The ClusterDuck Protocol (CDP), an innovative open-source project under the Linux Foundation, represents a significant leap in IoT communications, harnessing the power of low bandwidth and low power such as LoRa technology. Distinct from LoRaWAN, this protocol utilizes LoRa's point-to-multipoint capabilities to facilitate robust communication in diverse environments.
The ClusterDuck Protocol was created by OWL Integrations (formerly Project OWL) to provide developers with an advanced library for crafting distributed communication networks, tailored for a variety of IoT applications. Since its creation, the vision for the ClusterDuck Protocol has grown beyond servicing natural disasters to large events (cellular congestion), sensor networks, and more.
The network is made up of multiple nodes called Ducks. There are 3 basic types of Ducks in a ClusterDuck Network: DuckLink, MamaDuck, and PapaDuck. DuckLinks serve as edge nodes that only transmit data. MamaDucks inherit the same functionality of the DuckLinks, but can also receive messages. This allows the MamaDucks to relay messages from DuckLinks and/or other MamaDucks along the network (towards the gateway). PapaDucks are the endpoint of the network where all of the data is collected and can be stored or pushed up into the cloud. (free tier cloud DMS platform in BETA! Reach out to us on Discord for more info)
Check out the Wiki to learn how to build your own ClusterDuck Network. Feel free to visit the ClusterDuck Protocol website for more information on projects that the community is building. You can reach out directly on our [Slack Workspace] for any questions and/or to work with the community.
To use the ClusterDuck Protocol follow the Installation Manual.
Starting with release 4.0.0 we have unit tests available with the PlatformIO test framework unity
Tests are located in the ClusterDuckProtocol/test folder. These tests are unit tests as they validate the CDP publicly accessible APIs. However they must be run on a device. This means you have to connect a device to your development machine and build the tests to run on the device. Platform IO test command will build, deploy and run the tests and report back the results on your terminal console.
Unit tests are great in detecting problems before they make it to the release, so it is important no only to run them to validate your changes, but to continuously update them.
The project platformio.ini defines environment configurations for supported boards.
For example below is the configuration for tests on the Heltec LoRa v3 Arduino board
[env:test_heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3]
test_build_src = yes
test_filter = test_*
test_framework = unity
platform = ${env:heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3.platform}
board = ${env:heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3.board}
framework = ${env:heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3.framework}
monitor_speed = ${env.monitor_speed}
build_src_filter = +<./> +<./include> +<./include/boards>
lib_deps =
${env.lib_deps}
${env:heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3.lib_deps}
; why do I need to add the following libraries is a mystery to me
SPI
WIRE
FS
WIFI
build_flags =
${env.build_flags}
-std=gnu++11
-DUNIT_TEST
Here are the steps to run the tests (on Linux or Mac OS). This assumes you have platformIO installed on your system.
For more details on setting up your development environment, please refer to the developer's guide.
# Open a terminal
# goto the project root folder (where the platformio.ini is located)
$ cd ClusterDuckProtocol
$ platformio test -e test_heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3
Processing test_DuckUtils in test_heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3 environment
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Building & Uploading...
Testing...
If you don't see any output for the first 10 secs, please reset board (press reset button)
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:181: test_DuckUtils_getCdpVersion [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:182: test_DuckUtils_toUpperCase [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:183: test_DuckUtils_stringToByteVector [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:184: test_DuckUtils_getRandomBytes [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:185: test_DuckUtils_createUuid_with_given_length [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:186: test_DuckUtils_createUuid_with_default_length [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:187: test_DuckUtils_convertToHex [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:188: test_DuckUtils_toString_printable_characters [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:189: test_DuckUtils_toString_non_printable_characters [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:190: test_DuckUtils_isEqual_true [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:191: test_DuckUtils_isEqual_false [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:192: test_DuckUtils_isEqual_false_with_different_sizes [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:193: test_DuckUtils_toUint32 [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:194: test_DuckUtils_saveWifiCredentials [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:195: test_DuckUtils_saveWifiCredentials_zero_length [PASSED]
test/test_DuckUtils/test_DuckUtils.cpp:196: test_DuckUtils_loadWifiSsid [PASSED]
-- test_heltec_wifi_lora_32_V3:test_DuckUtils [PASSED] Took 23.34 seconds -------------------------------------------------------------
We host a bi-weekly CDP Town Hall on Mondays at 2pm EST. The town hall is the place to get updates on protocol, get your questions about CDP answered, and discuss on-going projects. All the current projects is documented in a public roadmap in Github Projects.
Please read CONTRIBUTING.md for details on our Code of Conduct, the process for submitting ClusterDuck Protocol improvements, and how to join our town halls and livestreams.
This project is governed by its Technical Charter and led by its Technical Steering Committee.
This project is licensed under the Apache 2 License - see the LICENSE file for details.