RIC Installation and Configuration | Remote Instrument Control (RIC)

Running RIC: User Tasks

The Remote Instrument Control (RIC) server is installed on eol-ric.ucar.edu. In order to connect to it via the locally-installed RIC client (RIC Proxy), the user must have current certificates for RIC and for the instruments you are connecting to RIC. Once the RIC Proxy is installed on a user’s computer, they can connect to their instrument using RIC and control the instrument remotely.

Install the RIC proxy on your (the users) computer

Download RIC proxy and follow the installation instructions.

Get a copy of the latest RIC certification from an SE/ADMIN

You will need a copy of the RIC certification file (eol-ric.crt) which should be placed into .ric/Certs in your home dir. (This dir is created automatically when installing on a Window’s machine. Use “ls -a” to see it.)

In addition, you will need the .key and .crt files for your instrument (<inst>.crt, <inst>.key). An SE or ADMIN can obtain these from .ric/Certs on eol-ric.

IMPORTANT: Every instrument must have its own unique certificate and key. Do not copy another instrument’s .crt or .key files and rename them. RIC identifies proxy connections by certificate content, not filename — two instruments sharing the same certificate will receive each other’s messages.

NOTE: <inst> is the name of your instrument: GNI, AVAPS, etc

Ask an SE/ADMIN to tell you the port numbers assigned to your instrument

You will be assinged two port numbers: one for communication from your instrument on the aircraft to the ground, and a second for communication from your ground control software back up to your instrument.

Configure your .ini files

Change the last line of .ric/Proxy.ini to point to a .ini file with the name of your instrument and change the ProxyID near the top of the file to the string that you are using to start your UDP packets

> ProxyID=<inst>
> InstrumentFile=<inst>.ini

Rename SAMPLEINST.ini in .ric/Instruments to the filename created above

> mv SAMPLEINST.ini <inst>.ini

Edit the file you just moved and change InstName to the name of your instrument and the message ID to the string you are using to start your UDP packets. You will also need to modify the IP of your instrument computer onboard the aircraft and the ports (which will be provided by an RAF SE)

InstName=<inst>
InstHostName=192.168.84.<yourIP>
InstIncomingPort=<port>
InstDestPort=<port2>
UserIncomingPort=<port2>
UserDestPort=<port>
1\ID=<instID>
size=1

Leave the Broadcast and RateLimit lines as they are. If you have more than one packet you want to send, add additional instID lines and update the size accordingly:

2\Broadcast=false
2\ID=<instID2>
2\RateLimit=0

size=2

Consult this sample .ini file to see the format: AWAS.ini

At this point, you should have:

homedir/.ric/  <- where homedir is /Users/<username> on a mac, or C:\Users\<username> on Windows
     Proxy.ini
     Certs/
         eol-ric.crt
         <inst>.crt
         <inst>.key
     Instruments/
         <inst>.ini

Running two instruments from one computer

If you need to run two RIC proxy instances on the same computer (e.g. for CIMS and CIMS2), give each instrument its own configuration directory. The directory name must start with .ric:

homedir/.ric/
     Proxy.ini
     Certs/
         eol-ric.crt
         CIMS.crt
         CIMS.key
     Instruments/
         CIMS.ini

homedir/.ric2/
     Proxy.ini
     Certs/
         eol-ric.crt
         CIMS2.crt
         CIMS2.key
     Instruments/
         CIMS2.ini

Each instrument needs its own certificates — do not copy certificates from one directory to another (see certificate warning above).

When you launch RIC, it will automatically find all .ric* directories in your home directory. If there is only one, it is used without prompting. If there are two or more, a dialog will appear asking you to choose which instrument to connect to.

Connect to your instrument

From the user computer, launch RIC from the desktop icon
If you have multiple .ric* configuration directories, select the instrument you want to connect to from the picker dialog.
Click connect. If RIC doesn’t stay connected, confirm that your certs aren’t corrupted:
```
> openssl x509 -text -in <file>.crt
```
should return begin and end dates that include today, and a subject line like:
```
Subject: C=US, ST=Colorado, O=University Corporation for Atmospheric Research, CN=eol-ric.ucar.edu
```
Once connected, start the user’s instrument client on the user’s computer.