This is the ImageStation software used by Rutgers for the 
AUVSI 2010 Student UAS competition

RUNNING the Program (must have python installed):
 1) to run the program simply type ./main.py, or python main.py
 2) if you want to use the framegrabber interface with mplayer, you must create
    a fifo ( $ mkfifo mplayer_fifo ) to capture images. make sure you give
    it proper permissions as well

REQUIREMENTS:
pySerial
GTK+
pyGTK
numpy (sudo apt-get install python-numpy)

ABOUT:

here is a diagram of the basic structure of the program

                   Plane
                     |
                     | 
            SerialInterface.py
                     |
                     | 
              Communicator.py  ---->  ImageStore
                 |      |
                |        |
               |          |
    ImageStation.py     CameraControl.py
    
ImageStation + CameraControl:
    These files correspond to the user interface.  Their respective glade files
    have all the user interface info contained within them.  They call 
    functions in the Communicator in order to communicate with the plane.  
    They also are observers to the Communicator, so they receive messages 
    through the communicator calling the notify() method.

Communicator:
    Calls methods in the selected interface in order to communicate with the 
    plane.  Uses a queue to determine the next command or request to be sent.

ImageStore:
    Contains all the data for saving/loading the project as well as all 
    picture and crop information.

SerialInterface:
    Uses NmeaEncoder and NmeaDecoder as well as the pySerial interface to 
    actually communicate with the plane
    
FrameGrabberInterface:
    When the "Take" button is clicked it takes a screenshot from the mplayer
    video stream by sending commands through the 'mplayer_fifo'.  It pulls
    metadata about the picture over the IVY bus from the PPZ ground station.
    
Picture vs. Crop
    A 'picture' is not an actual image, it simply contains data about an image (such as the time it was taken and it's gps location)
    A 'crop' is the actual image.  It has a path to an image file and information specific to itself.  Each picture has at least 1 crop.
    
TODO:
    - Prevent the framegrabber interface from giving an error if it is not 
      connected to a Network
    - Write working code to determine the GPS coordinates of a target in image
    - Test the "manually add" and "redownload" functions for images, there is a
      high chance these fucntions contain bugs related to targets
    - Add in support for GoogleEarth / NASA WorldWind type program (there is 
      already a tab for this in the ImageStation.glade file)
    - Various minor usability improvements (eg. allowing the user to hit enter 
      when opening a file instead of forcing them to click the open button)
    - Other Stuff???