LTE/3G survey tool with location tracking

[mzac]

Hey all, I'm looking to see if anyone knows of either an app for iOS or Android that would do the following:

- Track current location with GPS

- Run a ping to any IP or run a speed test with iPerf or something similar

- Timestamp results

- Export results in CSV or KML format

I'm looking for this for two reasons. First, when I go to work on the train there is always a dead zone I go through and I want to show to my carrier the problem, I don't think they're going to take a ride on the train or lend me equipment to prove it.

Second, for work I am working on a mobile LTE deployment in a vehicle and I need to verify the route the vehicle takes to make sure there are no dead zones.

I am thinking that I could easily do this all on a Raspberry Pi, but if something already exists for this it would be great..!

- mzac

[cooper]

I think the first reason is bogus. You can provide them with any sequence of bytes as proof, they're going to call you a liar while they sit back and continue to drink coffee. As an example, he's the network speeds I get on my way from A to B:

A : 100%

A+30m : 50%

A+60m : 0%

B-50m: 10%

B-25m: 80%

B : 100%

What did I just prove, other than that I can pull statistics out of my ass?

The second has the problem that I think you want to do this _as you're moving along the route_, which has a great likelihood of hiding any brief connection issues within the hardware. If that's within the operating parameters of your device, all fine and good. If you outright _require_ constant connectivity, you would ideally start an upload stream when you depart and measure its throughput as you go relative to time. Similarly, have something track your GPS coordinates relative to time. If your upload speed drops below a given minimum during the trip, you'll know you're in trouble. Repeat for the return route, again both ways but now doing just uploads and having completed this repeat all that both ways under varying atmospheric conditions since you've only just tested a single moment in time.

And again, I know of no tool that combines these 2 things, but your method as you currently planned it I feel doesn't prove what you're setting it out to prove.

[barry99705]

Taa Daa!

https://play.google.com/store/apps/details?id=com.rootmetrics&hl=en

[cooper]

Barry99705: Making it look so easy since 2009.

[mzac]

Ok well I went ahead and wrote a linux bash script to do this... I've tested it with a stationary raspberry pi with a BU-353 USB GPS, I'll have to test it on the road.

I made sure to make it as simple as possible and not depend on too many extra packages. You just need gpsd and iperf

It writes to CSV format so you can massage the output into a kml

I'll post this eventually on my github page so I can keep it up to date.

Update: Here is my github link: https://github.com/mzac/iperf_gps

#!/bin/bash

# How many seconds to run the iperf test
iperf_test_interval=5

# How many seconds to sleep between tests
update_interval=10

# Location of iperf binary
iperf_bin="/usr/bin/iperf"

# Iperf server to connect to
iperf_server="10.0.0.10"

# How long to run the iperf test
iperf_time=5

# Location of gpspipe binary
gpspipe_bin="/usr/bin/gpspipe"

# --------------------------------------------------------------------------------
# Do not change any settings below this line

# Verify if iperf is installed
if [ ! -x $iperf_bin ]; then
        echo -e "\niperf binary not found or is not executable!\n";
        exit 1
fi

# Verify if gpspipe is installed
if [ ! -x $gpspipe_bin ]; then
        echo -e "\ngpspipe binary not found or is not executable!\n";
        exit 1
fi

# Verify that the base filename for output is specified
if [ -z $1 ]; then
        echo -e "\nUsage:"
        echo -e "$0 <base_filename>\n"
        exit 1
fi

export_file_timestamp=`date +%Y-%m-%dT%H:%M:%S%z`
export_file_name="$1-$export_file_timestamp.csv"

if [ ! -e "$export_file_name" ]; then
        touch "$export_file_name"
fi

if [ ! -w "$export_file_name" ]; then
        echo "Cannot write to $export_file_name"
        exit 1
fi

echo "date,time,longitude,latitude,altitude,speed,track,iperf_server,iperf_test_interval,iperf_client_bytes,iperf_client_bps,iperf_server_bytes,iperf_server_bps" >> $export_file_name

echo -e "\nAt any time, press CRTL-C to stop the script"
echo -e "Writing to $export_file_name\n"
echo -e "GPS Data: time,lon,lat,alt,spd,track\n"

while true
do

tpv=$($gpspipe_bin -w -n 5 | grep -m 1 TPV | python -mjson.tool)
lon=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "lon" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ')
lat=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "lat" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ')
alt=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "alt" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ' | awk '{print int($1)}')
spd=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "speed" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ')
track=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "track" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ' | awk '{print int($1)}')
gps_date=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "time" | cut -d: -f2 | cut -dT -f1 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ' | tr -d '"')
gps_time=$(echo "$tpv" | grep "time" | cut -dT -f2 | cut -d. -f1 | cut -d, -f1 | tr -d ' ')

# Convert speed from meters per second to kilometers per hour
spd=`echo $spd | awk '{print int($1 * 3.6)}'`

# Check if lon and lat are set
if [ ! -z "$lon" -a ! -z "$lat" ]; then

        if [ -z "$alt" ]; then
                echo "No alt - setting to 0"
                alt=0
        fi
        if [ -z "$spd" ]; then
                echo "No speed - setting to 0"
                spd=0
        fi
        if [ -z "$track" ]; then
                echo "No track - setting to 0"
                track=0
        fi
        if [ $spd -le 1 ]; then
                echo "Not moving - setting track to 0"
                track=0
        fi

        gps_result="$gps_date,$gps_time,$lon,$lat,$alt,$spd,$track"

        echo "GPS Data: $gps_result"

        echo "Running iperf test"
        iperf_result=`$iperf_bin -c $iperf_server -r -t $iperf_test_interval --reportstyle C`

        iperf_result_client=$(echo "$iperf_result" | head -1)
        iperf_result_server=$(echo "$iperf_result" | tail -1)

        iperf_result_client_bytes=$(echo "$iperf_result_client" | cut -d, -f8)
        iperf_result_server_bytes=$(echo "$iperf_result_server" | cut -d, -f8)

        iperf_result_client_bps=$(echo "$iperf_result_client" | cut -d, -f9)
        iperf_result_server_bps=$(echo "$iperf_result_server" | cut -d, -f9)

        echo "Writing results to file:"
        echo "$gps_date,$gps_time,$lon,$lat,$alt,$spd,$track,$iperf_server,$iperf_test_interval,$iperf_result_client_bytes,$iperf_result_client_bps,$iperf_result_server_bytes,$iperf_result_server_bps" | tee -a $export_file_name

else
        echo "No GPS Fix!"
        echo $tpv
fi

echo -e "Sleeping for $update_interval seconds...\n"
sleep $update_interval

unset tpv
unset lat
unset lon
unset alt
unset spd
unset track
unset gps_date
unset gps_time
unset gps_result
unset iperf_result
unset iperf_result_server
unset iperf_result_client_bytes
unset iperf_result_server_bytes
unset iperf_result_client_bps
unset iperf_result_server_bps

done

Edited January 28, 2016 by mzac

[mzac]

I've updated the script a lot since yesterday, now includes ICMP tests for results as well as checking the server is alive before running the test.

Also, I just realized that this tool could be very useful for outdoor wifi deployment testing!

I should also test it on my wifi pineapple to see if it'll run...

Take a look on the github repo and please give me any feedback.

https://github.com/mzac/iperf_gps

Thanks

Edited January 29, 2016 by mzac