pw_hdlc: How-to guide

Lightweight, simple, and easy serial communication

This page shows you how to use the Encoder and Decoder APIs of pw_hdlc.

Encoding

C++

// Writes a span of data to a pw::stream::Writer and returns the status. This
// implementation uses the pw_checksum module to compute the CRC-32 frame check
// sequence.

#include "pw_hdlc/encoder.h"
#include "pw_hdlc/sys_io_stream.h"

int main() {
  pw::stream::SysIoWriter serial_writer;
  Status status = WriteUIFrame(123 /* address */, data, serial_writer);
  if (!status.ok()) {
    PW_LOG_INFO("Writing frame failed! %s", status.str());
  }
}

Python

# Read bytes from serial and encode HDLC frames

import serial
from pw_hdlc import encode

ser = serial.Serial()
address = 123
ser.write(encode.ui_frame(address, b'your data here!'))

Allocating buffers when encoding

C++

Since HDLC’s encoding overhead changes with payload size and what data is being encoded, this module provides helper functions that are useful for determining the size of buffers by providing worst-case sizes of frames given a certain payload size and vice-versa.

#include "pw_assert/check.h"
#include "pw_bytes/span.h"
#include "pw_hdlc/encoder"
#include "pw_hdlc/encoded_size.h"
#include "pw_status/status.h"

// The max on-the-wire size in bytes of a single HDLC frame after encoding.
constexpr size_t kMtu = 512;
constexpr size_t kRpcEncodeBufferSize = pw::hdlc::MaxSafePayloadSize(kMtu);
std::array<std::byte, kRpcEncodeBufferSize> rpc_encode_buffer;

// Any data encoded to this buffer is guaranteed to fit in the MTU after
// HDLC encoding.
pw::ConstByteSpan GetRpcEncodeBuffer() {
  return rpc_encode_buffer;
}

Decoding

C++

// Read individual bytes from pw::sys_io and decode HDLC frames.

#include "pw_hdlc/decoder.h"
#include "pw_sys_io/sys_io.h"

int main() {
  std::byte data;
  while (true) {
    if (!pw::sys_io::ReadByte(&data).ok()) {
      // Log serial reading error
    }
    Result<Frame> decoded_frame = decoder.Process(data);

    if (decoded_frame.ok()) {
      // Handle the decoded frame
    }
  }
}

Python

# Decode data read from serial

import serial
from pw_hdlc import decode

ser = serial.Serial()
decoder = decode.FrameDecoder()

while True:
    for frame in decoder.process_valid_frames(ser.read()):
        # Handle the decoded frame

Allocating buffers when decoding

C++

The HDLC Decoder has its own helper for allocating a buffer since it doesn’t need the entire escaped frame in-memory to decode, and therefore has slightly lower overhead.

#include "pw_hdlc/decoder.h"

// The max on-the-wire size in bytes of a single HDLC frame after encoding.
constexpr size_t kMtu = 512;

// Create a decoder given the MTU constraint.
constexpr size_t kDecoderBufferSize =
    pw::hdlc::Decoder::RequiredBufferSizeForFrameSize(kMtu);
pw::hdlc::DecoderBuffer<kDecoderBufferSize> decoder;