Welcome to the HYDRA ExperienceNet network documentation. This guide is intended for network partners, venue IT teams, and internal engineers working on the streaming infrastructure.
HYDRA ExperienceNet is a purpose-built ecosystem for high-fidelity immersive experiences, designed for scalability and mobility in venue-based deployments such as museums, exhibitions, and public installations. The infrastructure requirements in this document are sized for real-time VR/XR streaming, the most demanding use case. Any less demanding experience (flat-screen displays, interactive kiosks, non-VR content) works within the same infrastructure with relaxed requirements.
| Component | Role | What it is |
|---|---|---|
| Head | Display device, user-facing | Flat screen, VR headset, kiosk, browser |
| Neck | Network infrastructure connecting Head to Body | WireGuard tunnels, WebRTC relays, venue networking |
| Body | GPU render node, runs experiences | Windows workstation with high-end NVIDIA GPU |
The Head shows the stream. The Body does the rendering. The Neck is the network layer that connects them. A Head reaches a Body through the Neck, whether that is a direct LAN connection at the same venue, a WireGuard tunnel through the district server, or a WebRTC relay for browser-based streaming.
| Level | Description | Example |
|---|---|---|
| District | Geographic cluster of venues sharing a district server | Brussels, Antwerp |
| Venue | Physical location with Heads and Bodies | Museum X, Exhibition Hall Y |
The district server is a cloud server that acts as the central WireGuard hub for a district. All Bodies and venue gateways maintain WireGuard tunnels to the district server. Remote Heads can also connect through it. HydraNeck WebRTC workers run on district infrastructure to relay browser-based streams.
There are three streaming paths, depending on where the Head is relative to the Body:
Local streaming (native Head) -- Head and Body are on the same venue LAN. The Head uses the Body's LAN IP directly for lowest latency, no WireGuard overhead.
Remote streaming (native Head) -- Head is at a different location (another venue, home, 4G/5G). The Head creates a WireGuard tunnel to the district server and reaches the Body through the mesh.
Remote streaming (browser) -- Head is a web browser. The browser connects to HydraNeck WebRTC, which spawns a Moonlight client on a worker and relays the WebRTC stream.
| Component | Service | Purpose |
|---|---|---|
| HydraGuard | hydraguard.experiencenet.com |
WireGuard mesh management (hub-and-spoke) |
| HydraNeck | hydraneck.experiencenet.com |
Venue network management and diagnostics |
| HydraNeck WebRTC | hydraneckwebrtc.experiencenet.com |
Browser-based streaming relay (controller + workers) |
| HydraCluster | hydracluster.experiencenet.com |
Render node fleet management |
| HydraNode | Installed on Body machines | Node agent (heartbeat, provisioning, auto-update) |
| HydraBody | Installed on Body machines | Experience launcher service (port 47991) |
| HydraHead Flatscreen | Installed on Head devices | Native streaming client (Moonlight-based) |
| HydraHead WebStream | hydraheadwebstream.experiencenet.com |
Browser-based Head frontend |
The network follows a hub-and-spoke model where the district server is the hub and all venues/bodies are spokes connected via WireGuard tunnels. See the Partner Network Design section for the detailed topology when working with a managed network partner.