Skip to content

⚙️ Installation

This page explains how to install node-fdm, configure optional dependencies, and set up the directory structure required for the data pipelines.

🧩 Prerequisites

Before installing, ensure your environment meets the following requirements:

  • Python 3.11+
  • OpenSky Trino access (Required only if you plan to run the full OpenSky 2025 data collection pipeline).

BADA 4.2 Model Files

Support for the BADA 4.2 physical model is optional but recommended for benchmarking.

  • You must obtain the model files separately (due to licensing).
  • You will need to set their location in the relevant config.yaml later.

📦 Install the Package

Choose the installation method that matches your needs.

Recommended for running existing pipelines and training models.

1. Core Installation Install the core library: 

pip install node-fdm

2. Optional Dependencies (Recommended) To install support for traffic data processing, fast meteorology, and visualization: 

# Quotes are often required for shell compatibility
pip install 'node-fdm[all]'

3. BADA Baseline Support (Optional) The pybada wrapper has restrictive dependencies. Use these specific commands to force installation: 

pip install pybada --ignore-requires-python --no-deps
pip install simplekml 'xlsxwriter>=3.2.5'

Recommended if you plan to modify the code or create custom architectures.

1. Clone the repository 

git clone [https://github.com/eurocontrol-asu/node-fdm.git](https://github.com/eurocontrol-asu/node-fdm.git)
cd node-fdm

2. Editable Installation Install the package in editable mode along with all development dependencies: 

pip install -e .[all]

📁 Configuration & Directories

node-fdm relies on configuration files to locate data and artifacts. You must configure these paths before running a pipeline.

Where to configure

Edit the configuration file specific to your target pipeline:

  • 📂 OpenSky: scripts/opensky/config.yaml
  • 📂 QAR: scripts/qar/config.yaml
Parameter Description Requirement
paths.data_dir The root directory for all data artifacts. Required
paths.era5_cache_dir Local cache directory for meteorological fields. Required
bada.bada_4_2_dir Path to the folder containing BADA 4.2 files. Optional
paths.download_dir Destination for raw downloaded data. Auto-managed
paths.models_dir Directory where trained models are saved. Auto-managed

✔️ Verification

Run this quick check to verify that node_fdm and torch are correctly installed and importable.

import torch
import node_fdm
import sys

print(f"Python version: {sys.version.split()[0]}")
print(f"Torch version:  {torch.__version__}")
print("✅ node_fdm import successful")

Next Step

Once installation is verified, head to the Core Concepts to understand how node-fdm works.