RDMnet

Introduction

RDMnet is a library that implements an ANSI standard, ANSI E1.33: Message Transport and Device Management of ANSI E1.20 (RDM) over IP Networks, commonly referred to as RDMnet. ANSI E1.33 can be downloaded from the ESTA TSP website. The RDMnet library is designed to be portable and scalable to almost any RDMnet usage scenario, from lightweight embedded devices to large-scale data sending and routing operations.

See How RDMnet Works for an RDMnet primer, or if you already know how it works, check out Getting Started to get started with using the library in your application.

The full API reference is organized by module.

What is RDMnet?

RDMnet is an extension of RDM, a protocol for discovery and remote configuration of entertainment lighting and other equipment. In RDM, messages are transported over the DMX512 physical layer, which is ubiquitous in the entertainment lighting world and is becoming more prevalent in architectural lighting and other applications.

The main feature of RDMnet is a standard method to transport the messages defined by RDM in an IP network. RDMnet contains several key features to accomplish this end and to build on RDM:

• Built-in scalability, including considerations for a many-to-many relationship between controllers and responders
• Zero-configuration setup, leveraging mDNS and DNS-SD for network discovery
• Standardization of the behavior of interfaces between IP and DMX512 (commonly referred to as gateways)

Platforms

RDMnet supports all platforms targeted by EtcPal, including Microsoft Windows, macOS, Linux and several embedded RTOS platforms.

Dependencies

EtcPal

RDMnet depends on ETC's Platform Abstraction Layer (EtcPal) so that it can be platform-neutral. By default, EtcPal is automatically included as a submodule in the external directory for RDMnet source builds. The CMake configuration will automatically update and pull the submodule before building.

See the documentation for EtcPal.

RDM

RDMnet depends on the ETC's open-source RDM library for RDM protocol support. By default, RDM is automatically included as a submodule in the external directory for RDMnet source builds. The CMake configuration will automatically update and pull the submodule before building.

See the documentation for RDM.

DNS-SD

RDMnet requires a DNS-SD library. It is ported to use the following providers:

• On Windows:
  • Bonjour SDK for Windows v3.0
  • ETCLabs/mDNSWindows (fork of Bonjour with permissive licensing) v1.2.0
    • Note: The Windows CMake configuration will download these binaries by default
• On macOS:
  • Native Bonjour (installed by default)
• On Linux:
  • avahi-client v0.7
    • For compiling RDMnet on Debian-based distributions: sudo apt-get install libavahi-client-dev
• On other platforms:
  • RDMnet includes its own lightweight implementation of mDNS/DNS-SD querying functionality that is used on lower-level RTOS targets.

Qt

The controller example application depends on Qt 5.9.7 or higher. You can download the open-source version of Qt without an account here.