Parsing TacView ACMI Files with pyacmi

Are you looking for a Python library that can help you parse TacView ACMI files? Look no further than pyacmi! In this article, we will explore how you can use pyacmi to work with ACMI files, extract valuable data, and export it to CSV.

What are ACMI files?

ACMI files, also known as Air Combat Maneuvering Instrumentation files, are commonly used by TacView to create flight recordings from simulators or real-world flight data. These files contain crucial information such as aircraft positions, velocities, orientations, and other relevant parameters.

Getting Started with pyacmi

Before we dive into using pyacmi, let’s get it installed. You can easily install pyacmi using pip or pip3 for Python 3+. Simply run the following command in your terminal:

shell
$ pip3 install pyacmi

If you need to install a specific version of pyacmi, you can do so by specifying the version number in the command:

shell
$ pip3 install pyacmi==1.2.3

To upgrade pyacmi to the latest version, use the following command:

shell
$ pip3 install --upgrade pyacmi

Loading and Manipulating ACMI Files

Now that we have pyacmi installed, let’s dive into loading and manipulating ACMI files. The following code snippet demonstrates how to load an ACMI file and access some basic information:

“`python
from pyacmi import Acmi

acmi = Acmi()
acmi.load_acmi(filepath=’test.acmi’)
print(acmi)

print(acmi.reference_latitude, acmi.reference_longitude, acmi.reference_time)
“`

You can also access information about individual objects present in the ACMI file using the acmi.objects attribute. The code snippet below demonstrates how to print information about all objects in the file:

python
for obj_id in acmi.objects:
obj = acmi.objects[obj_id]
print(obj)
print(obj.id, obj.name, obj.country, obj.tags, obj.type)

Exporting Data to CSV

In addition to loading and manipulating ACMI files, pyacmi also provides the ability to export data to CSV format. The acmi.export_csv() method allows you to export data with customizable options. The example below demonstrates how to export data to CSV:

python
acmi.export_csv('test.csv', remove_empty=True, export_obj_ids=None)

In this example, we are exporting data to a CSV file named ‘test.csv’. We can also specify options such as removing empty values and selecting specific object IDs to export.

Conclusion

In this article, we explored how to use pyacmi, a powerful Python library for parsing TacView ACMI files. We learned how to install pyacmi, load and manipulate ACMI files, and export data to CSV. By leveraging pyacmi, you can analyze flight recordings, gain valuable insights, and understand simulations in greater detail. Start using pyacmi today and take your simulation analysis to new heights!

References

• ACMI file documentation – Technical Reference – ACMI flight recordings 2.2
• pyacmi on PyPI
• pyacmi repository on GitHub
• acmi library by rp-

License

pyacmi is licensed under the MIT License.