Ship Telemetry & Radar System

A professional-grade ship telemetry and radar visualization system built with Qt/C++. Features real-time position tracking, reliable UDP+ACK communication protocol, and authentic maritime radar display with wave-based scanning animation.

🚢 Features

Real-time Ship Tracking

Live position updates with configurable movement patterns
Smooth interpolation for missing data packets
Bearing and range calculation from radar center
Speed conversion between km/h and nautical knots

Advanced Radar Display

Circular maritime radar with authentic green-on-black styling
Wave-based scanning animation emanating from center
Range rings with nautical mile markings
Compass rose with cardinal directions (N, NE, E, SE, S, SW, W, NW)
Single contact tracking showing current ship position
Configurable range (50-1000 NM) with mouse wheel zoom

Reliable UDP+ACK Protocol

Hybrid UDP protocol with acknowledgment mechanism
Sequence numbering for packet ordering
Automatic retransmission (up to 3 attempts)
Thread-safe buffering with non-blocking I/O
Packet loss detection and interpolation
Real-time network statistics with loss rate monitoring

🎛️ System Components

TelemetrySender (Ship Simulator)

Simulates a ship transmitting its position and telemetry data.

Configuration Options:

Starting Position: Latitude/Longitude with 6-decimal precision
Movement Pattern: Configurable lat/lon increments per movement
Speed Control: 0-100 km/h ship speed
Timing Control:
- Send interval: 100ms - 10s
- Movement interval: 1-60 seconds
Reliability Settings: ACK timeout, max retransmissions

TelemetryReceiver (Radar Station)

Receives and displays ship telemetry on a professional radar interface.

Radar Controls:

Range: 50-1000 nautical miles
Sweep Speed: 1-60 RPM wave animation
Contact Display: Real-time position with bearing/range data
Recording/Playback: Capture and replay telemetry sessions

🔧 Technical Architecture

Communication Protocol

UDP + ACK Hybrid Protocol
├── Sequence Numbers (packet ordering)
├── Timestamps (millisecond precision)
├── ACK Mechanism (reliability)
├── Timeout & Retransmission (3s/3 attempts)
└── JSON Payload Format

Data Structures

struct TelemetryPacket {
    quint32 sequenceNumber;
    QDateTime timestamp;
    double latitude;
    double longitude;
    double speed;
    QString status;
    bool needsAck;
};

Thread Safety

QReadWriteLock for data protection
QMutex for socket operations
Atomic counters for statistics
Non-blocking I/O operations

Loss Recovery Mechanisms

Packet Loss Detection: Missing sequence number identification
Linear Interpolation: Calculate missing positions from adjacent packets
Last Valid Data: Fallback to previous known position
Timeout Management: Configurable packet timeout (5s default)

🚀 Getting Started

Prerequisites

Qt 5.15+ or Qt 6.x
CMake 3.16+ or qmake
C++17 compatible compiler
Network permissions for UDP communication

Building the Project

Using CMake

# Clone or extract the project

cd SensorPanel


# Build Receiver

cd TelemetryReceiver
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make


# Build Sender

cd ../../TelemetrySender
mkdir build && cd build
cmake ..
make

Using qmake

# Build Receiver

cd TelemetryReceiver
qmake TelemetryReceiver.pro
make


# Build Sender

cd ../TelemetrySender
qmake TelemetrySender.pro
make

Running the System

Start Receiver (Radar Station)

cd TelemetryReceiver
   ./TelemetryReceiver

Start Sender (Ship Simulator)

cd TelemetrySender
   ./TelemetrySender

Configure Ship Movement
- Set starting position (latitude/longitude)
- Configure movement increments
- Set speed and transmission intervals
- Click "Start Sending"
Monitor Radar Display
- Observe ship position on radar
- Monitor network statistics
- Adjust radar range and sweep speed

📊 Network Statistics

Real-time Monitoring

Packets Received: Total successful receptions
Packet Loss Rate: Percentage with color coding
- 🟢 < 1%: Excellent (Green)
- 🟠 1-5%: Acceptable (Orange)
- 🔴 > 5%: Poor (Red)
Interpolated Packets: Missing data estimations
Retransmissions: Failed delivery attempts

Performance Tuning

// Receiver Configuration
receiver->setInterpolationEnabled(true);
receiver->setMaxBufferSize(1000);
receiver->setPacketTimeoutMs(5000);

// Sender Configuration
sender->setAckTimeoutMs(3000);
sender->setMaxRetransmissions(3);
sender->setReliabilityEnabled(true);

🎯 Usage Examples

Basic Ship Tracking

// Configure starting position (Istanbul area)
latitude: 41.000000°
longitude: 29.000000°
speed: 25 km/h

// Set movement pattern (northeast)
latitude increment: +0.01°
longitude increment: +0.01°
movement interval: 3 seconds

Network Simulation

// High-frequency updates
send interval: 500ms
movement interval: 2s

// Reliability testing
ACK timeout: 2s
max retransmissions: 5

🔧 Configuration Parameters

Sender Parameters

|-----------|-------|---------|-------------|

| Latitude | -90° to +90° | 39.0° | Ship starting latitude |

| Longitude | -180° to +180° | 35.5° | Ship starting longitude |

| Speed | 0-100 km/h | 25 km/h | Ship speed |

| Lat Increment | -1° to +1° | 0.01° | Latitude change per movement |

| Lon Increment | -1° to +1° | 0.01° | Longitude change per movement |

| Send Interval | 100ms-10s | 1s | Telemetry transmission rate |

| Movement Interval | 1-60s | 3s | Position update frequency |

Receiver Parameters

|-----------|-------|---------|-------------|

| Radar Range | 50-1000 NM | 500 NM | Maximum detection range |

| Sweep Speed | 1-60 RPM | 12 RPM | Wave animation speed |

| Buffer Size | 100-10000 | 1000 | Packet buffer capacity |

| Packet Timeout | 1-30s | 5s | Missing packet timeout |

🐛 Troubleshooting

Common Issues

No Connection

Check firewall settings for UDP port 12345
Ensure both applications run on same machine
Verify network interface availability

High Packet Loss

Reduce send interval (increase time between packets)
Check system network load
Increase ACK timeout duration

Interpolation Errors

Verify movement increments are reasonable
Check for large position jumps
Monitor sequence number continuity

Performance Issues

Reduce radar sweep speed
Limit buffer size
Disable debug logging in release builds

Debug Mode

Enable verbose logging by uncommenting debug statements:

qDebug() << "ReliableUDP: Packet" << sequenceNumber << "received";

📚 API Reference

ReliableUdpReceiver

// Core functionality
bool startListening(quint16 port = 12345);
void setInterpolationEnabled(bool enabled);
void setMaxBufferSize(int size);

// Statistics
int getPacketsReceived() const;
double getPacketLossRate() const;

// Signals
void telemetryDataReceived(const TelemetryPacket &packet);
void statisticsUpdated();

ReliableUdpSender

// Configuration
void setTarget(const QHostAddress &address, quint16 port);
void setReliabilityEnabled(bool enabled);
void sendTelemetryData(const TelemetryPacket &packet);

// Signals
void ackReceived(quint32 sequenceNumber);
void packetTimeout(quint32 sequenceNumber);

RadarWidget

// Display control
void setRange(double nauticalMiles);
void setSweepSpeed(double rpm);
void toggleSweep(bool enabled);

// Data input
void addTelemetryContact(const TelemetryData &data);
void clearContact();

🤝 Contributing

Fork the repository
Create a feature branch (git checkout -b feature/amazing-feature)
Commit your changes (git commit -m 'Add amazing feature')
Push to the branch (git push origin feature/amazing-feature)
Open a Pull Request

📄 License

This project is licensed under the MIT License - see the LICENSE file for details.

🙏 Acknowledgments

Qt Framework for cross-platform GUI development
Maritime radar display standards for authentic visualization
UDP protocol specifications for reliable communication design

📞 Support

For technical support or questions:

Create an issue in the repository
Check troubleshooting section above
Review Qt documentation for platform-specific issues

Built with ❤️ for maritime simulation and telemetry applications

RadarQT