KISS (keep it simple, stupid) is a protocol for communicating with a serial terminal node controller (TNC) device used for amateur radio. This allows the TNC to combine more features into a single device and standardizes communications. KISS was developed by Mike Chepponis and Phil Karn to allow transmission of AX.25 packet radio frames containing IP packets over an asynchronous serial link, for use with the KA9Q NOS program.
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Description
The KISS protocol is designed to be easy to implement in simple embedded devices, which are capable of asynchronous serial communications. While it allows arbitrary data to be transferred, there is no support for flow control or error handling.
Back-to-back FEND codes should not be interpreted as empty frames. Instead, all but the last FEND code should be discarded. This can be used for synchronization.
If the FEND or FESC codes appear in the data to be transferred, they need to be escaped. The FEND code is then sent as FESC, TFEND and the FESC is then sent as FESC, TFESC.
Command codes
Any of these codes may be sent from the host to the TNC, but only the "Data frame" code should be sent from the TNC to the host.