Distributed Architecture

Blue Pill products are designed with a three part architecture, hardware panels, the Reactor engine, and device cores. While these components typically run together on a single Blue Pill device, they can also be distributed across multiple devices on a network.

The Three Pillars

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Hardware Panels

The physical SKAARHOJ panels with their buttons, displays, encoders, and faders. These communicate using the RawPanel protocol over TCP (default port 9923). On a Blue Pill product you will typically find the "hardware-manager" application, that is responsible for this. On older "Unisketch" Products there are "BluePill Mode" configurations available.

Reactor Engine

The central brain that processes configurations, manages layers and behaviors, and routes actions between panels and devices. This is where your configurations live and execute.

Device Cores

Software components that communicate with external equipment (video switchers, cameras, routers, etc.). Each device core speaks the native protocol of its target device and exposes a standardized interface to Reactor.

Why Distribute Components?

In most setups, all three pillars run on the same Blue Pill device. However, there are scenarios where distributing them across multiple devices provides significant advantages:

Remote Panels

Connect panels from one Blue Pill to Reactor running on another device:

  • Multi-panel setups: Use one Blue Pill as the central controller for multiple panels across different locations
  • Centralized management: Manage all panel configurations from a single Reactor instance
  • Third-party integration: Allow external software to control SKAARHOJ panels

See Remote Panels (RawPanel Mode) for configuration details.

Shared Device Cores

Access device cores running on a remote Blue Pill:

  • Geographic latency: Place device cores close to the equipment they control to minimize protocol latency
  • Hardware requirements: Some device cores require direct USB or serial connections to equipment
  • Resource distribution: Spread processing load across multiple devices

See Shared Device Cores for configuration details.

Load Balancing Across Controllers

Distribute device cores across multiple Blue Pills to share the processing load:

  • Large device counts: When controlling 20+ devices, spread them across multiple Blue Pills
  • Improved stability: No single device handles all protocol communication
  • Flexible scaling: Add more Blue Pills as your device count grows

See Shared Device Cores for configuration details.

Typical Distributed Scenarios

Scenario 1: Multi-Room Control

A central control room manages panels in multiple studios. One Blue Pill runs Reactor with all configurations, while panels in each studio connect over the network.

Home screen showing multiple remote panels connected
Home screen showing multiple remote panels connected to a central Reactor instance

Scenario 2: Remote Production

An ATEM switcher is located at a remote venue. A local Blue Pill runs the ATEM device core with minimal latency, while the main Reactor instance at headquarters connects to it over the network.

Device list showing a shared device core from a remote Blue Pill
Device list showing a shared device core from a remote Blue Pill

Scenario 3: Camera Control with Serial Connection

Camera control requires a direct serial/USB connection (e). A small Blue Pill near the cameras runs the camera device core, shared with the main Reactor instance elsewhere in the facility.

Scenario 4: Load Balanced Multi-Controller Setup

A large production facility has 20 devices to control and three operator positions, each with its own Blue Pill controller. Instead of having each controller run all device cores locally, the device cores are distributed:

  • Controller A runs device cores for devices 1-7
  • Controller B runs device cores for devices 8-14
  • Controller C runs device cores for devices 15-20

Each controller's Reactor instance connects to the shared device cores on the other controllers as needed. This distributes the protocol processing load while allowing any operator to control any device.

Network Considerations

When distributing components:

  • All devices must be on the same network or have routed connectivity
  • Default ports: 9923 for RawPanel, 8502 for DeviceCore sharing
  • Consider network latency when placing components - device cores should be close to the equipment they control
  • Enable encryption for device core sharing when operating across untrusted networks