sen-ether-client

JavaScript client for SEN from Node.js.

SEN is a general-purpose, distributed, object-oriented system for applications that demand high modularity and rich communication.

import { Sen } from 'sen-ether-client';

const sen = await Sen.connect();

const diagnostics = await sen.interest('SELECT * FROM hmi.diagnostics');
const probe = await diagnostics.waitFor('EtherProbe');

probe.on('change:label', ({ value }) => {
  console.log('label changed:', value);
});

console.log(await probe.get('label'));
await probe.set('label', 'from-js');
console.log(await probe.call('ping', ['hello']));

await sen.close();

Install

npm install sen-ether-client

Compatibility

sen-ether-client speaks SEN ether directly, so compatibility is tied to SEN protocol versions, not to a specific SEN release name.

sen-ether-client	Kernel protocol	Ether protocol
0.1.x	9	2

If a remote kernel reports another kernel or ether protocol version during the SEN handshake, sen-ether-client treats it as incompatible until that protocol version is explicitly supported.

The protocol STL files used to maintain this codec are shipped in resources/protocol. The source SEN release recorded there is informational; runtime compatibility is checked only with the kernel and ether protocol numbers announced by the remote process.

The runtime imports generated protocol constants from those STL files, so the hot path does not parse STL while receiving updates.

Connect

By default, sen-ether-client uses SEN ether multicast discovery and connects to the visible SEN processes:

const sen = await Sen.connect();

If your SEN ether discovery port is configured through SEN's environment, sen-ether-client reads the same variable:

export SEN_ETHER_DISCOVERY_PORT=60543

For machines with more than one network interface, select the multicast interface explicitly with either its IPv4 address or interface name:

const sen = await Sen.connect({ interfaceAddress: 'enp0s25' });

If your setup uses a SEN TCP discovery hub instead of multicast, pass it explicitly:

const sen = await Sen.connect({
  tcpHub: '127.0.0.1:65222'
});

Connected sessions are monitored through SEN ether presence beams. If the remote process stops announcing itself for presenceTimeoutMs milliseconds (default 5000), the client closes the stale connection and restarts the configured interests.

sen-ether-client can work with several SEN sessions from the same client. The session is inferred from the query:

const hmi = await sen.interest('SELECT * FROM hmi.diagnostics');
const world = await sen.interest('SELECT * FROM world1.environment');

You can also navigate explicitly through sessions and buses:

const sen = await Sen.connect();

console.log(sen.listSessions());
console.log(await sen.discoverBuses());
// [{ session: 'hmi', bus: 'diagnostics', qualified: 'hmi.diagnostics' }]

const hmi = await sen.session('hmi');
console.log(hmi.listBuses());

const diagnostics = await hmi.bus('diagnostics');
const probe = await diagnostics.waitFor('EtherProbe');

discoverBuses() does not create interests and does not join any SEN bus. It uses discovery to find sessions and opens lightweight process connections only to read bus announcements. If buses are not announced immediately after the process connection, it waits up to busDiscoverySettleMs milliseconds.

You can also connect to one explicit session:

const hmi = await Sen.connect({
  session: 'hmi'
});

const diagnostics = await hmi.interest('SELECT * FROM hmi.diagnostics');

Interests

Create an interest with a normal SEN query:

const tracks = await sen.interest('SELECT * FROM world1.environment');

Listen for objects and changes:

tracks.on('object', object => {
  console.log(object.name, object.className);
});

tracks.on('change', ({ object, name, value }) => {
  console.log(object.name, name, value);
});

For browser gateways or high-frequency telemetry, batch changes and decode only the properties needed by the UI:

const tracks = await sen.interest('SELECT hmi.tactical.BaseTrack FROM hmi.loadtest', {
  properties: ['latitude', 'longitude', 'altitude', 'trackHeading'],
  changeMode: 'batch',
  coalesce: true
});

tracks.on('changes', ({ changes }) => {
  websocket.send(JSON.stringify(changes.map(({ object, name, value, timestampNs }) => ({
    object: object.name,
    name,
    value,
    timestampNs: timestampNs?.toString()
  }))));
});

Get an object by name, id, class name, or predicate:

const aircraft = await tracks.waitFor('blue-air-1');

const firstAircraft = await tracks.waitFor(
  object => object.className === 'rpr.Aircraft'
);

Objects

Read and write properties:

const label = await probe.get('label');
await probe.set('label', 'ready');

Call methods:

const result = await probe.call('ping', ['hello']);

Subscribe to property changes:

probe.on('change:label', ({ value, previous, timestampNs }) => {
  console.log(previous, '->', value, timestampNs);
});

SEN timestamps are exposed as nanosecond BigInt values (timestampNs) so the 64-bit source timestamp is not rounded by JavaScript numbers.

Subscribe to SEN runtime events:

probe.on('probeEvent', event => {
  console.log(event.args);
});

CLI

List visible SEN processes:

npx sen-ether-scan --tcp-hub 127.0.0.1:65222 --timeout 3000

Probe a bus:

npx sen-ether-probe \
  --tcp-hub 127.0.0.1:65222 \
  --bus hmi.diagnostics

API

The public import is:

import { Sen, SenInterest, SenRemoteObject } from 'sen-ether-client';

See API.md for the complete public interface.