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Closed
Milestone started on May 3, 2024

v10.0

Breaking Changes

  • adds new field to ros_acomms_msgs/SoundSpeedProfile: water_depth. !130 (merged)
  • breaking changes in tdma*:
    • TdmaStatus message added field slot_duration_seconds. !123 (merged)
    • tdma slots can take a range for input. The data type is also upgraded from int8 to uint16. Can now support up to 65535 slots. !129 (merged)
      • TdmaStatus, TdmaScriptedStatus, TdmaSlottedAlohaStatus and, TdmaAdvancedStatus have been updated:
        • int8 current_slot now: uint16
        • int8 num_slots now: uint16 (*)does not apply to TdmaStatus which does not have this field)
    • TdmaAdvancedStatus message has new fields: !129 (merged)
      • string[] this_cycle_modem_commands: list of modem commands send this test cycle
      • string[] last_cycle_modem_commands: list of modem commands sent last test cycle
    • removed the unused dynamic reconfigure params from tdma_advanced (also effects tdma_scripted and tdma_slotted_aloha since they use tdma_advanceds' dynamic reconfigure method on top of their own).
    • tdma_node will no longer run with a configuration that does not allow transmit because of padding and self imposed guard time. If intentional, this forces users to make use of tdma_advanced's software_mute feature (this is the tested and maintained code path for software mute with TDMA). If unintentional, this draws attention to the configuration mistake immediately. !123 (merged)
    • tdma_scripted will not transmit during its very first active slot after enabling a test plan (or when it is reloaded or changed with dynamic reconfigure). Burning the first slot means we can depend on the test plan order defined in the yaml file. !123 (merged)
    • changes to: TdmaAdvancedStatus.msg, TdmaScriptedStatus.msg, TdmaSlottedAlohaStatus.msg. Switching from nested message types for super class, to a flat message type. e.g., we_are_active, etc.. is now at the top level of these messages. Previously they were nested in the super classes type. !123 (merged)
      • active_slots changed field type from int8 to int8[].
      • nav_slots is now a list type (int8[])
      • comms_slots is now a list type (int8[])
      • time_to_next_active in the context of tdma_slotted_aloha it means time to next own slot or aloha slot (whichever is closest)
    • GetNextPacketData.srv changed min_priority to minimum_priority to match other calls. !123 (merged)
    • GetNextPacketData.srv and GetNextQueuedMessage.srv, minimum_priority is type: int8. !123 (merged)
    • All instances of minimum_priority and priority fields are now type int8. !123 (merged)
  • Breaking changes in ros_acomms_modeling:
    • sim_transmission_loss node: Renamed bellhop_arrivals parameter to use_bellhop_for_latency for clarity. !125 (merged)

New Features / Improvements

  • tdma* MAC nodes:
    • Added system in tdma super class (manual_transmit_queue) for sending modem NMEA messages manually to be queued by tdma and sent in active slot (in place of next packet) !117 (merged)
    • Added rospy-yaml-include parser to tdma_scripted for test plan parsing. (!115 (merged))
    • !115 (merged) now layering scripted dynamic reconfigure for controls related to cycling rates.
    • tdma_scripted_node now supports sending arbitrary NMEA modem commands. !129 (merged)
      • Adds the optional key modem_commands to a test block entry and the modem commands in the list will be published to nmea_to_modem before each transmit. Examples can be found in ros_acomms_tests/launch/tdma_scripted_test_plan_modem_cmds.yaml. -active_slots, comms_slots, nav_slots and, aloha_slots can be set with a range string (see notes) (!129 (merged))
    • New Node: tdma_slotted_aloha uses queue priority to gate traffic sent in the aloha_slots. (see notes) (!123 (merged))
    • New DynamicReconfigure parameters for tdma_scripted (overlaid on tdma_advanced DynamicReconfigure) !123 (merged)
      • scripted_test_plan_enabled, default True if scripted_test_plan yaml is passed
      • scripted_test_plan_file, filename for test plan yaml
    • New DynamicReconfigure parameters for tdma_slotted_aloha (overlaid on tdma_advanced DynamicReconfigure) !123 (merged)
      • aloha_slot_priority
      • aloha_slots_, trailing '_' for this dynamic reconfigure param. This allows changing the aloha_slots after launch.
      • tdma_slotted_aloha now has ~aloha_slots = [] by default for test cases !121 (merged)
    • New test cases added: test_tdma_extended.py (!121 (merged)), test_tdma_scripted.py (cases added: (!121 (merged)), test_tdma_slotted_aloha.py (!118 (merged))
  • new features in ros_acomms_modeling for simualation:
    • Add utility to read SSPs from CSV files and use them in sim_transmission_loss_node.py (!119 (merged))
    • sim_transmission_loss sets depth in bellhop env on each ssp update when rosparam ~use_water_depth_from_ssp is set to True (by default this is False to preserve the old behavior). (see notes) !130 (merged)
    • updates to modem sim system: !126 (merged)
      • added XST to modem_sim
      • more descriptive error messages, OWTT/latency and distance information
      • Ping replies that have timed out will now publish ping_reply on topic even though it does not have a transaction for it anymore.
      • added feature to handle partial packets (which can happen when sim_packet_performance_node/fixed_frame_error_rate >0.0)
      • interpolates the frame_success masks to the size of the packet being processed, finds the first bad frame and clears the rest of the packet (like acomms_driver_node.py then publishes the truncated packet)
      • sim_packet_performance.py now populates miniframe_success in SimPacketPerformanceResponse, currently hard coded to succeed (only the dataframe rate is being passed to this service call at the the moment)
    • Bounds checking on platform locations in sim_transmission_loss: !125 (merged)
      • Added bounds checking on location inputs and print errors.
      • Automatically handle near-surface positions by clamping the minimum depth to 0.1m.
      • Handle 0 horizontal distance between modems (same lat/lon for both modems)
  • new features in packet_dispatch:
    • packet_dispatch handles empty packets and zero padded packets (only effects logging) !126 (merged)
    • Added error checking in codec config parser for multiple entries with the same ID. Logs an error message but doesn't change behavior otherwise !124 (merged)
  • Added hardware CI tests (using dual modem box) !114 (merged)

Bugfixes

  • sim_packets that are part of a ping transaction now get a shorter (and more realistic) 0.5s duration (!126 (merged))
  • tdma_node, tdma_slotted_aloha_node added more informative error messages. 477f2dd0
  • active_slots was never allowed to be an empty list but, now the error is more clear and the condition is checked more explicitly. 477f2dd0
    • if active_slots was previously set, tdma will keep the prior active_slots rather than raise an Exception (general M.O. only raise exc right away but once we have launched, do everything in our power to keep system up)
  • tdma_scripted initialization fixes !122 (merged)
    • #40 (closed) tdma_scripted will burn it's very first active slot IF there is an active test plan. This assures the rates/buffer sizes are cycled according to the test plan from the very first packet in the slot.
    • #40 (closed) tdma_scripted sets the parameters for the first transmit from the test plan rather than using values passed in launch for first TX
    • #40 (closed) when the test plan is toggled on from an off state (or it's re-read while running via dynamic reconf) the next active slot will be burned (in case the user toggled during an active slot. This keeps the code simple for handling this case and we won't activate a test plan mid slot)
  • CI pipeline now uses tag: pipeline_$CI_PIPELINE_ID instead of latest to avoid issues when running multiple CI pipelines in parallel (!120 (merged), !121 (merged))
    • e.g., ros_acomms-tests:latest is now ros_acomms-tests:pipeline_$CI_PIPELINE_ID
  • Fixed a bug that caused the acomms_driver_node to hang and require SIGTERM when the ROS master is shutdown before the acomms_driver node is able to get a $CCCFQ,SRC reply from the modem. (!116 (merged))

Notes and Examples

Manual transmit

See !117 (merged)

The manual_transmit_queue system is for sending nmea messages to the modem that make the modem transmit. There is only one topic logically compatible right now and it's the nmea_to_modem in the modem namespace tdma is currently servicing. In the future there may be other topics or ways of using this manual transmit system. For now, it's just a simple interface for nmea commands that you want to send in band with tdma

Example for manual_transmit:

  1. user publishes to $CCACM,1,1,1,CCCFG;pwramp.txlevel;0 to /modem0/tdma/nmea_to_modem
  2. $CCACM,1,1,1,CCCFG;pwramp.txlevel;0 is now queued to transmit next
  3. when tdma_status.we_are_active and ready to send a packet, we instead publish $CCACM,1,1,1,CCCFG;pwramp.txlevel;0 to /modem0/nmea_to_modem which in this case will make the modem transmit this CCACM.

New TDMA slot range syntax

See !129 (merged)

active_slots, comms_slots, nav_slots and, aloha_slots can be set with a range string in this format:

  • valid range formats: start-slot-inclusive:end-slot-inclusive(:optional-step)
  • valid ranges/step values CANNOT be negative.
  • valid range seperators: ":|;|-"
  • example range strings
    • "::" converts to: "0:{num_slots - 1}:1"
    • ":5:" converts to: "0:5:1"
    • "90:5:2" converts to: "0:5:2,90:{num_slots - 1}:2" (wrap around case)

Slotted Aloha TDMA MAC

See !123 (merged)

The slotted aloha MAC adds an extra set of slots that are only used for messages above a specified priority. The name reflects the intended use, which is to have shared "high priority" slots that are used infrequently and may be assigned to multiple platforms.

If msg.priority >= aloha_slot_priority, the message can be transmitted during an aloha_slot. Otherwise this message can only be transmitted in our "normal" active slot.

  • aloha_slots are slots that have a minimum priority and are typically shared with other platforms.
  • aloha_slots allow traffic with high enough priority to be sent during this "group" slot. The traffic can also be sent in the dedicated slot. But only traffic with priority >= aloha_slot_priority will be transmitted during the aloha_slots
  • tdma_slotted_aloha_node has a new rosparam, allow_aloha_slots_only. By default this is False and should only be true in a special case (or for CI testing) 477f2dd0
    • when allow_aloha_slots_only is True, the user is allowed to have a tdma configuration with only aloha slots and no standard active slots.
    • when allow_aloha_slots_only is False, the user cannot configure tdma to only have aloha slots. It will raise an exception right away.

Water depth handling in sim_transmission_loss_node

Water depth can now be set using a field in the SoundSpeedProfile message, but this behavior is controlled by the use_water_depth_from_ssp parameter:

  • when ~use_water_depth_from_ssp parameter is True:
    • if ssp_message.water_depth > 0, the bellhop environment depth is set to the ssp_message.water_depth.
    • if ssp_message.water_depth <= 0, the bellhop environment depth is set to the depth of the deepest depth bin in the SSP array
  • when use_water_depth_from_ssp is False, the bellhop environment depth is left with the value at at launch with the water_depth parameter