Setting Up and Running Exploration Tool

Setting Up and Running Exploration Tool#

This page will help you

  • Install and run Exploration Tool

  • Connect your EVK to Exploration Tool

  • Start retrieving Radar Data using Exploration Tool

Exploration Tool Installation#

Depending on what you wish to accomplish with Exploration Tool or the Python API, you can install in different ways.

If you are unsure, pick the Quick Start for your operating system.

Refer to the capability table if you want to learn the difference between the different options.

If you have a Windows PC and you’re only interested in running Exploration Tool to see visualizations, experiment with configurations or use the Resource Calculator, the Portable Windows package is a great choice.

Get started with the following steps:

  1. Download the zip

  2. Extract the .zip file in a suitable place

  3. Double-click the update script

  4. Double-click the run_app script to start the Exploration Tool Application

It’s also possible to install & run Exploration Tool with uv (terminal-based package manager, read more here):

Listing 1 Command to install uv in Windows (using cmd or PowerShell)#
winget install --id=astral-sh.uv  -e
Listing 2 Running Exploration Tool Application with uvx (part of uv)#
uvx acconeer-exptool[app]

If you are familiar with the Python echo system, you might have heard of uv. Regardless, you are (at a maximum) 2 terminal command away from running the Exploration Tool Application:

Listing 3 Linux command to install uv#
$ curl -LsSf https://astral.sh/uv/install.sh | sh
Listing 4 Running Exploration Tool Application with uvx (part of uv)#
uvx acconeer-exptool[app]

If you have a PC with Windows or Ubuntu, want to use Python, want to run the Exploration Tool Application, and interested in scripting using the Python API, you can install the Exploration Tool Python package. Information on example scripts can be found in Example Scripts.

Python is needed to install the package. If you don’t have Python installed, see below for instructions, otherwise go to next step.

  1. Go to python.org and download the latest version

  2. Start the installer

  3. Select ‘Add python to PATH’

  4. Click ‘Install Now’

  5. Disable path length limit

  6. Click ‘Close’

Go to how-to-install-python for example how to install.

Install the Exploration Tool package:

python -m pip install --upgrade acconeer-exptool[app]

Note

Depending on your environment, you might have to replace python with python3 or py.

Python API in non-graphical environments

If you only want to use the Python API and not use the Exploration Tool Application, for example on a platform that might not support graphical programs (like Raspberry Pi), skip installing the graphical dependencies by only installing the algo extra:

python -m pip install --upgrade acconeer-exptool[algo]

If you run into any issues during installation, try installing Exploration Tool in a virtual environment (Guide)

Finally, run

python -m acconeer.exptool.app

to start the Exploration Tool Application.

Tip

Running the command python -m acconeer.exptool.app.new will start the new Exploration Tool directly

If you have a PC with Windows or Ubuntu and want a more flexible install than what’s offered in the Python Package install, Exploration Tool is open source on GitHub.

This allows you to edit the source code (which should not be done in the other installation options), create Forks and much more.

To install the latest version from source; download or clone the repository from GitHub. Run the following command in the newly created directory:

python -m pip install --upgrade .[app]

Note

Any edit to the source code requires reinstalling acconeer-exptool unless you are using an editable install:

python -m pip install -e .[app]

You can read more about editable installs here.

If you run into any issues during installation, try installing Exploration Tool in a virtual environment (Guide)

Finally, run

python -m acconeer.exptool.app

to start the Exploration Tool Application.

Tip

Exploration Tool is managed with hatch (Install guide), which automates virtual environments and the editable install for you.

After cloning or downloading the repo from GitHub and installing hatch, start the Exploration Tool Application by running the command

hatch run app:launcher

To skip the launcher, you can go to the new Exploration Tool directly with

hatch run app:new
Install Options Capability Table

Capability

Quick Start (Portable)

Quick Start (uv)

Python Package

GitHub

Run Exploration Tool Application

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Run example scripts

No

No

Yes

Yes

Add your own plugin

No

Yes

Yes

Yes

Modify ET’s source code

No

No

No

Yes

Additional Setup#

If you encounter any connection issues while following along Exploration Tool Installation you might be missing drivers that allow proper function of Acconeer’s modules.

See Setting Up Your EVK for your specific module for more information.

After installing the acconeer-exptool package, you can run:

python -m acconeer.exptool.setup

which lets you interactively configure your machine and download needed dependencies. This is done in order for your machine to work at its best with Exploration Tool. acconeer.exptool.setup performs the same steps that are described in the Details below.

Details
Serial port permissions

If you are running Linux together with an XM112, XM122, or XM132 module through UART, you probably need permission to access the serial port. Access is obtained by adding yourself to the dialout group:

sudo usermod -a -G dialout $USER

Reboot for the changes to take effect.

Note

If you have ModemManager installed and running it might try to connect to the module, which has proven to cause problems. If you are having issues, try disabling the ModemManager service.

USB permissions

If you are using Linux together with an XC120, the USB communication is preferred over serial port communication. To be able to access the USB device. Either run the scripts with sudo or create an udev rule as follows. Create and edit:

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/50-xc120.rules

with the following content:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0483", ATTRS{idProduct}=="a41d", MODE:="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0483", ATTRS{idProduct}=="a42c", MODE:="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0483", ATTRS{idProduct}=="a42d", MODE:="0666"
SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0483", ATTRS{idProduct}=="a449", MODE:="0666"

This method is confirmed to work for Ubuntu 22.04.

SPI permissions

If you are using Linux together with an XM112, you probably need permission to access the SPI bridge USB device. Either run the scripts with sudo or create an udev rule as follows. Create and edit:

sudo nano /etc/udev/rules.d/50-ft4222.rules

with the following content:

SUBSYSTEM=="usb", ATTRS{idVendor}=="0403", ATTRS{idProduct}=="601c", MODE:="0666"

This method is confirmed to work for *Ubuntu 22.04.

Ubuntu 22.04

To run the application on Ubuntu 22.04, libxcb-xinerama0-dev, libusb-1.0-0 and libxcb-cursor0 needs to be installed:

sudo apt update
sudo apt install -y libxcb-xinerama0-dev libusb-1.0-0 libxcb-cursor0

Udev needs to be informed that rules have changed if changes have been made in /etc/udev/rules/:

sudo udevadm control --reload-rules
sudo udevadm trigger

An USB device have to be disconnected and reconnected before the udev permissions are updated.

Connecting Your EVK#

The next step is to connect Exploration Tool to your EVK. See Setting Up Your EVK for instructions.

When that is done, depending on how you installed in Exploration Tool Installation, start Exploration Tool by either

  • Double-clicking the run_app script,

  • Running the command python -m acconeer.exptool.app in your terminal.

To connect, click on the Stream tab and then the Connect button. Use the same port as when flashing the device in Setting Up Your EVK.

Getting Radar Data#

After that, have a look at the functional overview below for an introduction of Exploration Tool:

Running Example Scripts#

See Example Scripts section on how to get started with Example Scripts and the Python API.

Other Media#

For Getting Started videos, see:

  • Getting started with the XM126 EVK: YouTube

  • Getting started with the XE125 EVK: YouTube

  • Getting started with the A121 EVK: YouTube

If information is different in the videos compared to this site, use the information on this site.