HiveMind Satellite Overview

HiveMind supports several types of satellite devices that connect to the hub. Choose a satellite based on device capabilities, privacy requirements, and network bandwidth.

All satellites use the standard OpenVoiceOS mycroft.conf for plugin configuration. See the OVOS technical manual for plugin-specific information.

Satellite options

1. Voice Satellite (voice-sat)

  • Audio handling: fully local (microphone, VAD, wake word, STT, TTS).
  • HiveMind role: sends only text messages to the hub.
  • Best for: privacy-conscious devices, offline operation, low latency.

2. Voice Relay (voice-relay)

  • Audio handling: local microphone, VAD, wake word.
  • HiveMind role: handles STT and TTS through the binary plugin; streams only triggered audio.
  • Best for: medium-powered devices that can run wake word detection but not STT/TTS.

3. Microphone Satellite (mic-satellite)

  • Audio handling: only microphone and VAD locally.
  • HiveMind role: all processing runs on the hub (wake word, STT, TTS) through the binary plugin; streams continuous or VAD-triggered audio.
  • Best for: low-resource devices, IoT microphones, centralized processing.

Choosing the right satellite

Satellite Local Audio Hub Processing Typical Use Case
voice-sat Full audio stack Text only Privacy-first, offline-capable devices
voice-relay Wake + VAD STT & TTS Mid-range devices, minimize bandwidth
mic-satellite VAD Wake + STT + TTS Tiny IoT devices, fully centralized processing

Security and compatibility

  • All audio and binary payloads travel over HiveMind's secure transport. The binary plugin uses the same encrypted transport as normal BUS messages; binary streaming is not a separate protocol.
  • The binary plugin on the hub loads OpenVoiceOS STT and TTS plugins, so HiveMind stays compatible with the existing OVOS plugin ecosystem.
  • Use the standard mycroft.conf to configure plugins; no separate satellite-specific configuration format exists.

Troubleshooting and tips

  • High latency: check network bandwidth; prefer voice-sat if latency must be minimal.
  • Bandwidth concerns: prefer voice-relay (stream only after wake) instead of mic-satellite.
  • Certificate errors: use --selfsigned for testing, but deploy proper TLS certificates for production.
  • Server setup: make sure your HiveMind core has the binary plugin enabled and compatible OVOS STT/TTS plugins installed.

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