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diff --git a/docs/6_Component_Documentation/8_ic-sound-manager.md b/docs/6_Component_Documentation/8_ic-sound-manager.md new file mode 100644 index 0000000..75e163e --- /dev/null +++ b/docs/6_Component_Documentation/8_ic-sound-manager.md @@ -0,0 +1,120 @@ +# Instrument Cluster Sound Management + +## Introduction + +This document describes the design of the software setup which enables the integration +of AGL’s sound system with applications running in the Instrument Cluster domain. +This software setup is specific to the case where a single system is used to implement +both the Instrument Cluster and some other domain of the vehicle, typically the +In-Vehicle-Infotainment domain, using container technology to separate them. + +Applications running in the Instrument Cluster need a way to safely play important +sounds to alert the driver of conditions that need the driver’s attention. At the same +time, in a containerized environment that serves multiple vehicle domains, applications +running in other containers may be using the sound hardware to play less important sounds, +such as music, which conflicts with the IC’s need to play sound on the same hardware. + +The solution developed here, for safety reasons, relies on the operating system and the +hardware itself to allow the IC applications to stream sounds to the speakers using a +dedicated device handle, while applications from other domains are all routed through a +sound server that runs on the host container and operates on a different sound device handle. + +However, to achieve good inter-operation, there is need for additional software mechanisms +that will work in combination with this hardware-based solution. First of all, it is necessary +to have a mechanism that allows IC applications to pause all sounds that are being routed via +the sound server while there is an important IC sound playing and resume them afterwards. +This is so that other domain applications can be informed of this temporary pause and offer +the appropriate user experience. Secondly, it is desirable to have separation of duties +between the host and the other domain’s (non-IC) container. It should be the responsibility +of the other domain’s container to implement the sound system policy, so that the host does +not need to be aware of the exact applications that are running on this container. + +## Requirements + +- Single system shared between IC and at least one secondary domain (IVI, other ...) + +- The domains are separated using containers + +- All the containers, including the host, are running a variant of AGL + +- The host OS and the secondary domain container use PipeWire and WirePlumber + to implement the sound system + +- The sound hardware offers, on the Linux kernel driver side, a separate ALSA + device for sounds that belong to the IC and a separate ALSA device for other sounds + +## Architectural design + + + +The core of the sound system consists of the PipeWire daemon, which is responsible for routing +audio between the kernel and applications running in the “Other Container”. + +The PipeWire session is orchestrated by a secondary daemon, WirePlumber. WirePlumber is +designed in such a way so that it can have multiple instances, for task separation. +One instance shall be running in the host container and it shall be responsible for +managing the devices that PipeWire handles as well as the security isolation between +different applications and different containers. At least one more instance shall be +running in the “Other Container” and be responsible for implementing policy mechanisms +related to the applications that are running in that container. + +Further WirePlumber instances are possible to run as well. For instance, it may be desirable +to have another “policy” instance in a third container that implements another vehicle system +and shares the main PipeWire daemon from the host. Additionally, the “Other Container” may +be running a separate WirePlumber instance to manage bluetooth audio devices, which shall be +the responsibility of that container instead of the host. + +To implement communication between the IC and the host, a third daemon is used: pipewire-ic-ipc. +This daemon listens on a UNIX domain socket for messages from the IC applications and offers +them the ability to pause or resume sounds that are being routed via PipeWire. + +Finally, IC applications are given a library (icipc library) that allows them to send messages +to pipewire-ic-ipc on the host. This library is minimal and has no external dependencies, +for safety reasons. + +For sound playback, IC applications are expected to use the ALSA API directly and communicate +with the dedicated ALSA device that is meant for IC sounds. Arbitration of this device between +different IC applications is out of scope for this document and it is assumed to be a solved +problem. + +### PipeWire-IC-IPC + +This component acts as the server-side component for the UNIX socket that is used for +communication between the IC applications and the host. It is implemented as a pipewire module, +therefore it needs the `/usr/bin/pipewire` process in order to be launched. Launching happens +with a special configuration file (`pipewire-ic-ipc.conf`) which instructs this PipeWire process +to be launched as a client (`core.daemon = false`) and to load only `module-ic-ipc` together +with `module-protocol-native`. The latter enables communication with the daemon instance of +PipeWire (`core.daemon = true`), which implements the sound server. + + + +### icipc library + +The IC Application is given a library (‘libicipc’) that implements the client side of +pipewire-ic-ipc. This library allows sending two commands: + +- SUSPEND + - Asks WirePlumber (via PipeWire) to cork applications and mute the ALSA device used by PipeWire +- RESUME + - Reverts the effects of SUSPEND + +IC Applications are expected to send the SUSPEND command before starting playback of a sound +to their dedicated ALSA device. The RESUME command should be sent after playback of this IC +sound has finished. + +It should be noted that the RESUME command is also issued automatically when the IC application +disconnects from the pipewire-ic-ipc UNIX socket. + +If multiple IC application issue SUSPEND to the pipewire-ic-ipc server, then only the first +SUSPEND generates actions for WirePlumber. The rest are counted and the pipewire-ic-ipc +server expects an equal number of RESUME commands before generating resume actions for +WirePlumber. + +The implementation of the SUSPEND/RESUME mechanism uses PipeWire’s metadata to signal +WirePlumber. PipeWire-IC-IPC will look for the “default” metadata object in PipeWire’s list +of objects and will write the “suspend.playback” key with a value of “true” on id 0. +The metadata change is then notified to all clients. WirePlumber, being a client, gets +notified of this change and takes actions. All actions are defined in Lua scripts. + + |