Frank, et. al., Good thoughts -- we're definitely in the same book if not on the same page. We have to have interfaces between pieces for our own sanity, productivity and for the maintainability and testability of the code, so interfaces and standards are a given. As we get further down the road, we have to decide where we think everyone will want to play, how that would work, how it would serve our customers, etc. Most of the choices around what degree we expose interfaces (I use this word very generically) and code are business choices, not technical ones. I recognize that there is a lot of horsepower external to our company that can contribute and make the offerings to the community more powerful. We got a LOT of this kind of help on PowerSDR initially and PowerSDR would not be what it is today without this help so we are motivated to do something similar on Deep Impact.
In the end, there are a lot of people with good ideas and the ability to channel those good ideas into unique, powerful and fun tools for the community. I'm very interested in any ideas you (or others) may have for how we can work together. I would like to see a future where individuals in the community can experiment, design and research using our tools yet we retain the ability to monetize the effort we have put into the development of the tools. This is necessary for us to be able support the ongoing efforts we continue to have in software development. I would like to see us do the "hard work" of building a flexible framework so that others with unique ideas can do "the meat" of their idea and quickly put it into practice. This is similar to what a modern compiler and OSs do for you -- they worry about multiple architectures, machine instructions, virtual memory, paging, threading, symbols, etc. so you can focus on doing just the unique work in your idea. We have been discussing these topics from time to time, but have not yet settled on a model/process. It's really early in the process. How can we make it fun for you? Steve Stephen Hicks, N5AC, AAR6AM VP Engineering FlexRadio Systems™ 13091 Pond Springs Road, #250 Austin, TX 78729 Phone: 512-535-4713 x205 Email: [email protected] Web: www.flex-radio.com Tune In Excitement™ PowerSDR™ is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems On Thu, Jun 17, 2010 at 06:17, Frank Goenninger <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi all: > > Reading through the posts I fear Deep Impact will not be as open as I had > hoped it to be. I'd be glad to be proven wrong! As I had been playing with > Virtual Radio Kernel ( > http://www.hamsdr.com/data/GlobalFileUploads/1__FSM-talk.pdf) code I am > now confused as to what happened to the idea that VRK is the foundation for > DI. - > > So, here' my "List of Hopes" re DI: > > 1. Software Architecture > > Lowest/ Physical level: > > Physical entities (radio components): TX, RX1, RX2, ATU, VFOs, Antenna > connectors, I/Q signal streams => Represented by firmware, accessible via > driver. This is of course proprietary (simply because TCAT software > involved). > > API level: > > Software library exposing all intended functionality from lowest level per > API. This can (and should, due to intellectual property reasons) be > proprietary also. As we want to leverage as much existing software as > possible even from outside FRS I'd love to see relevant standards supported: > VITA-49, JTRS SCA, -> See point 2 below. > > Module/ Plugin level: > > Uses API to form modular functionality like Mod /Demod, ATU, etc. This > should benefit from being Open Source, as the whole community might bring in > functional modules using the API level. I am hoping for new modulation > types, filters, spread spectrum, deep space communication specialities, ... > > GUI level: > > Presentation layer that uses modules to present functionality. Not one > window but several windows that can be arranged by user to meet special/ > individual needs. Skins not really necessary (personal opinion, of course > ;-). Should be open source, too. > > 2. Standards > > As already mentioned supporting relevant standards may open up both new > possibilities for radio amateurs as users of FRS radios but may also enable > new types of business for FRS by enabling the integration of FRS radios into > commercial radio applications. Therefore it might be an idea to look for > relevant standards, such as VITA, which is already supported by other > products from FRS. > > 4. Non-radio related functionality > > This area is referring to requirements such as remote operation, shared/ > scheduled operation, automated tasks etc. All of this requires a highly > sophisticated remote access facility such as CAT. CAT is a very simple way > of accessing a radio's features - which is why I was thinking of > implementing a way of remote function call / remote procedure call, possibly > via XML-RPC, secured via encryption, using a distributed task queue like > Celery based on RabbitMQ, ... There's much more to be said here. We would > also need access control to the radio, session handling - ok, I'll stop here > ;-) > > 5. Summary > > While supporting standards is important the key to have a wide acceptance > and the required flexibility of a new software platform coming up with a > suitable software architecture is really key (for me, anyway). > > I sincerely hope the Higher Gods Of Software at FRS are seeing the light > and will present the user community a flexible, extensible architecture that > exposes the radio's functionality via an API and let's the user extend, > modify and adapt the higher levels of it. > > 'nough said. If anyone wants actual, real architecture and/ or coding > support - Yup, I am ready to jump in. > > 73, Frank DG1SBG > > P.S.: Yes, I made an entry in the feature request list ;-) > > Am 17.06.2010 um 05:24 schrieb Michael Jones: > > > A few of the things I'd like to try are: > > - a simple memory or band-range scanner - could be expanded to be clever > enough to stop on a real signal, etc > > - a manual notch filter - 'nuff said! > > - a voice-to-text converter/recorder > > > > Best regards, > > > > Michael Jones > > SCSI Toolbox LLC > > www.scsitoolbox.com > > 303-972-2072 > > ----- Original Message ----- > > From: Steve Nance > > To: 'Neal Campbell' ; 'Stephen Hicks, N5AC' > > Cc: [email protected] ; [email protected] > > Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 11:55 AM > > Subject: RE: [FlexEdge] Deep Impact thought > > > > > > Count me in, I have a big interest in this. > > > > CAT can't go away because of backward compatibility with equipment and > Radio > > Control Programs. > > > > 73, > > Steve K5FR > > > > -----Original Message----- > > From: [email protected] > > [mailto:[email protected]] On Behalf Of Neal Campbell > > Sent: Wednesday, June 16, 2010 11:25 AM > > To: Stephen Hicks, N5AC > > Cc: [email protected]; [email protected] > > Subject: Re: [FlexEdge] Deep Impact thought > > > > I hope that these types of event hooks are in the radio server code so > when > > we non-Bobs write front-ends, we can be talking to the virtual metal > across > > TCP. Having an Observer pattern-type access for the fft data, all the > > band/mode setting data, radio control and management, etc. would be just > > heaven. > > > > It should/could replace CAT or maybe CAT will become your "consolidated" > > radio interface for those that do not want to subscribe to the > individual > > hooks. > > > > It would be easy to start defining the hooks if you are interested. > Almost > > anything between the current UI and the radio code would apply. > > > > I am sure there are a lot of us that would help flesh out a spec! > > 73 > > Neal Campbell > > Abroham Neal Software > > www.abrohamnealsoftware.com > > (540) 645 5394 NEW PHONE NUMBER > > > > Amateur Radio: K3NC > > Blog: http://www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/blog/ > > DXBase bug reports: email to [email protected] > > Abroham Neal forums: http:/www.abrohamnealsoftware.com/community/ > > > > > > > > > > > > On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 12:12 PM, Stephen Hicks, N5AC > > <[email protected]>wrote: > > > >> Mike, > >> > >> This is along the lines that we're thinking. We have not yet solidified > >> where these spots are although we have had conversations about at least > > two > >> key areas (UI and mod/demod). No commitments yet and I appreciate the > >> thought. More as things develop... > >> > >> Steve > >> > >> Stephen Hicks, N5AC, AAR6AM > >> VP Engineering > >> FlexRadio SystemsT > >> 13091 Pond Springs Road, #250 > >> Austin, TX 78729 > >> Phone: 512-535-4713 x205 > >> Email: [email protected] > >> Web: www.flex-radio.com > >> > >> Tune In ExcitementT > >> PowerSDRT is a trademark of FlexRadio Systems > >> > >> > >> On Wed, Jun 16, 2010 at 09:42, Michael Jones <[email protected]> > >> wrote: > >> > >>> I've been following the discussions of the upcoming change of licensing > >> and > >>> so forth being considered for Deep Impact. Being a software company I > > can > >>> certainly understand the issues. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> I've been wanting to play with the PSDR code but have thought it would > > be > >>> best to wait until Deep Impact is available. I'd still like to be able > > to > >>> play and tweak, and looking at the audio flowchart download on the Flex > >>> site > >>> the other day made me think of something that my company does. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Our code is all proprietary, but we put in a few hooks so programmers > > can > >>> interrupt our code flow in certain places in order to do their own > > custom > >>> things. So I got to thinking that perhaps Flex could do the same thing > - > >> at > >>> a few key points in the data flow make some hooks available so that a > >> user > >>> could link in their own code, etc. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Of course maybe you guys are already planning on that. Anyway, I hope > >> that > >>> even with fully proprietary code you guys will make some mechanism > >>> available > >>> so that "add-ons" will be possible. > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Best regards, > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> Michael Jones W0STB > >>> > >>> SCSI Toolbox LLC > >>> > >>> www.scsitoolbox.com <http://www.scsitoolbox.com/> > >>> > >>> 303-972-2072 > >>> > >>> while (!(succeed==try())) > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> > >>> _______________________________________________ > >>> Flexedge mailing list > >>> [email protected] > >>> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz > >>> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is > >> used > >>> for posting topics related to SDR software development and > >> experimentalist > >>> who are using alpha and beta versions of the software. > >>> > >> _______________________________________________ > >> Flexedge mailing list > >> [email protected] > >> http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz > >> This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is > > used > >> for posting topics related to SDR software development and > experimentalist > >> who are using alpha and beta versions of the software. > >> > > _______________________________________________ > > Flexedge mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz > > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is > used > > for posting topics related to SDR software development and > experimentalist > > who are using alpha and beta versions of the software. > > _______________________________________________ > > Flexedge mailing list > > [email protected] > > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz > > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is > used for posting topics related to SDR software development and > experimentalist who are using alpha and beta versions of the software. > > > _______________________________________________ > Flexedge mailing list > [email protected] > http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz > This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used > for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist > who are using alpha and beta versions of the software. > _______________________________________________ Flexedge mailing list [email protected] http://mail.flex-radio.biz/mailman/listinfo/flexedge_flex-radio.biz This is the FlexRadio Systems e-mail Reflector called FlexEdge. It is used for posting topics related to SDR software development and experimentalist who are using alpha and beta versions of the software.
