Remote Control - TCP Server (Network) - 23

Format Description

1. General Message Structure

All messages will consist of a uniform message structure comprising a 32 bytes header and a variable size message content.
In general all strings are ASCII/UTF-8 and are all null terminated, all non- used bytes like reserved space and non-use string parts will be "zero-memoried", that is filled with binary zero's.

This header is described below:

Message Header

After this Header the variable size content follows, see below.

*) The version number is on message-level, not for the protocol. In the future if content of a message changes the version number of only that message will be incremented. If QINSy receives a message with a newer version number the message will be ignored.
**) The Message Counter is used to identify a message uniquely, it will increment after every message that is sent. Both sides (AUV and QINSy) keep their own counters. Counter value can be used in (future) reply messages to identify which command is replied upon. It can roll over to zero, that is OK.

Message Content

After the header a variable message content follows, consisting of N Bytes, with N = Message Size (as reported by header) - 32 (size of Header).

Note that the content may have a zero length, this can be the case for simple commands without a further message content.

The message contents of the individual messages are described below:

2. Message ID's

A message can be recognized by its ID. Find below an overview of the currently defined messages. In the future more messages will be added. Note that the Command Reply is not implemented for the initial version.

3. Messages

This chapter describes the messages in detail. Note that each message contains a header as described above.

Start Recording (ID 1)

The AUV control software can order QINSy to start logging. Naming details may optionally be provided. Direction is from AUV to QINSy. If QINSy is already recording the command will be ignored.

Name Mode:

Stop Recording (ID 2)

The AUV control software can order Qinsy to stop logging. Direction is from AUV to QINSy. If Qinsy is not recording the command will be ignored.

Overall Status (ID 3)

Qinsy sends an overall status to the AUV computer. This is done every regular interval as defined by the user in the Database Setup program.

I/O Error Status Table

This reports whether data is being properly decoded in Qinsy for a certain system category:

*) Other means any other observation that is not part of the specific categories.

Shutdown (ID 4)

The AUV control software can order Qinsy to shut down itself and optionally to shut down the OS. If recording is active then that will be stopped.
It can not be guaranteed that the Windows OS is actually shutting down although Qinsy will issue the correct API call.

Shutdown Mode

Command Reply (ID 1000)

Currently not implemented!!! For future reference.

Driver Command (ID 5)

Multiple driver commands can be sent to the Qinsy at once. Therefore, at top level, the driver command is an aggregation of multiple driver commands:

Each individual driver command consists of a command header (which's layout is equal for all driver command types) and the command's payload

Individual driver command header

Driver commands

Set range

Set ping mode

Set system recording mode

Set trigger mode

Python Snippet

1. Python snippet for start and stop logging

# coding: utf-8

import binascii
import socket
import struct
import sys
import time

# Create a TCP/IP socket
sock = socket.socket(socket.AF_INET, socket.SOCK_STREAM)
server_address = ('localhost', 10000)
sock.connect(server_address)

#Start logging
counter = 101
seconds_epoch = int(time.time())
fraction_epoch = int((time.time())*1000 - (int(time.time())*1000))
values = (bytes("QAUV" , 'utf-8'), 161 , 1 , 1 , seconds_epoch, fraction_epoch, counter , 1 , bytes("Hello Testname" , 'utf-8'))
packer = struct.Struct('4s I H H I I I 8x ? 128s')
packed_data = packer.pack(*values)

# Send start logging
print (sys.stderr, 'sending start "%s"' % packed_data , values , len(packed_data))
sock.sendall(packed_data)

#Stop logging
counter = 102
values = (bytes("QAUV" , 'utf-8'), 32 , 2 , 1 , seconds_epoch, fraction_epoch, counter )
packer = struct.Struct('4s I H H I I I 8x')
packed_data = packer.pack(*values)

# Send stop logging
print (sys.stderr, 'sending stop "%s"' % packed_data , values , len(packed_data))
sock.sendall(packed_data)

# closing socket
print (sys.stderr, 'closing socket')
sock.close()