Msgs/sec question?

[GlynH]

Hi there,

Just been watching the number of Messages per second that my RB is processing and have noticed that it spends much of its time showing zero - is that usual?

It seems to me that the RB software might be tied up (while processing logs for example?) and the rest of the software seems to hang waiting for it to complete?

I have my Screen refresh rate set to 1000 but notice that although the screen does seem to update every second somtimes it can take 3 seconds or so.

It almost appears to 'stutter' or 'stall' if that makes any sense and looking at the messages per second seem to confirm this.

Example;

411 (257)
0    (0)
418 (153)
415 (247)
0    (0)
522 (134)
433 (221)
0    (0)

etc. etc.

Not a scientific test or explanation you understand but just a 'gut feeling'.

Is this expected behaviour and have any other users noticed if their Msgs/Sec behaves this way or as usual is it only me?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Blackthorn]

I have not seen this, mine averages 300-400 MPS but no zeros come up.

I presume you have set your virus checker not to monitor the airnav directory?

[GlynH]

Hi Blackthorn,

Thanks for the quick reply.

One of the first things I tried...I disabled it completely and I still see it even when RB is the only program I have running.

I use Avast! here - not to be confused with AVG that I noticed caused a lot of issues especially when v2 was released.

I have also watched the Performance Monitor and watched ANRB cause my dual 3.2GHz Xeons to tick over at between 2-6% CPU load with the occasional brief peak up to 20% or so.

My pagefile usage stays flatline @ 800MB which tells me it is happy using the 4GB RAM available to it.

I did wonder if this was related to the other issues I have always suffered from since I purchased my RB last July which was why I wanted to see if this was usual behaviour or not?

Thanks & kind regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Blackthorn]

RB does seem to have some issues on faster CPUs and I believe Airnav are looking in to that.

On my quad core RB is using 3-10% CPU and the page file is steady at 1.23 GB

I have been looking since your first post and have not seen a zero.

[lambertw]

I have been watching my message count and have noticed that when network updates it stalls and reads zeros for a second or two then resumes,I did not notice this until I read your message,I have not noticed any issues with rbs performance whist this happens.

[Tailwinds]

I'm always recieving approx 400-500/Sec 60-100. Cannot say I've ever noticed any zeros before.

[waddington1]

Hi I get the same problem, keep getting zero every few seconds.  I have put this down to the fact my Laptop only has 512 of ram.

Stu

[Blackthorn]

May be this is down to network speed? I have a 10MB broadband link.

Do you get the same problem if you disable network and just view myflights?

[Tailwinds]

OK, just switched the "Network" on and now I do notice that on occassion I am getting zeros. Turning the Network Flights off cures the problem. For me at least anyway.

[AirNav Support]

The data is still be sent to the RadarBox software, it just the processing which pauses while it updates the network positions, then it carrys on processsing them, it does not ignore them.

[GlynH]

Thanks for the replies guys...

Blackthorn: I didn't realise that there is an issue with faster processors although your Quad Core is not exactly a slouch is it? ;^)
I have an up to 16MB DSL and Gigabit network but that is of no consequence as I never use the network to track flights. I am only interested in what I can 'see' from here.

lambertw: So its not just my machine then? I don't wish to cause alarm but I never noticed it before so thought I'd ask...

Tailwinds: 400-500 is what I see here although I have seen it hit 600+.
As above I never use the network to display flights anyway...

Waddington1: I see the Msgs/Sec dropping to zero every few seconds also. But I never said it was a problem ;^)

AirNav: So does your answer mean it is normal to see it dropping to zero and is not related to the other problems I have been having?

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

[Blackthorn]

Thanks for the replies guys...

Blackthorn: I didn't realise that there is an issue with faster processors although your Quad Core is not exactly a slouch is it? ;^)
I have an up to 16MB DSL and Gigabit network but that is of no consequence as I never use the network to track flights. I am only interested in what I can 'see' from here.

Thanks & regards,
-=Glyn=-

The problem I have encountered has been the locking up of menus when the program has been running for some time or the program just freezing, others have had the same problem. I think this may be down to multiple core systems.

I am currently trying my own fix that may solve the issue for me, if it works I will feed this back to the forum and Airnav.

[GlynH]

The problem I have encountered has been the locking up of menus when the program has been running for some time or the program just freezing, others have had the same problem. I think this may be down to multiple core systems.

I am currently trying my own fix that may solve the issue for me, if it works I will feed this back to the forum and Airnav.

Good luck mate...I have exactky the same problem as you (and others) and was working on this problem with AirNav through most of last September spending an obscene amount of hours with four different versions of the executable so they should have a good steer on the issue by now.

Strangley all communication dried up and I have heard nothing since...but hopefully no news is good news?

It flies in the face of logic really - I could understand it if it affected slower processors but one would have thought with the increased horsepower of faster processors it would be a non-issue.

I could always bin one of my Xeons or look for a 486 system on eBay! ;^)

I solved my problem for six months or so - I just stopped using my RadarBox from September until March! ;^)

It doesn't just affect fast processors although at the outset it did seem that was the common factor...

Interested to know what route you are taking though Blackthorn - I suspected at one time something was happening when RB is taking time out to write the logs and other background tasks but that is only part of the story.

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

[GlynH]

Hey Blackthorn...and Falcon if you are reading this...

Do your menus look like this by any chance?

http://www.glyn.me/radarbox/menus.html

You may get an ActiveX warning depending upon your Browser settings as I have converted the 21MB+ .AVI into a 6MB Flash object for easier viewing using less bandwidth.

Regards,
-=Glyn=-

[AirNav Support]

If its drops to zero that is not problem, where it is problem is when its zero for a few seconds or longer as that means its lost connection with the RB box etc.

I would not pay too much attention to the messages/per second change, its really only there to give you a quick indication of how much you are recieving and used for us for debug purposes when a customer is not sure whether he is actually getting signals decoded.

Regarding the menu issue, this will be fixed in the next version, we promise :)