This Open Research Institute (ORI) Projects Meetup details technical advancements and strategic discussions across its key initiatives. The Opulent Voice project is undergoing a significant shift from UDP to TCP for data encapsulation to enable robust network-wide communication, alongside addressing browser-based microphone access challenges and planning a new conference server feature. The Eve project is exploring low-bit-rate communication modulation schemes, analyzing their performance given channel coherence limitations. Updates are also provided on upcoming events like Defcon, the FCC Technical Advisory Council report highlighting amateur radio's regulatory needs, and the critical need for further development on the Hyperia satellite receiver. The meeting concludes with discussions on peer-to-peer mode functionality, hardware accessibility, and a special announcement recognizing Matthew with the ARRL Technical Innovation Award.
Exploring ORI Projects: Network Evolution, Satellite Communication, and Community Engagement
0:00Meeting Overview: The Open Research Institute (ORI) Projects Meetup provides a roundtable format to discuss completed tasks, future plans, resource needs, and roadblocks.
0:42Opulent Voice Encapsulation Shift (UDP to TCP): The team is changing the Opulent Voice data encapsulation from UDP to TCP to ensure reliable communication over broader networks (across the room, country, or planet), addressing potential packet loss, corruption, and out-of-order arrival.
1:31TCP Implementation Details: The shift to TCP requires treating data as a stream of bytes, necessitating the addition of delimiters (COBS) for frame boundaries and new code for session maintenance to handle connection drops gracefully.
3:09Protocol Integrity: It is crucial to note that these encapsulation changes do not alter the core Opulent Voice (OPV) protocol or its over-the-air interface, focusing solely on the delivery method to SDRs or remote computers.
4:52Microphone Access Security Challenge: A significant hurdle is browser security, which typically restricts microphone access to localhost (HTTP) connections, making direct remote microphone access via a web browser difficult without the overhead of HTTPS.
6:33Companion Program Solution: To circumvent browser microphone restrictions for remote access, the proposed solution involves running a small companion helper program on the user's local machine.
7:35Pushing Boundaries in Digital Voice: ORI's efforts to enable browser-based microphone access for remote connections go beyond what is typically offered by other digital voice systems and hotspots, especially in amateur radio.
11:56Interlocator Progress and Unified TCP: TCP support is being integrated into the independent receiver ("post locker") and then the main user program ("interlocator"). The decision was made to standardize on TCP for all connections (local and remote), simplifying the interface for devices like the Pluto SDR.
18:10Full Data Capability & End-to-End Demo: The system retains the full capability to handle arbitrary IP data (voice, text, control messages) through the host computer's network stack. An end-to-end over-the-air demo is imminent, building on successful local streaming.
22:59Eve Project - Low Bit Rate Communications: The Eve project is focused on achieving very low-bit-rate communication, with ongoing analysis of link budget and modulation schemes like Mary orthogonal FSK, facing challenges due to short channel coherence times.
25:38Eve's Data Rate Outlook: The ultimate goal is to determine the achievable bits per hour, with current estimations leaning towards a very limited number (potentially only a dozen).
26:50Opulent Voice Conference Server: The next major development phase for Opulent Voice and Hypherea involves adding a conference server, enabling users to join, search for, and participate in conferences with a self-cleaning roster (inactive users/conferences drop off).
29:04User Interface Enhancements for Conferences: The Interlock user interface will be updated with a new third tab for discovering and joining conferences, automatically switching back to the communications tab upon transmission.
30:44Accessibility - Audio Transcription: The team is considering adding transcription functionality for recorded audio to improve accessibility, potentially displayed as text within the communication history.
31:38Upcoming Events (Defcon): ORI will staff an exhibit at Defcon's RF village in early August, demonstrating Ribbit and featuring DIY radar with Ed Frezzma.
32:25FCC TAC Report Submission: Chapter 2 of ORI's final report for the FCC Technical Advisory Council (TAC) has been submitted, emphasizing regulatory issues for amateur radio, including the "regulatory failure" of the inactive 219 MHz band.
34:14Hyperia Receiver Development Priority: More attention is needed for the Hyperia satellite receiver, specifically advancing the multi-rate channelizer (developed by Ken Eastston) from a working design within an FPGA to a mature, working prototype.
36:08Expert Offer for Channelizer Help: Pete offers his expertise in polyphase channelizers to assist with the Hyperia receiver development, acknowledging its mathematical and DSP complexity.
39:22Open-Source Cubesat Workshop: ORI plans to attend (remotely) the LibreSpace Foundation's Open-Source Cubesat Workshop in October and is considering submitting their space-related work after the deadline extension.
41:46ESA/AMSAT-DL Symposium: ORI will present in September at the ESA and AMSAT-DL symposium on their contributions to the future GEO project, a collaborative initiative for the amateur radio community.
42:59Peer-to-Peer Mode for Opulent Voice: The team will define a subset of features for a peer-to-peer mode, aiming to provide text, data, and voice capabilities that are more advanced than traditional packet radio and faster than 1200 baud.
44:59Hardware Cost and Accessibility: Discussions acknowledge that current hardware for a complete station (e.g., Pluto + Raspberry Pi 5) still costs hundreds of dollars, reinforcing the long-term goal of developing inexpensive open-source hardware.
48:44Matthew Receives ARRL Technical Innovation Award: Matthew is announced as the recipient of the ARRL Technical Innovation Award, nominated by Michelle, in recognition of his significant innovations and leadership on the modem module approach.