7.4 KiB
UDPStreamer Wire Protocol
This document specifies the binary protocol used between UDPStreamer (server) and any compatible client (the included Go WebUI, a Python script, etc.).
All multi-byte integers are little-endian.
Packet Header (17 bytes, packed)
Every datagram begins with a 17-byte header:
Offset Size Type Field
────── ──── ────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 4 uint32 magic = 0x53504455 ('UDPS' LE)
4 1 uint8 type see Packet Types below
5 4 uint32 counter per-update sequence number
(same across all fragments of one update)
9 2 uint16 fragmentIdx 0-based index of this fragment
11 2 uint16 totalFragments number of fragments for this update
13 4 uint32 payloadBytes bytes of payload following this header
Total header size: 17 bytes
Magic: 0x55 0x44 0x50 0x53 (UDPS)
Packet Types
| Value | Direction | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| 0 | Server → Client | DATA | Signal data (may be fragmented) |
| 1 | Server → Client | CONFIG | Signal metadata sent on connect |
| 2 | Client → Server | ACK | Acknowledge a data counter (reserved) |
| 3 | Client → Server | CONNECT | Request a session |
| 4 | Client → Server | DISCONNECT | End the session |
Session Flow
Client Server
────── ──────
CONNECT (type=3) →
← CONFIG (type=1)
← DATA (type=0) ┐
← DATA (type=0) │ repeated every RT cycle
← DATA (type=0) ┘
DISCONNECT (type=4) →
- Client sends a 17-byte CONNECT packet (
payloadBytes = 0). - Server responds immediately with one or more CONFIG fragments describing all signals.
- Server sends DATA fragments on every
Synchronise()call while a client is connected. - Client sends DISCONNECT to terminate cleanly. A new CONNECT replaces an existing session.
CONFIG Payload
The CONFIG payload is sent as one or more fragmented packets (type = 1).
After reassembly the layout is:
Offset Size Type Field
────── ──── ─────── ────────────────────────────────────
0 4 uint32 numSignals
── for each signal (136 bytes) ──────────────────────────────
0 64 char[64] name null-terminated
64 1 uint8 typeCode see Type Codes
65 1 uint8 quantType see Quantization Types
66 1 uint8 numDimensions 0 = scalar, 1 = 1-D array, 2 = matrix
67 4 uint32 numRows 0 or 1 for scalar/1-D
71 4 uint32 numCols number of elements along fastest axis
75 8 float64 rangeMin
83 8 float64 rangeMax
91 1 uint8 timeMode see Time Modes
92 8 float64 samplingRate Hz (0 if PacketTime)
100 4 uint32 timeSignalIdx index of the time-reference signal;
0xFFFFFFFF = PacketTime (no reference)
104 32 char[32] unit null-terminated physical unit string
── (total per signal: 136 bytes) ────────────────────────────
Type Codes
| Code | C type | Bytes/element |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | uint8 | 1 |
| 1 | int8 | 1 |
| 2 | uint16 | 2 |
| 3 | int16 | 2 |
| 4 | uint32 | 4 |
| 5 | int32 | 4 |
| 6 | uint64 | 8 |
| 7 | int64 | 8 |
| 8 | float32 | 4 |
| 9 | float64 | 8 |
Quantization Type Codes (wire side)
| Code | Wire type | Description |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | — | No quantization; raw type as above |
| 1 | uint8 | Linear map [rangeMin, rangeMax] → [0, 255] |
| 2 | int8 | Linear map [rangeMin, rangeMax] → [-127, 127] |
| 3 | uint16 | Linear map [rangeMin, rangeMax] → [0, 65535] |
| 4 | int16 | Linear map [rangeMin, rangeMax] → [-32767, 32767] |
Time Mode Codes
| Code | Name | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| 0 | PacketTime | HRT timestamp at Synchronise() — see DATA payload |
| 1 | FullArray | timeSignalIdx signal has same numElements; element [k] time = timeSignal[k] |
| 2 | FirstSample | timeSignalIdx is scalar; t[k] = t[0] + k / samplingRate |
| 3 | LastSample | timeSignalIdx is scalar; t[k] = t[N-1] - (N-1-k) / samplingRate |
DATA Payload
After reassembly, the DATA payload layout is:
Offset Size Type Field
────── ──── ────── ────────────────────────────────────────────────────
0 8 uint64 hrtTimestamp hardware reference timer count at Synchronise()
── for each signal (in config order) ────────────────────────────────────
varies N×sz — signal data N = numRows×numCols, sz = element size
(wire size if quantized, raw size otherwise)
Signal data for quantized signals uses the wire element size (see Quantization Type Codes), not the original MARTe2 type size.
Dequantization
To recover physical values from quantized integers:
// uint16 → float
span = rangeMax - rangeMin
physical = rangeMin + (wire_uint16 / 65535.0) × span
// int16 → float
physical = rangeMin + ((wire_int16 + 32767) / 65534.0) × span
Fragmentation
When a payload exceeds MaxPayloadSize bytes, it is split into fragments:
chunkSize = MaxPayloadSize - 17 // usable bytes per datagram
numFragments = ceil(payloadSize / chunkSize)
Fragment i carries bytes [i × chunkSize .. min((i+1) × chunkSize, payloadSize)).
All fragments share the same counter; fragmentIdx and totalFragments allow
the client to reassemble them in any order.
Example: MaxPayloadSize = 1400, payload = 8016 B
→ chunkSize = 1383, numFragments = ceil(8016/1383) = 6
Minimal Python Client Example
import socket, struct, time
MAGIC = 0x53504455
HDR_FMT = '<IBHHI' # magic, type, counter, fragIdx, totalFrags, payloadBytes
HDR_SIZE = 17
def build_connect():
return struct.pack(HDR_FMT, MAGIC, 3, 0, 0, 1, 0)
def parse_header(data):
return struct.unpack_from(HDR_FMT, data)
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_DGRAM)
sock.bind(('', 44900))
sock.sendto(build_connect(), ('127.0.0.1', 44500))
sock.settimeout(5.0)
fragments = {}
while True:
data, _ = sock.recvfrom(65536)
magic, ptype, counter, frag_idx, total_frags, payload_bytes = parse_header(data)
payload = data[HDR_SIZE:]
if ptype == 1: # CONFIG
print(f"CONFIG fragment {frag_idx+1}/{total_frags}")
elif ptype == 0: # DATA
fragments.setdefault(counter, {})[frag_idx] = payload
if len(fragments[counter]) == total_frags:
full = b''.join(fragments.pop(counter)[i] for i in range(total_frags))
hrt = struct.unpack_from('<Q', full)[0]
print(f"DATA counter={counter} hrt={hrt} payload={len(full)}B")