The Duck Family - r41d/ClusterDuck-Protocol GitHub Wiki

Duck Family

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Meet The Duck Family

When the ClusterDuck Protocol was first developed there existed three "species" of ducks: MamaDucks, PapaDucks, and DuckLinks. More recently, the CDP community has developed endless variants to this original concept.

  • PapaDuck is a network gateway that forwards activity and data on any ClusterDuck Network up to the cloud.

  • MamaDuck acts as a network node, repeater, and in some cases a sensor device. The MamaDucks are the core elements that hold together ClusterDuck networks as they grow in size and activity.

  • DuckLink is an edge network node and often used for sensor readings.

All Ducks can be built from of a variety of electronics. See list of hardware for more information.

There are many variants of the primary types of Duck. Any Duck type can have GPS, Real Time Clock or a variety of sensors, though in most cases the MamaDuck is used for sensors, captive portal, and other customization. Any Duck type can use dedicated power, battery power, solar power, wind or a mix of power sources. Some Ducks are optimized for battery or solar operations as they are expected to be in the field when the power grid is out or nonexistent. Any Duck can be placed in a waterproof container and made to float, or may be tethered in trees when infrastructure is missing from disasters. Duck types are further described below.

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PapaDuck

The PapaDuck is the network gateway or uplink to the world wide web. When the PapaDuck receives a message from any other Duck, it will upload those transmission out of the network either to the internet, to a local area network server, or to a blind serial port using MQTT Server uplinks or TCP/IP protocols. The recipient server (MQTT or other) can be in the cloud, on a local PC, it doesn't really matter. This network gateway capacity is the primary function. A PapaDuck could have sensors or a GPS, but it does not relay data throughout the ClusterDuck network (like a MamaDuck does).

Known PapaDuck Types:

  • PapaDuck MQTT server uplink device
  • BigDaddyDuck PapaDuck to TCP/IP Network/Internet
  • Papi PapaDuck built on a Raspberry PI for Local Arean Networks (LAN)
  • DishDuck – PapaDuck to Iridium satellite connection
  • CellDuck – PapaDuck to TCP/IP network via GSM or LTE or LTE/IoT data

MamaDuck

Mama Duck functions on the mesh The MamaDuck can serve multiple functions and often operates as the core nodes that form a ClusterDuck network. The first primary function is a network repeater or relay, that is to say the MamaDuck receives messages from the network and if it has not already seen the message it will forward it onward. If a MamaDuck has already forwarded a particular message, the device will drop the message and does not forward it further.

A secondary function of the mama duck is to provide a captive web portal over WiFi connections. When connecting to a MamaDuck via WiFi on a consumer device (a phone or laptop), a web page appears (much like when you join a Starbucks wifi network). This page may contain text fields for you to fill out and submit, potentially for disaster response operations or other communications needs. Once submitted, the MamaDuck will package (or compress) the data, create a message and send it out into the network where it will permeate and eventually find the PapaDuck and uplink out to the world wide web.

Other possible functions of the MamaDuck include acting as a variety of sensor foundations for almost any type of application from location (GPS), to temperature, humidity, moisture, air quality, movement, etc. The Duck can read the sensors and create a message from the data, and again send it out to the network to eventually uplink out of the mesh.

Customize your MamaDuck

Known MamaDuck Types:

  • MamaDuck network relay, may have a WiFi or other connectivities
  • DiscoDuck MamaDuck communications using a phone app for cellular and WiFi oversaturated environments
  • PortaDuck – MamaDuck optimized for handheld battery operations.
  • DuckEgg – MamaDuck attached to a drone for aerial deployment, also known as a ClusterFlock
  • DuckDuck – MamaDuck optimized to fly in the air (on drones) and/or drop and float in water
  • LocDuck – MamaDuck optimized for whereabouts and positioning with GPS.
  • SpaceDuck – MamaDuck optimized for high altitude, cold environments with sensors
  • HopsLink – MamaDuck with sensors optimized for beer delivery
  • BluDuck – MamaDuck optimized to use Bluetooth instead of WiFi for captive portal.

Ducklink

DuckLinks are a source of data at the edge of any ClusterDuck Network. While not currently seen often in the wild, they may have captive portals or sensor. DuckLinks share data with the MamaDucks or if within range, directly to the PapaDuck. The DuckLinks do not relay data to other DuckLinks. They are normally used when it is important to conserve power, size, weight, or other resource concerns.

Known DuckLink Types:

  • DuckLink WiFi captive portal, a variety of sensors, and normally used for extreme low power environments using sleep modes
  • DetectorDuck detects LoRa signal strength to assist deploying MamaDuck ducks to expand the ClusterDuck Network, only detects MamaDucks and PapaDucks, used by humans