# Component — `telemetry_stream`

**Layer**: Telemetry plane (always-on, parallel to the decision loop)
**Status**: forward-looking design (Rust)

## 1. Purpose

Continuous, always-on push of the camera feed + UAV telemetry + bbox overlay to the Ground Station API over modem. Carries operator commands (confirm / decline / target-follow start / target-follow release) on the return path. Independent of the decision loop — the operator always sees the live feed, not just on detection.

## 2. Inputs

| Input | Source | Cadence | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|
| Decoded `Frame` | `frame_ingest` | up to 30 fps | Re-encoded for the modem link bandwidth. |
| `DetectionBatch` | `detection_client` | per frame | Used to build the bbox overlay (server-burn-in or client-render — see Open Questions). |
| `MovementCandidate` (zoom-out + zoom-in) | `scan_controller` (forwarded) | per candidate | Surfaced in operator overlay; the `source_zoom_band` tag is preserved so the overlay can render zoom-out vs zoom-in candidates differently. |
| UAV telemetry | `mavlink_layer` (via `mission_executor`) | 10 Hz | Position, attitude, mode, sys-status. |
| Gimbal state | `gimbal_controller` | per change | yaw / pitch / zoom. |
| `POI` events | `operator_bridge` | per POI surface / dequeue | Passed straight through. |
| Operator commands | Ground Station (return path) | event | Forwarded to `operator_bridge`. |

## 3. Outputs

| Output | Consumer | Shape |
|---|---|---|
| Outbound stream | Ground Station API (over modem) | per stream protocol (TBD — see Open Questions) |
| Inbound operator commands | `operator_bridge` | event |
| Health metric | health aggregator | `link_state`, `bandwidth_used_mbps`, `frame_drop_rate`, `last_command_received_ts`. |

## 4. Key Responsibilities

- Encode and push the camera feed + telemetry + bbox overlay continuously, regardless of detection state.
- Apply bandwidth-aware rate adaptation (drop bbox-overlay frequency before frame frequency; drop frame frequency before resolution).
- Surface the modem link state to the health aggregator; `operator_bridge` consults this to decide whether to surface POIs.
- Receive operator commands on the return path; forward to `operator_bridge` with monotonic timestamps.

## 5. Internal State

- Stream session handle.
- Rate-adaptation state machine.
- In-flight frame buffer (bounded).

State is in-process only.

## 6. Failure Modes

| Failure | Detection | Behaviour |
|---|---|---|
| Modem link down | transport error / heartbeat | Surface `link_lost`; pause outbound push (do not buffer indefinitely); `operator_bridge` pauses POI surfacing. |
| Bandwidth saturation | adaptive monitor | Reduce bbox-overlay rate, then frame rate, then resolution; surface to health → yellow. |
| Inbound command unparseable | parser error | Reject; ack with error; do not act. |
| Inbound command from unauthenticated peer | session check (per Ground Station contract) | Reject; alert. |

## 7. Dependencies

**In-process** (input): `frame_ingest`, `detection_client`, `scan_controller`, `mavlink_layer`, `gimbal_controller`, `operator_bridge`.
**In-process** (output): `operator_bridge` (return-path commands).

**External**: Ground Station API. Contract owner: `../_docs/04_system_design_clarifications.md`.

## 8. Non-Functional Targets

| Concern | Target |
|---|---|
| End-to-end glass-to-operator latency | bounded by modem characteristics; target ≤2 s p99 on a healthy link |
| Always-on | yes; not detection-gated |
| Rate adaptation | smooth; no sudden full-resolution → no-feed transitions |
| Outbound buffering | bounded; no unbounded growth on slow link |

## 9. Open Questions

- **Ground Station API contract** (`architecture.md §8 Q2`): stream protocol (WebRTC / WebSocket-H.264 / gRPC server-streaming?), session/auth model, bbox-overlay rendering (server-side burn-in vs client-side render).

## 10. References

- `architecture.md §3`, `§5 Architectural Principles` (always-on stream, no silent error swallowing), `§7.6 Integration and reliability`.
- `system-flows.md §F5 Operator round trip`.
- `../_docs/04_system_design_clarifications.md`.