The Instrument-Neutral-Distributed-Interface control protocol (INDI) is a key technology for device automation and control. INDI introduces a control protocol standard for rapid development of robust, adaptive, and scalable device drivers

The goal of this manual is to enable programmers to take full advantage of the INDI architecture by providing a practical guide that illustrates the different aspects of the control

The INDI library is geared toward experienced programmers planning to develop backend hardware drivers to run under the INDI architecture. The task of developing hardware drivers requires programmers with sufficient

INDI is a simple XML-like communications protocol described for interactive and automated remote control of diverse instrumentation. INDI is small, easy to parse, and stateless. In the INDI paradigm each

1. Architecture

INDI server is the public network access point where one or more INDI clients may contact one or more INDI Drivers. indiserver launches each driver process and arranges

An INDI driver is what directly communicates with your device(s). It is responsible for controlling the device, and for representing the device properties to clients using INDI's protocol structures. The

INDI drivers consist of the low-level code that communicates with the device, and of the INDI API code that enables the driver to serve any INDI compatible client.

Details of

INDI Library includes by default several drivers for popular astronomical instruments mainly used in amateur astronomy. This is done for several reasons:

• Make it easy for users new to use

Introduction

INDI does not place any special semantics on property names (i.e. properties are just texts, numbers, or switches that represent no physical function). While GUI clients can construct graphical

Thus far, the main focus was on control and monitoring oriented properties. These are the properties that represent the physical buttons, knobs, lights, status indicators, and switches in devices. But

INDI Library provides the facility to snoop on properties in other drivers. This permits robust inter-driver communication that can be useful in many applications. Typically, all the properties defined by

Introduction

INDI provides three command line tools that can be used to write complex scripts for settting, retrieving, and controlling the behavior of INDI devices. These tools provide the programmer

I have a new driver/patch, where can I submit it?

You can either submit it to the INDI development mailing list or directly to INDI's current maintainer Jasem Mutlaq

INDI Library provide INDI::BaseClient class that encapsulates the most common functions required for a minimal INDI client. It supports:

• Connecting to INDI servers.
• Creation & manipulation of virtual devices: The