xenial (1) rat.1.gz

Provided by: rat_4.2.22-2.2ubuntu1_amd64 bug

NAME

       rat - unicast and multicast audio conferencing tool

SYNOPSIS

       rat [options] address/port

DESCRIPTION

       RAT  is  a network audio conferencing and streaming application with support for multiple sampling rates,
       error concealment, and redundant audio encoding.  Transmissions can be between two participants  directly
       (unicast) or between a group of participants on a common multicast address.

       To  initiate  a  unicast  conference  the  user  specifies the address of the destination host name or IP
       address and a port number.  To participate in a multicast conference a Class D group  address  should  be
       specified together with a port number.  The application uses the greatest even integer less than or equal
       to the port specified for data (RTP) and the port above for control messages (RTCP).  The  protocols  RTP
       and RTCP used are specified in RFC 1889.

OPTIONS

       The following options are supported:

       -agc 1|0
              Enable automatic gain control (AGC).

       -allowloopback
              Causes rtp packets to be loopbacked during multicast sessions.

       -crypt key
              Enable  encryption,  with  the  specified  key.  Encryption  is  done  using  DES, and is believed
              compatible with encrypting versions of vat.

       -C name
              Sets the RAT window title to name.

       -E email
              Sets the email address transmitted to remote participants.

       -f codec
              Specifies the primary encoding used when transmitting audio.

       -L location
              Sets the location description transmitted to remote participants.

       -N username
              Sets the username transmitted to remote participants.

       -P phone
              Sets the phone number transmitted to remote participants.

       -pt type/codec
              Specifies the payload type to be used for codec.

       -r codec/offset
              Specifies the coding used for the redundant encoder and  the  offset  of  the  redundant  encoding
              relative to the primary in audio frames.

       -repair method
              Specifies  the use of receiver based repair technique based on method.  This can currently be none
              or repeat.

       -t ttl Specifies the TTL (time to live) value set in the packet headers.  This limits the  scope  of  the
              packets.  The following values are generally considered     appropriate:
                   4 campus/organization
                  16 country
                  64 continent
                 127 planet

       -silence 1|0
              Turns silence suppression on or off.

       -version
              Displays the version number.

USER INTERFACE

   Main Window
       The  main window of RAT is split into three sections.  At the top of the window are the audio device port
       and volume selectors, and the mutes for  incoming  and  outgoing  audio.   In  the  middle  the  list  of
       participants  shows  local  and remote conference members.  Active speakers are highlighted. Clicking the
       left mouse button on the name of a remote participant will  display  a  user  information  panel,  giving
       various  reception  statistics  for  that user.  Individuals can be selectively muted by clicking on them
       with the middle mouse button on three button systems, or moving the mouse to the individual and  pressing
       the m.  At the bottom of the window are buttons for the options panel, the about panel, and to quit.

       Pressing  the  right mouse button anywhere within the RAT window will temporarily toggle the state of the
       audio input mute: this allows a "push-to-talk" mode of operation.

   Options
       RAT supports a large number of options and pressing the "options" button will launch the  optinos  panel.
       The  best  approach to see what is available is to go and explore.  The options panel has a category menu
       at the top and by clicking on it options in the different categories are presented.

       Personal
              User details that are conveyed to other conference participants.

       Transmission
              Allows the selection of codec used for transmission, the setting of the number, of units of  audio
              per packet, and the selection of redundant audio data.

       Reception
              Options that control how received audio is decoded.

       Audio  Options  to  select  and  configure the available audio device, and features that pertain to audio
              handling (i.e. silence suppression, agc, audio loopback, and echo suppression).

       Codecs Displays details on available codecs and allows for them to be assigned to alternate  RTP  payload
              numbers.  Map payload numbers at your own peril.

       Security
              Allows DES encryption of audio for incoming and outgoing streams.

       Interface
              Allows  users  to control balloon help, enable lip synchronization with suitably modified versions
              of VIC , and displaying of windows for reception quality and file playback and recording.

EXAMPLES

       To start a unicast session between the current host and the  host  shrew.cs.ucl.ac.uk  using  port  12000
       type:

       rat shrew.cs.ucl.ac.uk/12000

       To  join a multicast session on group address 224.5.6.7 and port 8110 type, using primary encoding of dvi
       and a secondary encoding of lpc:

       rat -f dvi/lpc 224.5.6.7/8110

AUTHORS

       This  version  of  RAT  was  written  by  Orion  Hodson   <O.Hodson@cs.ucl.ac.uk>   and   Colin   Perkins
       <C.Perkins@cs.ucl.ac.uk>  in  the  Networked  Multimedia  Group,  University College London.  Markus Iken
       contributed the 3d rendering code. Bob's Olson and Lindell contributed the ALSA audio interface.

       The first version of RAT was developed by Vicky  Hardman  <V.Hardman@cs.ucl.ac.uk>  and  Isidor  Kouvelas
       <I.Kouvelas@cs.ucl.ac.uk>  at University College London.  The DES encryption was written by Saleem Bhatti
       <S.Bhatti@cs.ucl.ac.uk> and integrated by Darren Harris.

       RAT has been supported by the following projects: <IP> MICE Multimedia Conferencing in Europe (ESPRIT)

       MERCI Multimedia European Research Conferencing Integration

       ReLaTe Remote Language Teaching for Super Janet (BT/JISC)

       RAT Robust Audio Tool (EPSRC/BT)

       This software has benefited from hardware donations by Sun Microsystems and Hewlett Packard, and software
       donations by Microsoft.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

       We thank Roy Bennett, Davide Cavagnino, Jon Crowcroft, Ross Finlayson, Atanu Ghosh, Terry Gibbons, Jeremy
       Hall, Mark Handley, Marcus  Iken,  Iain  McKay,  Roman  Kurmanowyts,  Robert  Olson,  Fulvio  Risso,  Roy
       Rodenstein,  Lorenzo Vicisano, Anna Watson, Michael Wallbaum, Hui Zhao, and our collegues at UCL who have
       provided countless suggestions and extended good humour through the buggy pre-releases.

       Modifications   for   HP-UX   by   Terje   Vernly   <terjeve@usit.uio.no>   and   Geir   Harald    Hansen
       <g.h.hansen@usit.uio.no>.

       This software is derived, in part, from publically available source code with the following copyright:

       Copyright (c) 1991-1993,1996 Regents of the University of California.

       Copyright (c) 1992 Stichting Mathematisch Centrum, Amsterdam.

       Copyright (c) 1991,1992 RSA Data Security, Inc.

       Copyright (c) 1992 Jutta Degener and Carsten Bormann, Technische Universitaet Berlin.

       Copyright (c) 1994 Henning Schulzrinne.

       Copyright (c) 1994 Paul Stewart.

       This  product  includes  software  developed by the Computer Systems Engineering Group and by the Network
       Research Group at Lawrence Berkeley Laboratory.

       Encryption features of this software use the RSA Data Security, Inc.  MD5 Message-Digest Algorithm.

FEEDBACK

       Please send comments, bug-reports, patches, and suggestions to rat-trap@cs.ucl.ac.uk.

       Please check http://www-mice.cs.ucl.ac.uk/multimedia/software for latest release information.

                                                 14 January 2000                                          rat(1)