udpscope/docs/superpowers/specs/2026-11-02-flat-udp-source-design.md

# Flat UDP source plugin (sub-project 2 of 4)

Date: 2026-11-02
Branch: to be cut from `feature/source-plugins`

## Context

Sub-project 1 added the `DataSource` / `SourceKind` / `SourceRegistry` framework. Sub-project 3
added the E-1608. This sub-project adds `flatudp`: a receiver for the MARTe2 `UDPSender`
datasource (`MARTe2-components/Source/Components/DataSources/UDP/UDPSender.{h,cpp}`).

## The wire format

Read from `UDPSender::Synchronise()` and `MemoryDataSourceI`:

- One `Write` of the datasource memory per `Synchronise()`: **one datagram is one cycle**.
- The memory is the signals concatenated in declaration order, **no padding**, in the sender's
  native byte order. `signalOffsets[s]` is the running sum of `size * elements`.
- There is no header, counter, timestamp or signal description. In IndependentThread mode the
  first signal is a `uint8` `Trigger`; it is sent like any other signal.
- The user must therefore enter the exact signal list by hand.

## Decisions

| Question | Decision |
| --- | --- |
| Time base | Both. `time_mode=rate` (default): the user declares the cycle rate in Hz; frames are spaced `1/rate` and no loss is ever reported. `time_mode=arrival`: each datagram is stamped with its receive time. |
| Signal list entry | A row editor: name entry, type dropdown, element count and a remove button per row, plus an "Add signal" row. |
| Network | Port and optional bind address, plus an optional multicast group and interface. No source-address filter. |
| Byte order | `little` (default) or `big`. |
| Out of scope | Auto-detecting the list, importing a MARTe2 `.cfg`, a source filter, loss detection. |

## Config keys

Persisted in the session, settable with `--source-opt`. Kind id: `flatudp`.

| Key | Default | Meaning |
| --- | --- | --- |
| `port` | 44488 | UDP port to listen on (the sender's own default). |
| `bind` | empty | Local address to bind; empty is any. |
| `multicast` | empty | Group to join; empty is plain unicast. |
| `iface` | empty | Local interface address for the join. |
| `rate` | none | Cycle rate in Hz. Required when `time_mode=rate`. |
| `time_mode` | `rate` | `rate` or `arrival`. |
| `endian` | `little` | `little` or `big`. |
| `signals` | none | `name:type[count],...`, e.g. `Trigger:uint8,Ia:float32,Wave:float32[16]`. A persistence format only: the form builds and parses it. |

Types: `uint8/16/32/64`, `int8/16/32/64`, `float32`, `float64`. Count 1 is a scalar signal; N
is a vector signal. Expected datagram size is the sum of `size * count` over the rows.

Validity (form and `--source-opt` alike): at least one signal; names non-empty and unique;
count 1-4096; total size at most 65507 bytes; `rate > 0` when `time_mode=rate`.

## Architecture

New files under `src/source/flatudp/`:

- `flatudp_signals.{hpp,cpp}` -- the `signals` string codec: parse, format, validate, size
  arithmetic. No GTK, so a probe can round-trip it.
- `flatudp_source.{hpp,cpp}` -- the `DataSource`.
- `flatudp_kind.{hpp,cpp}` -- the `SourceKind`, the form, and the registration in
  `register_builtin_sources()`.

Threading is unchanged: the source lives on the producer thread and `poll()` does all the work.

### Data flow

`poll(timeout_ms)` waits on a non-blocking UDP socket and drains it.

- A datagram of exactly the expected size is decoded row by row to doubles (byte-swapped when
  `endian=big`) and delivered as one `Frame`: `num_samples = 1`, `counter` a running count,
  `lost = 0`, `late = false`, `recv_time` the arrival clock.
- `set_datagram_tap` is honoured and `has_datagrams()` is true, so packet capture works.
- `on_config` is called once on open with one `SignalInfo` per row (`rows = count`,
  `cols = 1`).

### Time

- `rate`: every signal has `time_mode = kTimePacket` and `sampling_rate = rate`, as the E-1608
  does. Spacing comes from the declared rate; jitter does not appear in the trace.
- `arrival`: `sampling_rate = 0`, so the existing arrival-clock path stamps each frame.
- **To confirm in the plan:** that `acquisition.cpp`'s packet path with `sampling_rate = 0`
  really stamps on arrival and does not degenerate. If it does not, the plan adds the small
  change there.

### Errors and state

- A wrong-size datagram is dropped, never decoded. Each distinct size raises one `Error`
  event ("datagram of N bytes, expected M, check the signal list") and increments `stale`.
- `connected` becomes true after the first valid datagram and false after 2 s of silence.
- A bind or multicast-join failure raises an `Error` and the source stays disconnected.

### Connect form

Built from `AdwPreferencesRow`s, with the destroy-notify guard used by the E-1608 form.

- Network group: port, bind, multicast, interface.
- Timing group: rate spin and time-mode combo. The rate spin is **disabled, not hidden**, in
  arrival mode.
- Byte order combo.
- Signals group: one row per signal, "Add signal" at the bottom, and a live subtitle with the
  implied size ("41 bytes per datagram"). `valid()` is false while the list breaks a validity
  rule.
- The `signals` string is rebuilt from the rows on every change; `write()` parses it back.

## Verification

No unit suite; the self-check is the contract.

- `tools/mock_flatudp.py`: emits packed structs for a given signal spec and rate; options for
  big-endian and for one wrong-size datagram.
- `UDPSCOPE_PROBE_FLATUDP` in `src/ui_probe.cpp`: stream names and count; a hand-computed
  decode of known values including a vector signal and a `uint64`; rate-mode spacing; the
  wrong-size error reported once and counted in `stale`; disconnect after silence; the form's
  validity rules; the `signals` codec round trip. A multicast loopback check runs if the
  sandbox allows it.
- Baselines unchanged: exactly 3 build warnings, `gtk warnings: 0`, no `Gtk-CRITICAL`.

## Documentation

README (the kind and its limits: no loss detection, the signal list is the user's
responsibility), `docs/claude/build-and-run.md` (options and mock usage),
`docs/claude/architecture.md` (source plugins), `docs/claude/probe-readings.md` and
`docs/claude/verification.md` (the new probe lines).