SolidSDR: Web-based FlexRadio client (open source, cross-platform)

SolidSDR works as a server which bridges the connection to the radio over WebRTC (the same technology that powers things like Google Meet), and a web application that uses that to talk to the radio. As it turns out, WebRTC works *extremely* well for the type of network communication one needs to have with a FlexRadio, but it's not without drawbacks. The biggest one is that it requires HTTPS. If you're running solid-sdr-server on the same machine you're using to connect to it (i.e. you're accessing it through http://localhost:8080), then you'll be able to use it no problem.

However, if you want to access it from a different computer, or over the internet, then you'll have to find a way to make that connection happen over HTTPS. Hopefully in the future I can find a way to make setting that up relatively painless, but for now the best advice I can give you is to try something that can do automatic HTTPS like Caddy (https://caddyserver.com/docs/automatic-https). If you want to access it over the internet, you'll also need to forward UDP port 50313 to solid-sdr-server for the WebRTC connection.

The other annoying drawback of browser security is that with the current model, there's no way to implement support for SmartLink. But, it wouldn't really make sense to use it with something like SolidSDR anyway... you'd run the solid-sdr-server on the same network as your radio, and then connect to it over the internet directly rather than using SmartLink. The big exception would be if your ISP uses CGNAT or something that prevents you from opening ports up to the internet.

While we're on the subject of limitations, the other big one is that there isn't a way to do CAT or VSP through just a web browser. We may have a way to work around some of these things in the future by packaging SolidSDR up as a desktop app, but I don't have any immediate plans for that yet.

Most of the command/control, configuration, audio, etc is working today. Some of the remaining things that aren't yet implemented but should be possible include:

- FlexControl. I don't have one so I can't really test it... we do have *excellent* support for MIDI controllers, though.
- DAX IQ. I just haven't found a use-case to be able to test it. I suspect it'll be finicky due to the high sample rates involved and the lack of direct control over audio hardware we get with a web browser, but it might work.
- TGXL/PGXL/etc there shouldn't be any reason these can't be supported, I just don't have access to units to develop against
- CWX and DVK I just haven't got around to yet
- Same with USB cables
- Waveform/WFP, RapidM, etc I haven't looked at yet. I don't even know if my radio supports them.
- Multiple panadapters technically works, but the UX is not great. If you are someone that makes heavy use of that feature, I'd be interested to hear how you use it.

SolidSDR v0.1.2 is out!

https://github.com/daveisadork/solid-sdr/releases/tag/v0.1.2

- Adds a new Profile Manager Dialog

- Adds a new Profiles section in the panafall context menu for saving, creating, or selecting global profiles. The panafall context menu is accessed by right clicking (or long-pressing on touch devices) in the panadapter or waterfall.

- Adds dropdown menus next to the TX and Mic profile selections in the radio sidebar for profile management, along with a new indicator when a profile has unsaved changes.

That was my thinking as well :D I chose the MIT license intentionally in case someone ever felt like including this or something like it in the radio firmware (wink wink, nudge nudge).

>I already have an HTTPS proxy/reverse proxy (using Apache), with both LDAP-backed authentication / authourization. . . so I am comfortable that I have a great foundation for secure webRTC interaction with my Flex 6400.

Yeah, that will work great. I'm doing something similar (Docker+nginx for TLS termination). When you set up your port forwarding, you need 8080 or whatever you use for the HTTP server as well as UDP 50313 for WebRTC. Let me know how it goes when you try it out!