yodelnet

Yodel

Yodel is a python library that uses WIFI hardware for remote control purposes. Because it does not rely on wifi hotspots it has a far greater range than simple wifi based remote control solutions at the cost of bandwidth. Yodel is it's own protocol that sits under 80211. Yodel was designed specifically with Raspberry PI robotics in mind however it should work with any linux computer with an appropriate wifi interface.

Setup and Config

yodel is available through pip, use:

pip3 install yodelnet

Next, you will need a system with a wifi interface on it that supports Monitor mode and packet injection, if your built in card does not support it look for a USB wifi dongle that supports monitor mode and packet injection. I have had a lot of luck with:https://www.amazon.com/Wifi-Antenna-Raspberry-Pi-Instructions/dp/B00H95C0A2/ but many others that will work just fine also exist. when looking for a wifi dongle it only needs to support 2.4ghz, i would also recommend getting one with an external antenna to improve range. Once you have a supported wifi interface on your system you for the most part are good to go, you probably want 2 computers with supported hardware as without this you will only be able to talk with yourself. you will need to get the interface id for the wifi interface you would like to use, this can be done with the "iw dev" command. this will be needed in the "yodel.setInterface" function call in your code.

Documentation:

RADIO CONFIGURATION:

yodel.setInterface(str)

set the interface that yodel should operate on, will auto configure that interface.
interfaces need to support monitor mode and packet injection. 
(a list of valid interfaces can be found by using the "iw dev" command)

yodel.setChannel(int):

set what radio channel is being used.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_WLAN_channels
using something in the 2.4ghz band (channels 1-11) will give best results.
some leakage between channels will occur, in other words, if you are sending on channel 1  
some of your messages can still be picked up by a robot listening on channel 2
increasing the distance between the channels will reduce this.

yodel.setPower(int (dBm))

set transmission power, using this may damage your wifi hardware.
wifi interfaces usually sit somewhere between 2000dbm and 3000dbm.
currently a limit of 3500 dBm is hardcoded to reduce odds of damaging hardware.
this is hardcoded around line 70 in config.py.

** check local laws before adjusting your interfaces power. **

SENDING AND RECEIVING:

yodel.listen()

returns messages sent to your robot.
actual receiving is being taken care of by another thread so yodel.listen is non blocking.

yodel.send(bytearray/int/string, name=str, group = str)

send data defined by first parameter to a robot with a given name and/or who is a member group

examples:
yodel.send("Hello Yodler", name="Yodler")
yodel.send("Hello group of Yodlers", group="Yodlers")
yodel.send("Hello Yodler who is a member of the the group of yodlers", name="Yodler", group="Yodlers")

MESH NETWORKING:

yodel.enableRelay(bool)

enable or disable mesh networking.
True: mesh networking is enabled
False: mesh networking is disabled
mesh networking is disabled by default.

GROUP MANAGEMENT:

yodel.addGroup(str)

Add robot to new group defined by str

yodel.deleteGroup(str)

Leave group defined by str

yodel.getGroups()

Get a list containing all groups the robot is a member of

yodel.clearGroups()

Leave all groups

GENERAL:

yodel.setRepeats(int)

set retransmission count

yodel.setName(str)

set robot name used when receiving messages

yodel.getName()

returns the current name

Example Code

Sender

import yodel
from time import sleep

yodel.startRadio("wlx00c0caa5efb2") #initiate radio on interface wlx00c0caa5efb2 (the interface name will differ on your system)

while True:

    yodel.send("this is a message", name="listener",group="group_of_robots") #send data to robots named "listener" who are a member of group_of_robots
    sleep(0.1) #sleep for .1 seconds(this is also just here as a convenience)

Receiver

import yodel
from time import sleep

yodel.startRadio("wlx00c0caa5efb2") #initiate radio on interface wlx00c0caa5efb2 (the interface name will differ on your system)
yodel.setName("listener")  #set the robot's name to listener
yodel.addGroup("group_of_robots")  #add robot to the group "group_of_robots"


while True:

    sleep(0.1) #sleep for .1 seconds, this is just a convenience
    data = yodel.listen() #listen for all data sent to robots named "listener" and/or who are a member of "group_of_robots"
    if data: 
        print(data.payload) #if data is found print it