - all using low-cost, easy-to-maintain hardware. Why Software Scan Conversion?For many years, hardware-based radar scan conversion were the only realistic solution to the display of high quality radar video. The development of higher performance graphics cards, combined with the availability of low-cost multi-core processors, has changed that. A modern software-based solution offers flexibility, performance and the ability to meet evolving requirements, all at a lower cost, and with higher reliability and ease of maintenance. By contrast, hardware scan-converters have a high-initial cost, high maintainance costs, and demand careful integration with the graphics hardware.
Flexible Display FormatsInterfacing to hardware or network streams, SPx-Scan accepts polar format radar video and converts into a number of possible display formats including PPI (Plan Position Indicator), A-Scan and B-Scan. See here for an explanation of the different formats for radar scan conversion. SPx-Scan is a self-contained software module that can be targeted for a range of processing and display platforms, allowing radar imagery to be incorporated into a complex multi-layer graphics applications.
SPx-Scan operates on incoming radar video to create real-time updating
Underlay/Overlay Display ArchitecturesA feature of graphical applications for command and control, VTS or ATC is the need to display multiple layers of graphics information. One solution to this has been the development of special-purpose hardware graphics cards that support separate display layers for overlays and underlays. These provide a good solution, but the hardware architecture is often proprietary and expensive. With the latest generation of graphics architectures, the same multi-layering capabilities can be implemented in software to provide equivalent layering capability with more flexibility at a much reduced cost. The SPx software takes full advantage of modern processing and display architectures. Applications can be built with underlays for maps and charts, radar video that is semi-transparently blended with the maps, and finally opaque overlays for overlay symbology. For more information on layering, see here Flexible ConfigurationsSupporting either client-server based configurations, in which the scan-converter and the display are on different machines, or local applications where a single processor handles both, SPx-Scan is a highly flexible and configurable set of software components. From a Windows-based laptop through to a multi-computer Linux/X-Windows client-server configuration, SPx-Scan provides a single cross-platform solution for cost-effective radar video processing and display.
Multiple Display Channels
A unique feature of SPx-Scan is its ability to display multiple channels of radar
video simultaneously. This can represent multiple radars, for example
The automatic generation of a moving target indicator (MTI) by processing the video allows rapid identification
of changes in the radar display images. In a complex, changing environment, such as an ai
Retain Trail History on View ChangeWhen the view being displayed by the scan converter changes, older scan converters typically lost the trail history, which then needed time to build again. With SPx-Scan trail history can be retained automatically across zooms or scrolls of the display. SPx-Scan Application DevelopmentSPx-Scan provides an Application Programming Interface (API) to control the processing and presentation of the radar video. A small number of calls from the application software to the module are used to set-up and dynamically configure the operation. Changes to window size, scale or display presentation are effected in real-time, to help ensure that the radar component of the display stays synchronised to changes in the remaining graphics layers. Updates to the contents of the scan-converted bitmaps can be reported to the application software at a programmable rate through one of a number of software event mechanisms, or else SPx-Scan can directly update the screen itself to semi-transparently blend the radar video with the graphics. Either way, SPx-Scan supports real-time sector-based updates of the radar display or else lower frequency (quadrant or scans) as needed. Extended Processing CapabilitiesThe SPx product family supports the addition of a number of radar processing modules to improve the presentation of the radar video. These include thresholding, filtering, clutter suppression and scan-to-scan integration. Optional recording capabilities are available in the compatible SPx-Record module that records the polar radar video to support, for example, for incident recording or training applications. For more information on SPx processing modules, see here Cost-Effective - Uses low-cost, computing and graphics hardwareSPx-Scan is a cost-effective solution for radar processing and display. By eliminating the special purpose hardware in your system, both capital and maintenance costs are reduced. The same software solution can be run on a variety of computing platforms from laptops through to high-end multi-core, multi-processor servers. By removing the dependence on proprietary hardware, we give system integrators the flexibility to use the most cost-effective hardware components. Beware vendors who will restrict your options for hardware selection and lock you in to a life time of expensive hardware, maintenance and proprietary interfaces. Cambridge Pixel is founded on the principles of open architecture, open systems, and extensible software components. SPx-Scan Summary Specifications
See here for SPx Programming information.SPx-Scan Data Sheet
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supply ready-to-run display applications or component modules that add
radar display into your Linux or Windows application software. 
performance,
cost-effective radar scan-conversion capability for Windows and X11 graphical environments.
For a basic introduction to radar scan conversion, see 
Read our paper "Key Benefits of the Software Solution for Radar Scan Conversion"
images. These images are either available to
application software to incorporate in displays as a bitmap layer, or else can be rendered directly onto the display with
minimal cooperation from, and impact on, the application software. This ease of integration is a key feature of SPx-Scan.
located at
different locations, but also can be used to show different videos from the same
radar. These videos may be derived from the radar itself, or else may be computed
by an SPx processing chain. For example, SPx can be used to identify moving targets
in the input video by comparing current data with a time-averaged history. The data
identified as changed can then be scan-converted in a different colour, providing
display emphasis to an operator.
Click 
rport,
for example, movement around the aircraft can very easily be seen in a
color that contrasts with the normal video.