read extended address of all devices that have joined base node

hi Viswanath ,

when you say:" However, the kit is still powered up and running. " running as in you are seeing the join completing even when unplugged ?

You can send raw data and read the DC ZCG log to see the nodes that are connected to DC .

Read neighbor table
Send 0x03 80 0A 00 4D 4F BB DF 6E 00 00 00 00 00 raw message in intermediate gui -> functions -> send raw data.

Regards.

Hi Meghana,

I was able to send the raw bytes command, The log of sending the command and receiving the response in the intermediate GUI is as follows:

2016-06-27 22:55:02.8284: Message Sent:
0x03 80 0A 00 4D 4F BB DF 6E 00 0x00 00 00 00
2016-06-27 22:55:02.8304: Sending: (0x03) - G3 MAC PIB.Request:
Requesting: Neighbor Table List - 0x0000006E
Index: 0
2016-06-27 22:55:02.8444: Message Received:
0x03 00 22 00 58 FB 00 00 00 00 0x6E 00 00 00 00 00 14 00 01 00
0x00 FD 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00 0x00 00 00 00 00 00 00 68
2016-06-27 22:55:02.8444: Receiving: (0x03) - G3 MAC PIB Neighbor Table.Reply:
Status: Success
PIB Id: 0x0000006E
Index: 0

Table Number: 0
Short Address: 0x0001
Modulation: ROBO
Tone Map: 0x00 00 00
Age: 0
Neighbor Valid Time: 253
TX Gain: 0
TX Res: 0
TX Coeff: 0x00 00 00 00 00 00
TX Gain Array: 0x00 00 00 00 00 00 00 00
LQI: 0.0 dB
RX_Phase: 0
Modulation Scheme: 0
Protocol: G3
Band Select: CENELEC
RX LQI: 53.0 dB

Now this table only contains the short address. Is there any way to read the extended address of the device listed above.

I need that to send a detach command to the device.

hi Viswanath ,

You can read the extended address using the PIB 0x01000116 . please refer to the G3_Host_msg.pdf

Unlike the neighbor table that gives details of the nodes joint to this device . This is done at the device side itself .

you can read the required PIBs using the Intermediate GUI -> options -> get mac pibs . (reger to TI G3 User Guide-Zero Config GUI.pdf )

Regards.

Hi Meghana,

I need the extended address of the nodes that have joined the device (base node) from the base node itself.

Just like the neighbor table, if say 3 service nodes have joined the base node, can I get the extended addresses of the 3 service nodes by sending a host message command to the base node plc chip.

Regards
Viswanath

hi Viswanath ,

We cant access the extended address of nodes when using minidc or DC using the PLCv4 kits .

it can be done only in the Big DC ie .

Regards.

Hi Meghana,

Thank you for the link.

Using the BIG DC for the base node would help me read the extended address, I got that.

However, do I need the AM335X series chip for the Big DC or can I just use the firmware on the PLC 83/ PLC 84 and use the host messaging commands as before .

Kind Regads

Viswanath

hi Viswanath ,

yes . We need to use the 2 chip AM335X and the PLC83 SOM to run the complete DC . Upper MAC on AM335 and Lower MAC stack runs on the PLC83/84.

Regards.

Hi Meghana

The nodes have worked well, and we need to work out the Big DC configuration for our product line (www.powerlinesys.com

So far, this is my understanding:

We will need both the PLC84 and AM335X series chip for the BIG DC (lower and upper mac layers). What is the latest version of the BIG DC firmware and could you please provide a link to them. 

Now, the questions

1) To communicate to the BIG DC, we will need an external application. Based on the documentation, it seems like that it is an "External IPV6 application". Now, this means that the external application communicates to the BIG DC on the AM335X PROCESSOR ITSELF using IPv6 interface. Is this correct?

2) Does the AM335X have enough bandwidth to run the upper MAC layer and also another application which we need to run to be able to organize the data sent/ received from each of the nodes. Could you provide any statistics of memory/ cpu usage 

Kind Regards

Viswanath

 

hi Viswanath,

The latest version of DC firmware on the web is 4.7.0.6. We should be having another version out in another months time .

1. Yes the udpipv6 app is the external ipv6 application that is used to relay ipv6 packets running on the AM335X itself .

2.

Mem: 70572K used, 182612K free, 0K shrd, 18476K buff, 37992K cached

regards.

Hi Meghana,

Thanks for your reply. 

1) If I use another microcontroller on our custom board for DC. How can we communicate with the DC binary executing on the AM335X chip.

2) Will the big DC support communications to nodes on all three phases as well (assuming that we have the correct hardware to connect to 3 different phases). If there are anything we need to know regarding connecting to the 3 phase nodes and the DC, could you please help us at this time.

Kind Regards

Viswanath

hi Viswanath,

1. it is ideally a UART communication . So you would need to get the data which is as per HCT message format from UMAC to LMAC ie. the custom board.

2. yes it will .

Settings and details can be found in link below

regards.

Hi Meghana,

Thanks for the document.

1) If I use the UART to talk to the LMAC on the PLC84, how will the UMAC work. 

2) Will TI provide the UMAC code to run on the custom processor board?

3) What is HCT Messaging? Could you please explain and provide some docs on it.

4) In big DC, will the host application talk to the UMAC (on AM3x chip) or LMAC(on PLC84) or both. This system is not too clear to me.

Kind Regards

Viswanath

Hi Viswanath ,

1. Please erefr docs of the SDK

2. No we dont provide .

3. docs in package

4. The host applications .. ( some part of the package and not ZCG ) would directly talk to the UMAC which would talk to LMAC .

Regards .

Hi Meghana,

Thanks for the link for the current reference document for DC.

1) I will look out for the upcoming release of the latest version. Is there any way we can be communicated when the new release happens?

2) Can We use the AM3358 chip in our custom board for the Big DC instead of the AM3359 chip included in the reference design for the DC?

3) Will the UMAC layer binary provided with the previous link run on the board based on the AM3358 chip.

Kind Regards

Viswanath

hi Viswanath ,

1. yes you can go to the download page and click on " Alert me " to receive them when a newer version is on the web.

2. I believe it should be possible to use . But in case of any issues check on the AM335x forum for are any major build differences or h/w differences .

3. We haven't tested it but i yes it should  work on AM3358 as we build the UMAC for AM335X in general .

Regards.

Hi Meghana,

We are having a small issue with using the BIG DC firmware on PLC 84 + beaglebone black chip base board. To confirm that there is no issue in the physical layer we have performed a test with mini-dc and it works.

We are using 2 custom boards with PLC 84 chip for the testing our system.

First we programmed one as a node and the second with mini-dc SW. Then when we start network in the mini-dc by sending host commands, the node is able to detect the networks available and join the network. We are using cenelac B band

Now in the same connections and hardware setup, we have reprogrammed the PLC 84 which had mini-dc with Big DC and then based on the "TI G3 DC Software User Guide", started the applications on the beaglebone black connected to the PLC 84. Now, the node is not able to detect any networks, the HW and physical connectivity is the same as with mini-dc.

Could you indicate what steps we could take to check what is going wrong here.

Kind Regards

Viswanath

hi Viswanath ,

Are you starting the DC correctly with the -B CENb.txt option including the correct tonemap file ?

Does the setup work well for the CEN A ?

Do you see any errors on the SN log window for failure ?

Regards .

Hi Meghana,

1) I am starting the DC with the following command

./g3_dc_AM335X_aes_msb_loadng.exe -c /dev/ttyUSB0 -B ./tone_mask_cenelec_B -M 0

Used option -M as "0" for robo mode which is being used as an option in the service node.

The tone mask setup in the file tone_mask_cenelac_B is shown in the next line

0x3f 0x10 0xff 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

2) Did not try cenelac A as our hardware is setup for Cenelac B as designed by our hardware engineer, and we know that cenelac -B worked with mini-dc.

3) In the SN, when we send the DISCOVER NETWORK COMMAND, the response is showing 0 networks found and the status value is

is 0x508b (as per the host messaging document => ADP_STAT_NO_BEACON)

Appreciate your help in indicating path of investigation to resolve this.

On another console connected I also ran the management client, and the monitoring tool as well.

root@beaglebone:~# ./g3_mgmt_cli_AM335X
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:20000
Connected ...

root@beaglebone:~# ./g3_evt_mon_AM335X
Connecting to 127.0.0.1:45000
Connected ...

--------------- LOG OF STARTING DC using the g3_dc ... command -----------------------

root@beaglebone:~# ./g3_dc_AM335X_aes_msb_loadng.exe -c /dev/ttyUSB0 -B ./tone_mask_cenelec_B -M 0
#########################################################################
#################   G3 Data Concentrator Version 4.7.0.6   ##############
#########################################################################
Original System Information from device ...

*** SYSTEM INFORMATION ***
Firmware Version.................... 7.7.1.4
Device Type......................... G3
Device Mode......................... MAC
Hardware Revision................... pre Rev. D
Host Port........................... SCI-B
Diag Port........................... SCI-A
Apply RPY........................... no
Auto Mode........................... no
G3 Address Type..................... 0
G3 Long Address..................... 0000000000000000
G3 Short Address.................... 0
G3 MAC Segment Length............... 0

DEV_shutDown_Handler: SHUT_DOWN returned success.
Pausing to allow device to reset.
DEV_setSysConfig_Handler: LOAD_SYSTEM_CONFIG returned success.
System Information of device has been set to...

*** SYSTEM INFORMATION ***
Firmware Version.................... 7.7.1.4
Device Type......................... G3
Device Mode......................... MAC
Hardware Revision................... pre Rev. D
Host Port........................... SCI-A
Diag Port........................... SCI-B
Apply RPY........................... no
Auto Mode........................... no
G3 Address Type..................... 0
G3 Long Address..................... ffeeddccbbaa9988
G3 Short Address.................... 0
G3 MAC Segment Length............... 0

DEV_setInfo_Handler: HCT_MSG_TYPE_SET_INFO returned success.
DEV_setInfo_Handler: HCT_MSG_TYPE_SET_INFO returned success.
Network started successfully
Connected to PSK Server.

Kind Regards

Viswanath

Hi Viswanath ,

Start the DC with the arguments -B CEN_B.txt.

where CEN_B.txt is the text file with the tonemask . Not like an executable .

without correct parameters the dc will start in CEN A mode itself .

Regards .

Hi Meghana,

That is what I thought I did. The name of the file was tone_mask_cenelec_B, and so in the command I used

-B ./tone_mask_cenelec_B

Would this not work. 

The complete command line was

./g3_dc_AM335X_aes_msb_loadng.exe -c /dev/ttyUSB0 -B ./tone_mask_cenelec_B -M 0

The reason I did it this was is that I did not find any file cenB.txt in the DC package to use,

Contents of the file tone_mask_cenelec_B is the line shown below

0x3f 0x10 0xff 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

Kind Regards

Viswanath

Hi Viswanath ,

Add the test file with extension text and not as an executable .

Create the CENb .txt file in the G3_DC / folder with the right tonemask .

Regards .

Hi Meghana,

Wish you a very happy and prosperous New Year.

Created a text file CENb.txt as you had indicated in your response with the following data for Cenelac B band in the same directory as the G3 Big DC application.

0x3f 0x10 0xff 0xff 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00 0x00

Then when loading the G3 big dc application, i gave the option -B CENb.txt, but still we get the same response in the Service Node for Network Discover, i.e. the number of networks is 0, and status is 0x508b => no beacon.

I have also tried passing the option of -B ./CENb.txt but still the Service Node does not see any networks.

One question arose while we were testing the Service Node.

In the Big DC package downloaded from TI website, there is no binary for the Service Node, so we used the binary from the SDK package V7_7_1_10 for the service node. Is this correct? If not what binary should be used in the Service Node when we use a Big DC PLC firmware in the master (or base node).

Kind Regards

Viswanath