fm-rds-tx/docs/metering_telemetry_autobahn_v3.md

Metering Telemetry Autobahn Concept

Status: Draft
Version: 3.1
Scope: fm-rds-tx runtime telemetry transport for live metering, browser UI, future composite spectrum, and snapshot fallback APIs

1. Summary

The current GET /measurements endpoint is already a useful and well-shaped snapshot API for composite/MPX metering. It should stay.

If the UI is expected to evolve toward:

• smoother live audio meters
• smoother MPX meters
• higher refresh rates
• future composite spectrum/analyzer views
• multiple concurrent telemetry consumers

then snapshot polling alone is no longer the ideal transport.

This document proposes a live telemetry transport layer — the “metering autobahn” — built around:

• a small telemetry broadcaster/hub inside the control plane
• WebSocket delivery for low-latency/high-rate live data
• a deliberately tiny WS-1 scope
• continued support for GET /measurements as a stable snapshot fallback
• explicit protection of the ingest / DSP / TX realtime path

The key design rules are:

• streaming is added, not substituted
• /measurements remains a first-class snapshot endpoint
• metering must never be allowed to interfere with ingest / DSP / TX timing

---

2. Core Principle

/measurements stays

The existing snapshot endpoint must not be removed.

It remains valuable for:

• debugging
• curl/manual inspection
• API consumers that only want snapshots
• low-complexity integrations
• fallback behavior when WebSocket transport is unavailable

So the intended model is:

• WebSocket for live streaming
• GET /measurements for stable snapshot access

Not one replacing the other.

---

3. Goals

Primary goals

• Provide a transport suitable for higher-rate live metering.
• Support future spectrum/analyzer-style UI features.
• Keep structured measurement semantics separate from transport concerns.
• Avoid forcing the browser to poll snapshots at increasingly high rates.
• Preserve /measurements as a stable snapshot API.
• Protect ingest / DSP / TX timing from telemetry, transport, browser, and control-plane behavior.

Secondary goals

• Support multiple telemetry consumers.
• Handle slow clients safely.
• Avoid overloading the hot DSP path.
• Make future spectrum support possible without transport redesign.
• Ensure telemetry degrades by dropping metering data rather than slowing the realtime path.

---

4. Non-Goals

This concept is not:

• a replacement for /runtime
• a replacement for /measurements
• a raw-sample streaming design
• a browser-side FFT design
• a long-term telemetry database
• an excuse to build a huge generalized pub/sub system in WS-1
• a design where browser/UI/control-plane demand can push back into ingest / DSP / TX

---

5. Single Source of Truth

This is the most important semantic rule.

There must be exactly one latest measurement snapshot truth inside the runtime/control system.

That means:

• the generator/engine path produces the latest measurement snapshot
• GET /measurements exposes that snapshot
• WebSocket streams updates derived from that same snapshot source

WebSocket must not introduce a separate meter-calculation path.

Otherwise the system risks a future mismatch like:

• polling UI shows one value
• streaming UI shows another value
• both appear plausible
• nobody trusts either anymore

So the rule is:

• same measurement source
• different delivery mechanisms

Additional WS rule:

• the measurement.data payload sent over WebSocket should be semantically identical to the measurement object returned by GET /measurements
• transport envelope fields such as type, ts, and seq may differ, but the underlying measurement meaning must not drift

---

6. Realtime Safety Rule

This is the most important operational rule.

Ingest / DSP / TX timing owns the system.

Metering is valuable, but it is not allowed to compete with realtime work for correctness. If the system must choose between:

• keeping ingest / DSP / TX on time
• or delivering every metering update

then metering loses.

The rule is:

• realtime first
• metering is best-effort
• dropped telemetry is acceptable
• timing interference is not acceptable

This means metering transport must be designed so that:

• slow clients cannot block producers
• control-plane activity cannot block producers
• JSON / HTTP / WebSocket work cannot occur on the realtime path
• telemetry backlog cannot cause unbounded memory growth
• the realtime path never waits for telemetry consumers

In short:

• if anything must be sacrificed under load, sacrifice telemetry freshness/completeness, never ingest / DSP / TX timing

This rule also applies to future spectrum support:

• spectrum is also best-effort
• future spectrum work must never degrade ingest / DSP / TX timing

---

7. One-Way Data Flow Rule

The data-flow direction must be explicit.

Allowed direction:

• realtime path → published measurement snapshot → control-plane broadcaster → clients

Forbidden direction:

• client demand → control plane → realtime path “give me data now”

This means:

• the realtime path produces telemetry only when it naturally completes work
• the control plane reads what the realtime side has already published
• browser refresh rate must not cause extra DSP work
• WebSocket clients do not “request the current meter” from the realtime path

The system should therefore behave as:

• one producer of measurement snapshots
• one non-RT transport layer that distributes already-produced snapshots
• zero transport-driven callbacks into the DSP hot path

---

8. Architectural Layers

8.1 Signal production layer

The generator / engine already produces semantically meaningful measurement snapshots.

That should remain the source of truth for metering data.

Later, spectrum production can be added in a similarly structured way.

Examples of produced data classes:

• measurement snapshots
• future spectrum frames
• optional future runtime event frames

8.2 Realtime-safe publication boundary

Between the realtime path and the control plane there must be a strict publication boundary.

Responsibilities:

• accept already-computed chunk-local measurement results
• publish them in a way that never blocks the producer
• allow overwrite/drop behavior under load
• prevent transport concerns from leaking into ingest / DSP / TX

This boundary is where realtime safety is enforced.

8.3 Telemetry transport layer

Introduce a small telemetry broadcaster/hub in the control plane.

Responsibilities in WS-1:

• accept published measurement snapshots from the non-blocking publication boundary
• fan them out to connected WebSocket clients
• apply bounded-queue/backpressure policy
• isolate transport logic from DSP/runtime logic

This transport layer should stay intentionally small at first.

8.4 Client/UI layer

The browser UI should consume:

• GET /measurements for initial/fallback snapshot state
• WebSocket for live updates when available

Rendering logic such as:

• smoothing
• peak hold
• decay
• short local history

should remain on the UI side.

---

9. Why a Broadcaster/Hub Is Still Useful

Even in a minimal WS-1 design, a broadcaster/hub is useful because it keeps transport logic out of:

• generator code
• engine code
• ad-hoc handler state

It allows:

• one producer → many consumers
• bounded queues per client
• clean control-plane ownership of transport

But for WS-1, this hub should be small and boring, not a grand infrastructure project.

---

10. Hot-Path Constraints

The realtime path must remain intentionally primitive.

Allowed on the realtime side:

• chunk-local accumulation into predeclared counters/fields
• simple arithmetic such as abs/square/max/counter updates
• one finalize step per chunk
• one non-blocking publication step per chunk

Forbidden on the realtime side:

• JSON encoding
• HTTP handling
• WebSocket writes
• logging in the hot path
• blocking channels
• contended locks shared with non-RT code
• dynamic queue growth
• per-sample heap allocation
• transport-driven callback logic

The model is:

• compute meters while already processing audio/composite data
• finalize once per chunk
• publish once per chunk
• leave all transport/rendering concerns outside the realtime path

---

11. Publication Strategy

The publication boundary must be non-blocking.

Acceptable implementation styles include:

Option A — Atomic latest snapshot

• realtime side writes the latest completed snapshot into a preallocated slot or latest-value holder
• readers fetch the latest available completed value
• no backlog is preserved
• freshness is prioritized completely over completeness

Option B — Tiny bounded SPSC-style queue/ring

• queue size intentionally tiny, typically 1 or 2
• if full, older unsent snapshot is overwritten or discarded
• publisher never blocks
• reader sees the newest available completed value

For WS-1, either approach is acceptable as long as these rules hold:

• bounded memory only
• no producer blocking
• latest state wins

For WS-1, the preferred implementation bias is:

• choose the simplest non-blocking latest-value publication model that satisfies the realtime safety rules
• in practice this often means starting with an atomic/latest-snapshot publication model before introducing a more explicit tiny ring structure

The most important rule is not the exact primitive. The most important rule is:

• metering publication may drop or overwrite telemetry, but may not delay the producer

---

12. WS-1 Scope: Keep It Brutally Small

This is a deliberate constraint.

WS-1 should include only:

• one endpoint: GET /ws/telemetry
• one message class: measurement
• one small broadcaster/hub
• one bounded queue per client
• one drop policy: drop old, keep newest
• UI snapshot bootstrap + WS live updates

WS-1 should not include:

• topic subscriptions
• bundle messages
• runtime-event multiplexing
• quality-level negotiation
• generalized telemetry protocol machinery
• speculative infrastructure for future categories

The goal of WS-1 is simple:

• make meters smoother
• establish the live telemetry path
• do not overengineer

---

13. Why WebSocket and Not Only SSE

For WS-1, the traffic is fundamentally server → browser.

That means Server-Sent Events (SSE) would also be a technically valid option and would be simpler in some respects.

However, WebSocket is still preferred here because it better matches the likely next steps:

• future multiple telemetry classes
• future spectrum delivery
• possible future interactive or negotiated telemetry behavior

So the decision is:

• SSE would be sufficient for the narrowest first step
• WebSocket is preferred for forward compatibility

This is a strategic choice, not a claim that basic metering strictly requires WebSocket.

---

14. Transport Model

14.1 Existing snapshot endpoint

• GET /measurements

Role:

• stable pull-based snapshot
• debugging
• fallback
• low-rate integrations

This endpoint should continue returning the latest measurement snapshot in structured JSON form.

14.2 New live endpoint

• proposed: GET /ws/telemetry

Role:

• push-based live measurement updates
• suitable for smoother meter motion
• future-ready for later telemetry expansion

On subscribe, the server should immediately send the latest known measurement snapshot if one exists, so the client becomes visually current without waiting for the next natural update.

---

15. Message Classes

For WS-1, the system should implement exactly one message class.

15.1 measurement

Carries the latest structured measurement snapshot.

Preferred rule:

• the data payload should match the GET /measurements snapshot shape as closely as possible
• transport envelope fields such as type may wrap the same underlying snapshot semantics, but WS should not invent a subtly different meter schema

Example:

{
  "type": "measurement",
  "ts": "2026-04-13T07:00:53.842Z",
  "seq": 128,
  "data": {
    "sampleRateHz": 228000,
    "chunkSamples": 11400,
    "flags": {
      "stereoEnabled": true,
      "stereoMode": "DSB"
    },
    "lrPreEncodePostWatermark": {
      "lRms": 0.27,
      "rRms": 0.27,
      "lPeakAbs": 0.51,
      "rPeakAbs": 0.51
    },
    "compositeFinalPreIq": {
      "peakAbs": 0.63,
      "pilotInjectionEquivalentPercent": 9.0
    }
  }
}

Not part of WS-1 yet

These are future classes, not current WS-1 deliverables:

• spectrum
• runtime
• bundles / multiplexed compound messages

---

16. Update Rates

Measurement snapshots

• target: 10–20 Hz
• enough for noticeably smoother meters than snapshot polling
• reasonable for WS-1

WS-1 does not need extreme rates yet.

The goal is not “as fast as possible”, but:

• smoother than polling
• stable under load
• simple to reason about

---

17. Backpressure Strategy

This is mandatory.

For metering, freshness matters more than completeness.

Preferred policy per client:

• bounded queue/channel
• if full:
  • discard older unsent frame(s)
  • keep the newest available state

In short:

• latest state wins

This is especially important because browser-side WebSocket APIs do not give you a magical end-to-end backpressure solution.

Additional server safety rule:

• if a client remains persistently too slow, broken, or backpressured, the server may close that client connection rather than growing complexity or buffering to accommodate it

---

18. UI Consumption Model

The frontend should have two distinct layers.

Transport layer

• connect WebSocket
• reconnect on disconnect
• parse measurement messages
• store latest live state
• fall back to /measurements when needed

Rendering layer

• meter smoothing
• peak hold
• decay
• short local history

This keeps transport and presentation loosely coupled.

---

19. Fallback Behavior

Preferred UI behavior:

1. load snapshot from GET /measurements
2. render immediately from snapshot
3. connect WebSocket
4. if WS is healthy, prefer streamed updates
5. if WS drops, keep rendering last known state and resume snapshot fallback polling

This keeps the UI both:

• responsive when live transport is available
• robust when it is not

---

20. Future Direction (Explicitly Not WS-1)

These are valid later expansions, but they should not enlarge the first implementation unnecessarily:

• spectrum message type
• composite spectrum producer
• runtime/event stream integration
• quality levels / adaptive throttling
• topic or subscription semantics
• bundled telemetry frames

These can come later once WS-1 proves the transport path.

---

21. Proposed Internal Shape

The internal design only needs to support a small set of concepts for WS-1, such as:

• publish latest measurement snapshot
• subscribe client connection
• drop stale frames under backpressure

That can still be implemented with a small internal abstraction such as:

• PublishMeasurement(snapshot)
• Subscribe()

It does not need a giant generic telemetry framework yet.

---

22. Phased Implementation Plan

Phase WS-1 — Measurement streaming only

Deliverables:

• small telemetry broadcaster/hub in control plane
• GET /ws/telemetry
• only measurement messages
• bounded per-client queue
• drop-old / keep-newest policy
• browser UI loads snapshot first, then prefers WS live updates
• /measurements remains unchanged

Phase WS-2 — UI transport polish

Deliverables:

• reconnect handling
• clean fallback behavior
• meter update cadence tuning

Phase WS-3 — Spectrum support

Deliverables:

• server-side composite spectrum producer
• spectrum message type
• browser spectrum panel

Phase WS-4 — Advanced transport controls

Deliverables:

• optional adaptive throttling
• optional multiple telemetry classes
• optional richer live transport design

---

23. Open Questions

Q1

Should WS-1 stream only measurement?

Current preference:

• yes
• keep it single-purpose

Q2

Should the UI keep polling /measurements while WS is healthy?

Current preference:

• no continuous polling during healthy WS
• fallback polling only

Q3

Should future spectrum run at the same cadence as measurements?

Current preference:

• no
• spectrum should likely be slower

Q4

When should a more generic telemetry protocol exist?

Current preference:

• only after WS-1 proves useful
• do not front-load complexity

---

24. Recommended Next Step

Implement Phase WS-1 in the smallest practical form.

Concrete steps:

1. add a small telemetry broadcaster in the control layer
2. define one WS message type: measurement
3. add GET /ws/telemetry
4. publish the latest measurement snapshot into that broadcaster
5. make the browser UI bootstrap from /measurements, then prefer WS
6. keep /measurements untouched as the snapshot fallback API

That gives the system the live metering transport backbone without turning WS-1 into a giant infrastructure project.