ATAK / TAK
Bidirectional Cursor-on-Target interoperability with TAK clients and servers
The TAK integration provides bidirectional data exchange with Tactical Assault Kit (ATAK, WinTAK, iTAK) clients using the Cursor-on-Target (CoT) XML protocol. Entities flow in both directions — TAK positions and chat messages appear in Hydris, and Hydris entities are broadcast to connected TAK clients.
Setup
- Open the command menu with
Ctrl+K(or⌘+Kon macOS) and select Configuration - In the sidebar, find TAK under Network
- Select a connection mode and click Create
This creates a new device under TAK in the sidebar. Fill in the settings for your chosen mode and click Apply Configuration.
You can add multiple devices — for example a Multicast for the local network and a TCP Client to a remote TAK server simultaneously.
Connection Modes
Multicast
The most common mode for TAK interop. Broadcast entities to a UDP multicast group so all TAK clients on the network receive them automatically, and vice versa. Bidirectional.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Address | 239.2.3.1:6969 | Multicast group address |
| Max Rate Hz | 0 | Rate limit in Hz (0 = unlimited) |
TCP Server
Accept incoming TAK client connections. Point your TAK clients at this address.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Listen Address | :8088 | TCP address to listen on |
Data flows bidirectionally: incoming CoT from clients is parsed into Hydris entities, and Hydris entity changes are broadcast as CoT to all connected clients.
TCP Client
Connect to a remote TAK server (e.g. a FreeTAKServer or TAK Server instance).
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Address | required | Remote TAK server address (e.g. tak-server:8088) |
| TLS | false | Enable TLS encryption |
| TLS Skip Verify | false | Skip certificate validation (insecure) |
| TLS Cert | Path to client certificate PEM file | |
| TLS Key | Path to client key PEM file | |
| TLS CA | Path to CA certificate PEM file |
Supports mutual TLS for secure TAK server connections. Automatically reconnects after 5 seconds on disconnection.
UDP Send
Broadcast Hydris entities as CoT to a specific UDP destination. Outbound only.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Address | required | UDP destination (e.g. 192.168.1.100:4242) |
| Max Rate Hz | 0 | Rate limit in Hz (0 = unlimited) |
UDP Receive
Listen for incoming CoT UDP datagrams. Inbound only.
| Setting | Default | Description |
|---|---|---|
| Listen Address | required | UDP address to listen on (e.g. :4242) |
Entity Mapping
Inbound (CoT → Hydris)
Incoming TAK entities are created with the ID prefix tak.*. The following CoT fields map to Hydris components:
| CoT Field | Hydris Component |
|---|---|
point.lat / point.lon | geo.latitude / geo.longitude |
point.hae | geo.altitude (meters, Height Above Ellipsoid) |
detail.contact.callsign | label |
CoT type (a-f-G-...) | symbol.milStd2525C (auto-converted) |
detail.__chat | chat (sender, recipient, message text) |
Outbound (Hydris → CoT)
Hydris entities with a geo component are broadcast as CoT position reports. The MIL-STD-2525C symbol code is converted back to a CoT type string (e.g. a-f-G-U-C-I).
Special Message Types
- Chat messages (
b-t-f): GeoChat protocol messages with sender/recipient UIDs - Entity deletion (
t-x-d-d): Force-deletes an entity from TAK clients - Ping/heartbeat (
t-x-c-t): Automatically echoed back to the sender
Loop Prevention
The integration tags all incoming entities with their origin connection to prevent echo-back. An entity received from a TAK client is never reflected back to that same client. Stale chat messages are also filtered — chat messages older than a client's connection time are not replayed.