gprmax / gprmax

gprMax is open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method for numerical modelling of Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR)

Getting Started

What is gprMax?

gprMax is an open source software that simulates electromagnetic wave propagation. It solves Maxwell's equations in 3D using the Finite-Difference Time-Domain (FDTD) method. gprMax was designed for modelling Ground Penetrating Radar (GPR) but can also be used to model electromagnetic wave propagation for many other applications.

gprMax is currently released under the GNU General Public License v3 or higher.

gprMax is principally written in Python 3 with performance-critical parts written in Cython. It includes a CPU-based solver parallelized using OpenMP, and a GPU-based solver written using the NVIDIA CUDA programming model.

Using gprMax? Cite us

If you use gprMax and publish your work we would be grateful if you could cite our work using the following:

• Warren, C., Giannopoulos, A., & Giannakis I. (2016). gprMax: Open source software to simulate electromagnetic wave propagation for Ground Penetrating Radar, Computer Physics Communications (http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.cpc.2016.08.020)

For further information on referencing gprMax visit the Publications section of our website.

Package Overview

gprMax/
    conda_env.yml
    CONTRIBUTORS
    docs/
    gprMax/
    gsoc/
    LICENSE
    README.rst
    setup.cfg
    setup.py
    tests/
    tools/
    user_libs/
    user_models/

• conda_env.yml is a configuration file for Anaconda (Miniconda) that sets up a Python environment with all the required Python packages for gprMax.
• CONTRIBUTORS contains a list of names of people who have contributed to the gprMax codebase.
• docs contains source files for the User Guide. The User Guide is written using reStructuredText markup and is built using Sphinx and Read the Docs.
• gprMax is the main package. Within this package, the main module is gprMax.py
• gsoc contains information for Google Summer of Code program - project ideas and proposal guidance.
• LICENSE contains information on the GNU General Public License v3 or higher.
• README.rst contains getting started information on installation, usage, and new features/changes.
• setup.cfg is used to set preferences for code formatting/styling using flake8.
• setup.py is used to compile the Cython extension modules.
• tests is a sub-package that contains test modules and input files.
• tools is a sub-package that contains scripts to assist with viewing and post-processing output from models.
• user_libs is a sub-package where useful modules contributed by users are stored.
• user_models is a sub-package where useful input files contributed by users are stored.

Installation

The following steps provide guidance on how to install gprMax:

1. Install Python, and the required Python packages, and get the gprMax source code from GitHub
2. Install a C compiler that supports OpenMP
3. Build and install gprMax

You can watch screencasts that demonstrate the installation and update processes.

1. Install Python, the required Python packages, and get gprMax source ------------------------------------------------------------------

We recommend using Miniconda to install Python and the required Python packages for gprMax in a self-contained Python environment. Miniconda is a mini version of Anaconda which is a completely free Python distribution (including for commercial use and redistribution). It includes more than 300 of the most popular Python packages for science, math, engineering, and data analysis.

• Download and install Miniconda. Choose the Python 3.x version for your platform. We recommend choosing the installation options to: install Miniconda only for your user account; add Miniconda to your PATH environment variable; and register Miniconda Python as your default Python. See the Quick Install page for help installing Miniconda.
• Open a Terminal (Linux/macOS) or Command Prompt (Windows) and run the following commands:

$ conda update conda
$ conda install git
$ git clone https://github.com/gprMax/gprMax.git
$ cd gprMax
$ conda env create -f conda_env.yml

This will ensure conda is up-to-date, install Git, get the latest gprMax source code from GitHub, and create an environment for gprMax with all the necessary Python packages.

If you prefer to install Python and the required Python packages manually, i.e. without using Anaconda/Miniconda, look in the conda_env.yml file for a list of the requirements.

If you are using Arch Linux (https://www.archlinux.org/) you may need to also install wxPython by adding it to the conda environment file (conda_env.yml).

2. Install a C compiler that supports OpenMP

Linux

• gcc should be already installed, so no action is required.

macOS

• Xcode (the IDE for macOS) comes with the LLVM (clang) compiler, but it does not currently support OpenMP, so you must install gcc. That said, it is still useful to have Xcode (with command line tools) installed. It can be downloaded from the App Store. Once Xcode is installed, download and install the Homebrew package manager and then to install gcc, run:

$ brew install gcc

Microsoft Windows

• Download and install Microsoft Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022 (direct link). You can also find it on the Microsoft Visual Studio downloads page by scrolling down to the 'All Downloads' section, clicking the disclosure triangle by 'Tools for Visual Studio 2022', then clicking the download button next to 'Build Tools for Visual Studio 2022'. When installing, choose the 'Desktop development with C++' Workload and select only 'MSVC v143' and 'Windows 10 SDK' or 'Windows 11 SDK options.
• Set the Path and Environment Variables - this can be done by following the instructions from Microsoft, or manually by adding a form of C:\Program Files (x86)\Microsoft Visual Studio\2019\BuildTools\VC\Tools\MSVC\14.23.28105\bin\Hostx64\x64 (this may vary according to your exact machine and installation) to your system Path environment variable.

Alternatively, if you are using Windows 10/11 you can install the Windows Subsystem for Linux and then follow the Linux install instructions for gprMax. Note however that currently WSL does not aim to support GUI desktops or applications, e.g. Gnome, KDE, etc....

3. Build and install gprMax

Once you have installed the aforementioned tools follow these steps to build and install gprMax:

• Open a Terminal (Linux/macOS) or Command Prompt (Windows), navigate into the top-level gprMax directory, and if it is not already active, activate the gprMax conda environmentconda activate gprMax. Run the following commands:

(gprMax)$ python setup.py build
(gprMax)$ python setup.py install

You are now ready to proceed to running gprMax.

Running gprMax

gprMax is designed as a Python package, i.e. a namespace that can contain multiple packages and modules, much like a directory.

Open a Terminal (Linux/macOS) or Command Prompt (Windows), navigate into the top-level gprMax directory, and if it is not already active, activate the gprMax conda environmentconda activate gprMax.

Basic usage of gprMax is:

(gprMax)$ python -m gprMax path_to/name_of_input_file

For example to run one of the test models:

(gprMax)$ python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Ascan_2D.in

When the simulation is complete you can plot the A-scan using:

(gprMax)$ python -m tools.plot_Ascan user_models/cylinder_Ascan_2D.out

Your results should be like those from the A-scan from the metal cylinder example in introductory/basic 2D models section

When you are finished using gprMax, the conda environment can be deactivated using conda deactivate.

Optional command line arguments

Argument name	Type	Description
-n	integer	number of times to run the input file. This option can be used to run a series of models, e.g. to create a B-scan with 60 traces: (gprMax)$ python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Bscan_2D.in -n 60
-gpu	flag/list	flag to use NVIDIA GPU or list of NVIDIA GPU device ID(s) for specific GPU card(s), e.g. -gpu 0 1
-restart	integer	model number to start/restart the simulation from. It would typically be used to restart a series of models from a specific model number, with the -n argument, e.g. to restart from A-scan 45 when creating a B-scan with 60 traces: (gprMax)$ python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Bscan_2D.in -n 15 -restart 45
-task	integer	task identifier (model number) when running the simulation as a job array on Open Grid Scheduler/Grid Engine. For further details see the parallel performance section of the User Guide
-mpi	integer	number of Message Passing Interface (MPI) tasks, i.e. master + workers, for MPI task farm. This option is most usefully combined with -n to allow individual models to be farmed out using a MPI task farm, e.g. to create a B-scan with 60 traces and use MPI to farm out each trace: (gprMax)$ python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Bscan_2D.in -n 60 -mpi 61. For further details see the parallel performance section of the User Guide
--mpi-no-spawn	flag	uses MPI task farm without spawn mechanism. For further details see the parallel performance section of the User Guide
-benchmark	flag	switch on benchmarking mode. This can be used to benchmark the threading (parallel) performance of gprMax on different hardware. For further details see the benchmarking section of the User Guide
--geometry-only	flag	build a model and produce any geometry views but does not run the simulation, e.g. to check the geometry of a model is correct: (gprMax)$ python -m gprMax user_models/heterogeneous_soil.in --geometry-only
--geometry-fixed	flag	runs a series of models where the geometry does not change between models, e.g. a B-scan where only the position of simple sources and receivers, moved using #src_steps and #rx_steps, changes between models.
--opt-taguchi	flag	runs a series of models using an optimization process based on Taguchi's method. For further details see the user libraries section of the User Guide
--write-processed	flag	writes another input file after any Python code and include commands in the original input file have been processed. Useful for checking that any Python code is being correctly processed into gprMax commands.
-h or --help	flag	is used to get help on command line options.

Updating gprMax

• Open a Terminal (Linux/macOS) or Command Prompt (Windows), navigate into the top-level gprMax directory, and if it is not already active, activate the gprMax conda environment conda activate gprMax. Run the following commands:

(gprMax)$ git pull
(gprMax)$ python setup.py cleanall
(gprMax)$ python setup.py build
(gprMax)$ python setup.py install

This will pull the most recent gprMax source code from GitHub, remove/clean previously built modules, and then build and install the latest version of gprMax.

Updating conda and Python packages

Periodically you should update conda and the required Python packages. With the gprMax environment deactivated and from the top-level gprMax directory, run the following commands:

$ conda update conda
$ conda env update -f conda_env.yml

Thanks To Our Contributors ✨🔗 ========================== .. image:: https://contrib.rocks/image?repo=gprMax/gprMax :target: https://github.com/gprMax/gprMax/graphs/contributors

gprmax's Issues

Sinusoidale surface

Hi again,
coming back with the same problem I cannot figure out why I cannot see any reflection and anything in the vti file.
I'm fine on Time window as well as on geometry.
I'd be glad to understand why I cannot see anything on the vti and ultimately on my radargram. Cheers
fractal.txt

Error - Compile Cython extensions

I have followed the instruction to install everything expect the MPI.

I go the "Comple Cython Extensions" Stage by running the : python3 setup.py build_ext --inplace
The error happen :
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "setup.py", line 43, in
os.environ['CC'] = glob.glob('/usr/local/bin/gcc-[4-5]*')[0].split(os.sep)[-1]
IndexError: list index out of range

Could you let me how to fix this error,please?

Many thanks.

Fengzhou

Segmentation fault when using #fractal_box command

gprMax throws a segmentation fault after the first run when the fractal_box and soil_peplinksi commands are used to create a soil mixture model. This occurs even on the example provided. Any help to solve this would be appreciated as this feature is extremely helpful for our modelling.

Please let me know if more information is needed.

Thanks.

PDF images in docs

PDF images in the documentation do not seem to display in browsers under Microsoft Windows.

Consider converting to PNG files which would also be more compatible with the ePub format.

Demo does not work.

On a fresh install, attempting to execute the first demo here.

python3 -m gprMax cylinder_Ascan_2D.in executes fine.
python3 -m tools.plot_Ascan cylinder_Ascan_2D.out crashes:

durr@build3:~/gprMax$ python3 -m tools.plot_Ascan cylinder_Ascan_2D.out
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/runpy.py", line 170, in _run_module_as_main
    "__main__", mod_spec)
  File "/usr/lib/python3.4/runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
    exec(code, run_globals)
  File "/home/durr/gprMax/tools/plot_Ascan.py", line 67, in <module>
    fielddata = f[path + field][:]
  File "h5py/_objects.pyx", line 54, in h5py._objects.with_phil.wrapper (/tmp/pip-build-nj97s0cg/h5py/h5py/_objects.c:2574)
  File "h5py/_objects.pyx", line 55, in h5py._objects.with_phil.wrapper (/tmp/pip-build-nj97s0cg/h5py/h5py/_objects.c:2533)
  File "/usr/local/lib/python3.4/dist-packages/h5py/_hl/group.py", line 164, in __getitem__
    oid = h5o.open(self.id, self._e(name), lapl=self._lapl)
  File "h5py/_objects.pyx", line 54, in h5py._objects.with_phil.wrapper (/tmp/pip-build-nj97s0cg/h5py/h5py/_objects.c:2574)
  File "h5py/_objects.pyx", line 55, in h5py._objects.with_phil.wrapper (/tmp/pip-build-nj97s0cg/h5py/h5py/_objects.c:2533)
  File "h5py/h5o.pyx", line 190, in h5py.h5o.open (/tmp/pip-build-nj97s0cg/h5py/h5py/h5o.c:3546)
KeyError: "Unable to open object (Object 'hz' doesn't exist)"

I'm assuming it's looking for the wrong item in the hdf output file. I'll dig about in it tomorrow, I don't have time today.

miniconda install

Hi,
first of all great job for the miniconda install it is much easier,
However, after building it, I'm facing:
python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Ascan_2D.in
Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/global/home/users/eleger/miniconda3/envs/gprMax/lib/python3.5/runpy.py", line 170, in _run_module_as_main
"main", mod_spec)
File "/global/home/users/eleger/miniconda3/envs/gprMax/lib/python3.5/runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
exec(code, run_globals)
File "/global/home/users/eleger/bin/gprMax-master/gprMax/main.py", line 3, in
from .gprMax import main
File "/global/home/users/eleger/bin/gprMax-master/gprMax/gprMax.py", line 35, in
from gprMax.fields_update import *
ImportError: No module named 'gprMax.fields_update'

miniconda and gprmax installs runned very fine and smooth, nothing to declare.

Thanks!

e

Runing script

Good morning,
First of all, it is a grrreat work you have been doing! I am really amazed. Congrats!

I was wondering if it was possible to run gprMax not from the Master folder.
I usually that with .py script by adding the interpreter line at the first line of the script, like #!/usr/bin/python3 and then chmod+x the script and adding it to the path.
But it seems it dos not work with gprMax.py as I always get:
SystemError: Parent module '' not loaded, cannot perform relative import

Where do I miss something?

cheers

Triangle with paraview

Hi Craig,
I'm wondering if paraview is able to display triangle geometry.
I'm trying to see "#triangle" using paraview but tend to not show it...

I just modified the A-scan example

#title: A-scan from a metal cylinder buried in a dielectric half-space

domain: 0.240 0.190 0.002

dx_dy_dz: 0.002 0.002 0.002

time_window: 3e-9

time_step_limit_type: 2D

pml_cells: 10 10 0 10 10 0

material: 6 0 1 0 half_space

waveform: ricker 1 1.5e9 my_ricker

hertzian_dipole: z 0.100 0.170 0 my_ricker

rx: 0.140 0.170 0

box: 0 0 0 0.240 0.170 0.002 half_space

triangle: 0.1 0.1 0.002 0.2 0.1 0.002 0.15 0.15 0.002 0 pec

geometry_view: 0 0 0 0.240 0.190 0.002 0.002 0.002 0.002 cylinder_half_space n

Any hints on that ?

cheers

emmanuel

error: unrecognized arguments: --field Ex

While following the docs: http://docs.gprmax.com/en/latest/examples_simple_2D.html

This is the output of the command to plot merged B-Scan data.

Rajaths-MacBook-Pro:gprMax rajathkumarmp$ python3 -m tools.plot_Bscan cylinder_Bscan_2D_all.out --field Ex
usage: cd gprMax; python -m tools.plot_Bscan outputfile --field fieldcomponent
plot_Bscan.py: error: unrecognized arguments: --field Ex

Error when installing on OS X

I am unable to install gprMax.

This is the output while trying to build.

Rajaths-MacBook-Pro:gprMax rajathkumarmp$ python3 setup.py build_ext --inplace
Traceback (most recent call last):
  File "setup.py", line 106, in <module>
    os.environ['CC'] = glob.glob('/usr/local/bin/gcc-[4-5]*')[0].split(os.sep)[-1]
IndexError: list index out of range

BScans

I'm having a problem with running multiple tx rx positions. I'm clearly missing something.
e.g.

python -m gprMax user_models/cylinder_Bscan_2D.in
followed by
python -m tools.plot_Bscan user_models/cylinder_Bscan_2D.out Ez
fails with our-of-range.

It seems there is only one time trace per run.
The documentation says: Provide a simple method to allow you to move the location of all sources (#src_steps) or all receivers (#rx_steps) between runs of a model.

What does it mean by "between runs of the model"?
If I run it once I only get 1 trace, even though I've specified the tx/rx_steps.
If I run it multiple times I still only get 1 trace.

I'm clearly missing something, help please!

add_grass

Concerning the add_grass command in the tutorial:
"For example, to apply 100 blades of grass that vary in height between 100 and 150 mm to the entire surface in the positive z direction of a #fractal_box that had been specified using

fractal_box: 0 0 0 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.5 1 1 50 my_soil my_fractal_box, use:

add_grass: 0 0 0.1 0.1 0.1 0.1 1.5 0.2 0.25 100 my_fractal_box.

I think you meant "apply 100 blades of grass that vary in height between 200 and 250 mm"
?

Best
e

Reporting thickness of triangle

The #triangle command correctly sets the user-specified thickness, but does not print the correct value in the messages. The value in cells (calculated from knowing the orientation) is passed to the building function.

vti

Good evening,
I've a question concerning the generation of vti files during B scans.
My input file contains a "#geometry_view:" command with a basename, let us say "basename".
While running B scan (let's say 10 traces) I'll have the generation of basename_1 to basename_10.
Which are all the same.
Is there a way to tell gprMax to not generate multiple ?
Thanks a lot,
Best

e

First example output display error

Hello:

I was successfully run this example and get the right output. However, I see the error when i run follow
running command : python3 -m tools.plot_Ascan user_models/cylinder_Ascan_2D.out
error : /usr/local/opt/python3/bin/python3.5: No module named tools.plot_Ascan
Could you guide me how to fix this problem.

Kind regards.

Fengzhou

plotting geometry

I added a fractal_box including a rectangular anomaly (not among predefined materials) as my medium. Using '--geometry-only' I plotted the geometry of the case. But It's not showing the anomaly (in paraview)!
I changed the kind of anomaly to 'pec' to see if there is an error or not, it worked perfectly and geometry was drawn without an issue. Can you please help me with this issue?
A picture of issue is attached as well.

Python package 'wheel' required for Windows

User reports that the wheel package (https://pypi.python.org/pypi/wheel) was required to be installed to use gprMax under Microsoft Windows. This needs checking and adding to the install instructions if required.

mpi

Hi Craig,
Just wanted to let you know that I used the code on a cluster for 2 months now.
The maximum nodes I used was 20 and up to 10 proc. on each nodes.
Everything runs very smooth, didn't have any issue, very fast. I did not do any statistics though.
The only limitation is of course the memory. 3D models eat a looot of memory.

Thanks for your job

best

e

B-scan with n traces

Hi,
I would like to ask about B-Scan. For example, To run the model for a B-scan with 60 traces:
python -m gprMax cylinder_Bscan_2D.in -n 60

But, when the running program is interrupted in the 25 traces. Is there some command for running the B-scan starting with 25th trace, rather than repeating the simulation and going back to the beginning.

Thank you in advance for your answer.

no module named 'pyfiglet'

Every time I try to simulate the cilinder_ascan_2d.in it shows this message

I don't know what to do. I have made the instalation twice and downloaded the lastest version.

Please, help.

Compiled or line interpreted?

Hi,

We are performing a comparison of running a simulation on gprMax version 3.0.0b19 to an older version 2.0 and note that the speed is significantly slower on the new version (around five times slower).

Please advise if this version is compiled or line interpreted?

Best Regards,

Bjorn

Performance with hyper-threading and OpenMP

There is some evidence of poor performance with OpenMP on CPUs that support hyper-threading, i.e. Intel Core i7 series. This is reported elsewhere http://stackoverflow.com/questions/24368576/poor-performance-due-to-hyper-threading-with-openmp-how-to-bind-threads-to-core

To try to mitigate this issue, if the user does not specify a #num_threads command, gprMax will automatically set the number of OpenMP threads to the number of physical cores on the machine. This happens for Mac OS X and Linux but not yet Windows.

Further investigation of hyper-threading and OpenMP performance is required.

Possible solutions for detecting hyper-threading on Windows currently require too many extra installs for the user.

Cross-platform hardware detector
https://git.fedorahosted.org/git/python-hwloc.git

pywin32 extensions
http://timgolden.me.uk/python/wmi/index.html

miniconda missing mpi4py

Hi all,
Just to mention that after creating the environment with conda,
you have to install mpi4py package using conda, it is not there by default.

Cheers
e

Cannot import relative imports

Hi Professor,

I downloaded the software on Ubuntu 14.04 platform. When i run it using python3 it gives me :
"SystemError: Parent module '' not loaded, cannot perform relative import". I think, python3 cannot recognize those dots typed in front of import paths. Can you produce the same error?

Kind Regards,
Ilker

Lighting in Paraview

@craig-warren, I have a question regarding the .vti files that are produced by the "snapshots". Could be that this problem I have is Paraview-specific, I just couldn't find an answer. When opening the .vti files in paraview, there seems to be a greyish background that underlays all the colors from the colorbar (arbitrary in this case). This is not the background color of the viewer window in paraview, but a color behind the model data.

This makes the 2D-diagrams not as neat as they could be. Would you know how to go about this or have you had this issue before? Could it have to do with the fact that the "snapshots" produce a volume?

Materials listing in Paraview

On Microsoft Windows versions of Paraview, materials are listed 'material 1, material 2, material 3' etc... instead of with their names.

Check the gprMax_materials Python macro in Paraview.

error GPRmax

Hi...

I have installed gprMax several times in several windows computers, even with help of this video https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dvC0_7qFVbE, but no matter what I do, alway I get this error

Please help me, I don´t know what is wrong

Number of processors to run on - Error in German OpenSuse Linux

Hi Craig,
When I run gprMax on a Linux server with a german version of openSUSE, I get the following Error message:

Traceback (most recent call last):
File "/usr/lib64/python3.4/runpy.py", line 170, in _run_module_as_main
"main", mod_spec)
File "/usr/lib64/python3.4/runpy.py", line 85, in _run_code
exec(code, run_globals)
File "/home/loewer/gprMax/gprMax/main.py", line 4, in
main()
File "/home/loewer/gprMax/gprMax/gprMax.py", line 130, in main
run_model(args, modelrun, numbermodelruns, inputfile, inputdirectory)
File "/home/loewer/gprMax/gprMax/gprMax.py", line 163, in run_model
process_singlecmds(singlecmds, multicmds, G)
File "/home/loewer/gprMax/gprMax/input_cmds_singleuse.py", line 86, in process_singlecmds
corespersocket = int(corespersocket[0].split(':')[1].strip())
IndexError: list index out of range

In the python script 'input_cmds_singleuse.py' the number of cores per socket is calculated by searching for the string 'Core(s) per socket'. In my openSUSE version all entries in 'lscpu' are in german ('Kerne pro Sockel'), so the english string 'Core(s) per socket' is never found and an error above is dropped.

My interim solution was to run in the 'else' procedure by changing the name 'linux' to sth random.

Cheers
Markus

S21 Parameter issue

Could it be when calculating the S21 parameter in your new script, the electric field value has yet to be multiplied with the discretisation of the domain?

unrecognized arguments: -benchmark

Hi,
I'm working to optimize my system configuration and greatly appreciate the idea of the benchmarking sub-packet described in the b23 User Guide. However, I'm working with b21 (the latest build that I've seen on github), which does not appear to have the sub-packet with it. I therefore created a subfolder in the tests subfolder with the benchxxx.in files and replaced input.py with the latest file. Still, gprMax does not recognize the -benchmark argument. I'm obviously missing another file. What is that and where may I find it? Or.... is b23 available somewhere so that I can replace my b21 and use the benchmarking?
Thanks for your help!!!

Time step calculations seems to be wrong in the new update

For all the models the 'dt' or time step is not adhering to the CFL condition as said in "Guidance for GPR Modelling" section.

In the example cylinder_Bscan_2D.in, provided, when print(f.attrs['dt']]) is run in the plot_Bscan.py file it displays,

4.7173086735e-12

But when the CFL condition is solved manually the result is,

3.85166640309e-12

Which is clearly greater (which should not be)

This was perfect in the previous versions. But appears to have changed.

This is incorrect right?

Centre frequency of ricker and gausiandotdot waveforms

Centre frequencies of the second derivative of a Gaussian and ricker wavelet waveforms that is displayed in the power spectrum is not what is specified by the user. Plotting uses the plot_waveform function.

Conda problem with non-ASCII username

When i tried conda env create -f... at the end of installation i got the following error.Can you help me?
Thanks in advance.

If you're using `setuptools` in an unusual way (and you are), please make sure the normal use modes don't work.

Basically, for 99.9% of the packages out there, python3 setup.py install is the appropriate procedure for installing a setuptools-based package.

However, for gprMax, this appears to result in a broken, partial install, and you instead have an unusual non-library based use-case built around --inplace and copying directories about into other projects.

That's fine, if odd, but if you're going to do that, it would be appropriate to make sure that python3 setup.py install does not work, or people used to normal python packages (like myself) will spend a fair bit of time wondering why they're getting weird import errors.

Ideally, python3 setup.py install should simply emit a "don't do that, use --inplace" error message, but frankly just crashing or throwing an error would be better then what there is now.

Alternatively, make gprMax a proper, installable library?

Command for Geometry view

Was following the docs: http://docs.gprmax.com/en/latest/examples_simple_2D.html

How do we plot the fig 15 "Geometry of a 2D model of a metal cylinder buried in a dielectric half-space."?

paraview snapshort

Hi,
I'm facing an issue with seeing snapshot with paraview:
ERROR: In /build/buildd/paraview-4.0.1/VTK/IO/XML/vtkXMLStructuredDataReader.cxx, line 348
vtkXMLImageDataReader (0x3338e40): Error reading extent 0 300 0 300 0 0 from piece 0

[4] + segmentation fault (core dumped) paraview snapshot1.vti

Enclose is the input file, I don't get what do I do wrong...Stupid of me as usual
Thanks for you help!
2couchesperm.txt

snapshot error

Hello,
I have an issue and questions regarding snapshots in 2D and 3D. An answer to my 2D problem might solve my 3D question, so the former first. With the 2D model below I get errors with creating snapshots in the xy-plane.

*#domain: 1.0 1.0 0.002

dx_dy_dz: 0.002 0.002 0.002

snapshot: 0.002 0.002 0 0.998 0.998 0.001 0.002 0.002 0.002 4e-9 snap1*

I always get an error concerning the lower or upper coordinates. I guess I'm not sure what the minimum/maximum coordinates may be with regard to the model extensions. For me, no alteration of the lower (0 or 0.002) or upper (0 or 0.002) coordinate works.

A further question I have is about the snapshot time. Does gprMax choose the closest time-step to it or does it interpolate?

Cheers,
Sam

test_Stadler_2D.txt

What Python packages are required?

Hi,

could you please provide a list with Python packages that are required to install gprMax ? Not everybody likes anaconda/miniconda.

Best regards

Matlab error while reading file

The same error is encountered in both A-Scan and B-Scan

Error using hdf5lib2
The HDF5 library encountered an error and produced the following stack trace information:

    H5O_attr_open_by_name    can't locate attribute
    H5A_open_by_name         unable to load attribute info from object header
    H5Aopen_name             can't open attribute

Error in H5A.open_name (line 16)
attr_id = H5ML.hdf5lib2('H5Aopen_name', loc_id,name);

Error in h5readatt (line 48)
attr_id = H5A.open_name(obj_id,options.Attname);

Error in plot_Bscan (line 13)
    iterations = double(h5readatt(filename, '/', 'Iterations')); 

New 400MHz Antenna

@craig-warren or whomever has information.

For my work, I am interested in modelling the 400MHz GSSI Antenna, which has a similar build-up as your pre-made 1.5GHz GSSI Antenna. By modifying the dimensions (which we sort of have for the 400MHz antenna) I plan to use your exising model. It is however quite time consuming to reverse engineer and understand the antenna dimensions from a geometry and the antenna.py file, at least for me that is. Do you maybe have some sort of schematic with the dimensions written down which I could use? If successful and in case you're interested, I would be glad to commit my efforts.

Cheers,
Sam

Optional start and stop times for sources

The User Guide states these are optional parameters that should come before the source identifier in the command. However, the code looks for the source identifier in the command before the start and stop times. Need to make a design decision on what is best and make both match.

Limitation on the number of boxes?

Hi again,
I'm trying to model boxes with a sinusoidale interface.
So I just wrote a script where I assign each cells a values, it gives about 60K boxes ( I tried with plates as well).
However I don't see any reflection on my surface. could you help me to understand why ?

An extract of the .in file:

"

material: 10.000000 0.0 1.0 0.0 orga

material: 5.000000 0.0 1.0 0.0 sand

material: 20.000000 0.0 1.0 0.0 gravel

material: 3.000000 0.0 1.0 0.0 ice

waveform: ricker 1 5.000000e+08 my_ricker

hertzian_dipole: z 0.250000 2.000000 0 my_ricker

rx: 0.250000 2.000000 0

src_steps: 1.000000 0.000000 0

rx_steps: 1.000000 0.000000 0

box: 0.000000 0.000000 0 3.000000 2.000000 0.005000 sand

plate:0.000000 0.995000 0.005000 0.005000 1.000000 0.005000 orga

plate:0.000000 1.000000 0.005000 0.005000 1.005000 0.005000 orga

plate:0.000000 1.005000 0.005000 0.005000 1.010000 0.005000 orga

"

Thanks

best

e

(ImportError: No module named 'gprMax.fields_update') problem

Hi,
First I would thank you for sharing the new version of GPRMAX.
It includes some new features that looks really interesting.
However, I got some problem while start runing the GPRMAX.
I followed your guidence, and the installation of the Python and GPRMAX goes smooth.
But I received error while trying to run the examples that you shows in the guidence.
The error is shown as:
File "C:\gprMax-master\gprMax\gprMax.py", line 32, in
from gprMax.fields_update import *
ImportError: No module named 'gprMax.fields_update'

I found a similar issue that you closed 2 weeks ago and you mentioned you already fixed it with the latest GPRMAX-master version. I am also using this version but the error appears.
The only difference to the previous issue is that I am using the windows10-64 bit. Is this can be the reason for this problem?

Best regards.

GPU version

Any plans for a GPU version? You should get a 20-40x speedup on a GPU. You could also use pycuda so it nicely integrates with the current python.

conda - hdf5 version issue

@craig-warren,

I'm reinstalling the latest issue of gprMax due to some server issues I had. When compiling the Cython extensions I get the error starting with "Sorry:" in the attached file. Could be related to the server, but maybe you know the reason for this. Updating from the repo has always worked so far. I can't run gprMax at the moment and I'm guessing it's due to this error. Any ideas?

CmdInputError

Hi,
Thanks before for guiding me until now.
when I try to simulate this example , I get some error (see Fig). What should I do to fix this problem? Thank you :)

---

domain: 2.000 2.000 1.000

dx_dy_dz: 0.01 0.01 0.01

time_window: 12e-9

material: 3 0 1 0 dry_sand

-------------------- Geometry of the problem defined here-----------------

box: 0.0 0.0 0.0 2.000 2.000 0.850 dry_sand

cylinder: 0.0 1.000 0.605 2.000 1.000 0.605 0.035 free_space

---

python:

from user_libs.antennas import antenna_like_GSSI_1500
antenna_like_GSSI_1500(1.00, 0.075 + current_model_run * 0.05 , 0.86)

end_python:

---

#time_step_limit_type ???

Hello Craig,

I just installed the latest developer version on Mac, and a test revealed that the "#time_step_limit_type:" command is not recognized by the latest version https://github.com/gprMax/gprMax/tree/v.3.0.0b26.

Is it replaced by a new command? How are you defining a 3D (mean multiple profiles) survey?

Thanks much,
Sajad

calling gprMax from another directory-windows and linux problem

Hello Craig,

I need to call gprMax from another directory (a subdirectory-new folder- in the gprMax-master parent directory). Is this possible at all?
I'm getting the following error:
C:\Miniconda3\python.exe: No module named gprMax

Any solution?
Thanks a lot,
Sajad

miniconda install issue

Hi,

I am trying to install gprMax on a Windows 32-bit machine using the instructions provided:
https://github.com/gprMax/gprMax

I downloaded the latest gprMax-master file. I note in step 1) you mention copying contents of windows-32 zip file into gprMax directory. Where do I obtain the windows-32bit zip file?

Installed Python 3.5 Version of Miniconda (32-bit version):
http://conda.pydata.org/miniconda.html

Followed through step two and have activated the new environment (activate gprMax).
I have also installed the C libraries suggested in step 3.

When I run the cylinder_Ascan_2D.in example I get the following issue:

I have read through the thread:
#27
You mention a step 4 of building the Cython extensions, could this be the problem? If so, how do I do this?

Best Regards,
Bjorn

figure saving issue

I think I found a small error in your new plotting scripts. When trying to save the files, the variable "filename" has to be passed instead of "file". See for example line 342 in the plot_antenna_params.py file.

Cheers,
Sam