feat: remote Reboot and Reboot+Reinitialize commands for connected FlexRadio

[w5jwp]

What would you like?

Add two radio management commands accessible from a top-level or dedicated Actions menu (not buried in Settings modals):

1. Reboot Radio — sends the FlexRadio API radio reboot command, causing the radio to restart its firmware cleanly. Equivalent to a power-cycle from the operator's perspective, without leaving the shack.

2. Reboot + Reinitialize (Factory Reset) — sends radio reboot initialize (or the equivalent reinitialize variant of the API command), which restarts the radio and resets all configuration to factory defaults. Useful for clearing corrupted profiles, troubleshooting, or provisioning a radio fresh.

Why

Remote operation is one of AetherSDR's primary use cases. When a radio is in a remote location and becomes unresponsive or needs a clean reset, there is currently no way to trigger a reboot from within AetherSDR — the operator must physically power-cycle the radio or use a separate network switch / smart PDU. Both radio reboot and the reinitialize variant are supported by the SmartSDR TCP API, so no firmware change is needed.

How / Protocol hints

The SmartSDR ASCII protocol (TCP port 4992) supports:

radio reboot
radio reboot initialize

Both are fire-and-forget commands — the radio closes the TCP connection immediately and the existing disconnect/reconnect/hotplug path in RadioConnection should handle the reconnect naturally once the radio comes back up.

Implementation sketch:

• Add void rebootRadio(bool reinitialize) to RadioModel (emits commandReady("radio reboot") or commandReady("radio reboot initialize"))
• Wire two QActions in MainWindow — one in a top-level Actions menu (or appended to the existing radio/connection menu), each behind a confirmation dialog before firing (especially critical for the factory-reset variant, which is destructive and irreversible)
• Confirmation dialog for reinitialize should call out explicitly that all radio configuration will be erased
• Both actions should be disabled/greyed out when no radio is connected

UI suggestion

A top-level Actions menu keeps these visible without burying them in Settings. The reboot+reinitialize action should carry a prominent warning in its confirmation dialog.

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• I used an AI assistant to help structure this request
• I checked for existing issues covering the same feature

[aethersdr-agent]

Triage

Thanks for the well-scoped writeup — the architectural sketch matches how the codebase is wired and most of this is straightforward. There's one protocol question that needs a maintainer call before we implement.

What's verified

• radio reboot is confirmed in the upstream FlexLib reference: Radio.cs:2575-2578 defines RebootRadio() which sends SendCommand("radio reboot"). Fire-and-forget; the radio drops the TCP connection on its own.
• The hotplug/reconnect path you're relying on already exists. RadioConnection watches RadioModel::connectionStateChanged (RadioConnection.cpp:1961) and re-attempts on rediscovery (RadioConnection.cpp:1208, 1740, 1777). A user-initiated reboot will look identical to a power-cycle from its perspective and reconnect once the radio reappears on the network.
• RadioModel::sendCommand(const QString&) (RadioModel.h:475) is the right entry point — no new plumbing required, just a thin convenience method.
• RadioModel::isConnected() (RadioModel.h:84) plus its connectionStateChanged(bool) signal gives you the enable/disable wiring for the QActions for free.

What's NOT verified — protocol question for the maintainer

The radio reboot initialize variant is not documented in the FlexLib reference. Only radio reboot (plain) appears in Radio.cs — there is no RebootAndInitialize()/factory-reset method, and no initialize token is referenced anywhere alongside reboot. The issue describes it as "or the equivalent reinitialize variant," which reads as speculative rather than a confirmed protocol command.

Before implementing the destructive variant we'd want to confirm:

1. Whether radio reboot initialize is actually accepted by current SmartSDR firmware (or if it's a different syntax like radio reset_to_factory etc.), and
2. What it actually wipes — full factory reset, just profiles, just network config? "Factory reset" via TCP with no out-of-band recovery for a remote radio is a serious foot-gun if the operator misunderstands the scope, especially since static-IP settings, WAN registration, or licensing state being wiped could brick remote access.

If the syntax can't be confirmed from a Flex source (release notes, support post, packet capture), my recommendation is to ship only radio reboot in v1 and treat the factory-reset variant as a follow-up issue once the protocol is verified. Plain reboot covers the main "unresponsive radio, need to bounce it remotely" use case and has zero risk of bricking remote access.

Proposed implementation (plain reboot only, pending the above)

• src/models/RadioModel.h / .cpp: add void rebootRadio(); that calls sendCommand("radio reboot").
• src/gui/MainWindow.cpp (around line 8158 where the menubar is assembled): add an Actions top-level menu — fits the "not buried in Settings" guidance and slots between Settings and Profiles cleanly. Add one QAction "Reboot Radio…" behind a QMessageBox::warning confirmation.
• Wire the action's setEnabled(m_radioModel.isConnected()) to RadioModel::connectionStateChanged.
• If/when the reinit variant is confirmed: a second action "Reboot + Reset to Factory Defaults…" with an QMessageBox::critical confirmation explicitly enumerating what will be erased (callsign, nickname, profiles, network config, etc.), default button = Cancel.

Handoff summary for maintainer

• Known good: radio reboot, RadioModel plumbing, MainWindow menu pattern, reconnect path.
• Open question: is radio reboot initialize a real SmartSDR command? If yes, what does it wipe?
• Recommendation: authorize plain radio reboot now; defer factory-reset variant pending protocol confirmation (safety label applied for the destructive variant).
• Files touched if authorized: src/models/RadioModel.{h,cpp}, src/gui/MainWindow.cpp (~+30 lines).

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_{🤖 aethersdr-agent · cost: $5.5015 · model: claude-opus-4-7}

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_{📍 Citation health check (Foundry Constitution Principle I): 1 resolved, 4 unresolved against /Users/aetherclaude/workspace/AetherSDR at origin/main.}

Unresolved citations (4)

Citation	Reason
RadioConnection.cpp:1208	file not found in workspace
RadioConnection.cpp:1961	file not found in workspace
RadioModel.h:475	file not found in workspace
RadioModel.h:84	file not found in workspace

[jensenpat]

Closed in #3335