ardop_interface

An Async Rust interface to the ARDOP TNC

Documentation | Crate | Git

Introduction

ardop_interface integrates with the Amateur Radio Digital Open Protocol (ARDOP) soundcard modem softare. The ARDOP modem is intended to provide reliable, low-speed connectivity over High Frequency (HF) radio links.

This crate is not ARDOP. This crate is only an interface. With this interface, and separate ARDOP modem software, you can build full-featured Rust applications that communicate over the radio.

Minimal Example

use std::net::SocketAddr;
use async_std::task;
use futures::prelude::*;

use ardop_interface::tnc::*;

fn main() {
   task::block_on(async {
        let addr = "127.0.0.1:8515".parse().unwrap();
        let mut tnc = ArdopTnc::new(&addr, "MYC4LL")
            .await
            .unwrap();
        let mut conn = tnc.connect("T4GET", 500, false, 3)
            .await
            .expect("TNC failure")
            .expect("Connection failed");
        conn.write_all(b"Hello, world!\n").await.unwrap();
        conn.close().await;
   })
}

See the examples/ directory in the source code repository for a complete client and server. The examples also demonstrate the async_std crate, argument parsing, and logging.

The ARDOP Modem

Like most amateur radio modems, ARDOP is designed to interface with analog, single-sideband (SSB) transceivers via a sound card interface. A computer—which may be a simple, single-board computer—turns data into sound, and back again.

ARDOP is designed to:

• Automatically retry failed transmissions. This mode of operation is called automatic repeat request (ARQ), and it helps ensure that data reaches its final destination.

• Use the fastest available mode for the signal-to-noise ratio and band conditions

• Support unattended, automatic station operation

• Perform well on the high frequency (HF) bands

Best of all, ARDOP has an open development model. Full protocol specifications are available, and open-source implementations of the modem exist.

ARDOP is intended for use by licensed radio amateurs. If you'd like to get started with the hobby, you should find a club, "hamfest," or "hamvention" near you!

The Rust Interface

The ARDOP software has a standardized "terminal node controller" (TNC) interface for clients to use. To use the TNC, clients must make two simultaneous TCP connections and perform a great deal of serialization and de-serialization. This crate handles many of these details for you.

This crate exposes an async API that many rustaceans will find familiar: socket programming. The ArqStream object is designed to mimic an async TcpStream. Once a connection is made, data is exchanged with asynchronous reads from, and writes to, the ArqStream object.

The async API allows ARDOP to coexist with native TCP sockets, GUIs, and other I/O processes while maintaining a small system resource footprint.

Development Status

This crate is experimental. Its API will not stabilize until ardop_interface can be built without unstable features of async_std.

Prerequisites

Rust 1.40 or later is required.

Obtain a compatible implementation of ARDOP. You must use ARDOP software which implements protocol version one. The ARDOP v2 specification has been withdrawn by its authors, and version three is presently in development. The TNC interface on which this crate depends can change during major releases.

These instructions assume the use of John Wiseman's ardopc, version 1. Other implementations will probably work, but this crate has not been tested against them. You may be able to obtain this software at http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Downloads/Beta/TeensyProjects.zip or from the ARDOP forums.

You will need your system's C/C++ compiler in order to build ardopc. Debian-based distributions can install these with:

sudo apt-get install build-essential

Unpack the archive, cd into the ARDOPC subdirectory, and run make to build the software. There is also a Visual Studio project for Windows users. Alternatively, binary builds may be available in http://www.cantab.net/users/john.wiseman/Downloads/Beta/.

You should now be able to invoke ARDOP as

./ardopc PORT INDEV OUTDEV

where

• PORT is the desired TCP control port (typically 8515)
• INDEV is the ALSA device name for your "line in" soundcard port. If your system has pulseaudio, you may use it with the pulse device.
• OUTDEV is the ALSA device name for your "line out" soundcard port. If your system has pulseaudio, you may use it with the pulse device.

Running the Examples

The examples are not published to crates.io. You will need to clone our source repository instead:

git clone https://github.com/cbs228/ardop_interface.git

To conduct a local test of ARDOP, you must run two instances of the ARDOP modem. To make an acoustic channel between the two the modems, place your microphone in close proximity to your speakers. Alternatively, on linux, you may also use the PulseAudio null sink:

pacmd load-module module-null-sink sink_name=Virtual1
pacmd set-default-sink Virtual1
pacmd set-default-source Virtual1.monitor

ardopc was designed for the ALSA sound APIs. Performance may be degraded when running with pulseaudio. On some systems, it may help to keep the pulseaudio volume control (pavucontrol) program open while ardopc is running.

Start two instances of ardopc

./ardopc 8515 pulse pulse &
./ardopc 8520 pulse pulse &

Build and run the echoserver package with

cargo run --package echoserver -- localhost:8515 MYCALL-S 200

Replace MYCALL with your callsign. The -S is a Service Set Identifier (SSID), which is an arbitrary single-character extension to your callsign.

Now run the echoclient with

cargo run --package echoclient -- localhost:8520 MYCALL-C MYCALL-S 200

The echoclient will send a number of pre-programmed text stanzas to the echoserver, which will parrot them back. Both the client and server will print their progress to stderr. The demo succeeds if the client prints

Echo server echoed all stanzas correctly.

You can also use the echoserver interactively via a line-oriented chat program, like ARIM.

When you are finished, remove the null sink if you are using it.

pacmd unload-module module-null-sink

Unsupported ARDOP Features

At present, this crate only supports the ARDOP ARQ connection-oriented protocol, which is TCP-like. ARDOP also has a connectionless FEC protocol, which is UDP-like. ardop_interface does not currently support FEC mode.

The following other features are currently not implemented by this crate.

• Rig control: No type of rig control is presently integrated. This crate cannot provide the following functionality, at present.

  • Tuning: ardop_interface knows nothing about your rig and cannot adjust its frequency or mode.

  • Keying: This crate does not key your radio's PTT. The ARDOP TNC may be able to do this for you. ardopc can key transmitters over a serial connection.

  • Scanning: The ARDOP frequency agility / scanning functions in LISTEN mode are not supported

Next Steps

What sorts of protocols would you like to see on the air? With a reliable, TCP-like link between stations, the ionosphere is the limit!

Further Reading

• tnc: Main TNC command and control via the ArdopTnc
• arq: Reliable ARQ connections with ArqStream

License: MIT OR Apache-2.0