obfuscoder / datis

DCS World Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) broadcasted though Simple Radio Standalone (SRS)

DATIS

DCS World Automatic Terminal Information Service (ATIS) broadcasted though Simple Radio Standalone.

Features: Automatically starts within DCS, extracts weather information from the currently running mission, generates an ATIS report, converts it to speech and broadcasts it through SRS.

Changelog | Prebuild Releases

Example Report:

This is Batumi information Alpha. Runway in use is 13. Wind 140 at 9 knots. Visibility 0.5. Cloud conditions overcast 5, rain. Temperature 20.9 celcius. ALTIMETER 2933. REMARKS. 993 hectopascal. QFE 2930 or 992. End information Alpha.

Example Carrier Report:

99, Mother's wind 140 at 9 knots, altimeter 2933, CASE 1, BRC 276, expected final heading 267, report initial

Crates

• datis-core - The core functionality: generating the report and talking to SRS.
• datis-cmd - A utility to start DATIS from the command line. Mostly intended for testing-purposes.
• datis-module - A Lua module that can be integrated into DCS to automatically start ATIS stations.
• datis-station - A command line utility to play OGG/OPUS audio files through a specified SRS frequency.
• srs - A re-usable Rust SRS client that is used for all the other crates.

Installation

Before you start, be aware that this mod requires either a Google Cloud (Gcloud) or Amazon Web Services (AWS) account. Since version 1.0.0-alpha.2 it is possible to use Windows' built-in TTS engine, so a cloud account is not necessary anymore (but still useful for a wider range of voice choices).

Build it yourself and use the content inside the mod directory or use the pre-build mod from one of the releases.

1. Copy the content (Mods and Scripts directory) into Saved Games\DCS.openbeta\.
2. Optional: Setup your cloud provider of choice
   1. Create your cloud credentials, either
      1. Google Cloud: Go to https://console.cloud.google.com/apis/credentials and create an API key and restrict API access to Google Text-to-Speech, or
      2. Amazon Web Services: Go to https://console.aws.amazon.com/iam/home#/users and create a new user with AmazonPollyReadOnlyAccess permissions
   2. Open DCS go to OPTIONS -> SPECIAL -> DCS ATIS, enter your API keys into the respective input fields

Once you start a mission that contains a pattern as described in the next section, DATIS runs automatically. It thereby expects a SRS server to run locally on the default SRS ports. The port can be changed in the DCS DATIS mod settings page.

If DATIS isn't working, you might find some helpful information in the log file at DCS.openbeta\Logs\DATIS.log.

Tip: setup both Google Cloud and Amazon Web Services to have a greater choice of different voices.

For information about the free tier of both GCloud and AWS see:

• https://cloud.google.com/text-to-speech/pricing
• https://aws.amazon.com/polly/pricing/

Airfield ATIS Setup

There are two methods for adding ATIS stations to your mission. The first method is easier to setup, but the second one supports more configuration options.

Mission Situation

(This method currently uses the default GCloud voice, for different TTS providers, see the next setup method)

Add the following text pattern as often to the mission situation as you like.

ATIS {Airfield} {ATIS Frequency}

Examples:

ATIS Kutaisi 251.000
ATIS Batumi 131.5
ATIS Senaki-Kolkhi 145

If you want the ATIS station's report to also include a traffic frequency, add it with the following pattern to the mission briefing as well.

TRAFFIC {Airfield} {Traffic Frequency}

Using Static Units

Add a static unit per ATIS station to the mission, e.g. a communication tower (the kind of static unit doesn't matter though). The key to get ATIS working, is to name the static unit using the following pattern:

({} denotes a part that has to be replaced with a proper value and [] denotes an optional part)

ATIS {Airfield} {ATIS Frequency}[, TRAFFIC {TRAFFIC Frequency}][, VOICE {VOICE NAME}]

Your choice for {VOICE NAME} depicts which cloud provider is used for a particular ATIS station. For GCloud prefix the voice with GC: and for AWS with AWS: (it expects a valid GCloud voice if there is not prefix).

Available voices are:

• GCloud: en-US-Standard-B, en-US-Standard-C (current default), en-US-Standard-D, en-US-Standard-E, en-US-Wavenet-A, en-US-Wavenet-B, en-US-Wavenet-C, en-US-Wavenet-D, en-US-Wavenet-E, en-US-Wavenet-F
  • (a bit down on this page is a widget where the different voices can easily be tested)
  • Keep in mind that en-US-Wavenet-* voices come with a smaller free quota (see Gcloud TTS pricing)
• AWS: Nicole, Russell, Amy, Emma, Brian, Aditi, Raveena, Ivy, Joanna, Kendra, Kimberly, Salli, Joey, Justin, Matthew, Geraint
• WIN (uses Windows' built-in TTS engine)

Examples:

ATIS Batumi 131.5
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, TRAFFIC 252.000
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, VOICE en-US-Standard-E
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, TRAFFIC 252.000, VOICE en-US-Standard-E
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, TRAFFIC 252.000, VOICE GC:en-US-Wavenet-B
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, TRAFFIC 252.000, VOICE AWS:Nicole
ATIS Kutaisi 251.000, TRAFFIC 252.000, VOICE WIN

Carrier ATIS setup

I know, there is no such thing like a carrier ATIS in real life - though still a useful feature until we get the DCS carrier module.

Setup like Using Static Units, but instead of adding the ATIS name pattern to the name of a static unit, put it into the name of your carrier unt (not its group's name!) that should broadcast the report.

Known issue: It will broadcast on the unit's frequency and not on the frequency setup in the ATIS name pattern.

Build

Instead of building you can also use the pre-build mod from one of the releases. Otherwise, build with Rust (beta):

make release

License

MIT