CC2531 as bridge "802.15.4 - Ethernet (or 802.11)"

Hi,

unfortunately at this moment this configuration is not supported in Contiki.

Thanks,

TheDarkSide

Hello TheDarkSide

Thank you for response.

Frankly speaking I didn't properly understand your message.

What exactly isn't supported in Contiki.

In the underlying configuration only the "mote" (the box on the right on the diagramme) is intended to run Contiki.

The "mote", based on CC2538, run a Contiki application, where uIP (or Rime) stack is realised. The LINK and PHY levels of uIP (or Rime) are based on 802.15.4 standard. So, the application is intended to send and receive 802.15.4 packets.

Is there someting wrong concerning "mote" ?

The bridge (the small bax on the left side of PC) is intended to convert 802.15.4 packet into USB flow.

So, the question is:

Is CC2531 dongle capable to serve this bridge ?

Here I precise, that CC2531 dongle isn't intended to run Contiki.

Cordially

Pavel

TheDarkSide,

I recognize, that in my 1st mail I was impresize in exposing of the problem:

The CC2531 dongle is intended to convert 802.15.4 frames into 802.3 frames (Ethernet).

The Atmel dongle is capable to do this job, why CC2531 can't ?

Hi,

the CC2531 dongle is a board which has an SoC with USB transceiver integrated, but does not have an Eth PHY.

I don't think the the  RZ USB stick converts 802.15.4 frames to Eth and pass those frames over the PC.

I think what it does is passing the 802.15.4 frames over the PC. That is all.

Unfortunately currently Contiki 6LoWPAN does not support the configuration you have drawn above with the CC2531 EMK, where the Contiki MAC is running as a co-processor on the CC2531 device.

I will take this feedback and report it internally, however I wanted to explain why currently that configuration is not supported.

The main 2.4 Ghz TI HW for Contiki 6LoWPAN nodes (for both edge routers and nodes) is CC2538. Especially for edge routers, CC2538 allows building a very low cost edge router adding simply an Ethernet PHY like explained here:

http://processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Thingsquare-6LOWPAN

Thanks,

TheDarkSide 

Thanks for info.

Nevertheless some incertitude remains. What should be TI solution that wouls allow to realize full uIP connection (that uses full IP addtress, not MAC address).

In other words: there is 2 motes "Mote 1" and "Mote 2" (2 CC2538 boards).

"Mote 1" takes part of "LoWPAN 1", "Mote 2" takes part of "LoWPAN 2", meaning that full IP is appealed.

I would like to make communicate these motes (at least at transport level, i.e. by UDP messages).

I suppose that such setup will require 2 PCs, as CC2538 running border router can't provide access to Internet.

Isn't it ?

Cordially

Pavel.

Hi Pavel,

I would suggest the following:

1) use Thingsquare's edition of the Contiki (you can download from thingsquare.com/download)

• With this solution you can use the example called router-node, which is a device that serves as a 6lowpan Edge Router and NAT64 - so you can connect that device to your standard IP access point, without the use of a PC to do IP translation. The actual board to use and instrucitons are found here: processors.wiki.ti.com/index.php/Contiki-6LOWPAN (in your case it would be SmartRF06EB plus a small Ethernet DK.

or

2) use standard Contiki software which does not have the router-node example/setup

• I understand you want to use the CC2531USB Dongle as a SLIP radio, I know there are some issues with the USB drivers, that has been discussed on the main Contiki list/forum, please look here: http://contiki-os.org/support.html
• You can use the CC2538EM as USB SLIP device, make sure you build with compiler flag "SMALL=0"

Let us know if that solves your issue

Hi Firefighter,

Thanks a lot for your feedback.

Your suggestion is the best among all propositions/suggestions I received last time.

Nevertheless some incertitudes remains.

In the 1st option

1. If I properly understood, the connection schema is as follows:
   

   Media		802.15.4		SPI		802.3		SPI		802.15.4
   Chain Node	Mote_1	<---->	ER_1	<---->	Eth_Ctrl_1	<---->	Eth_Ctrl_2	<---->	ER_2	<---->	Mote_2

   
   where
   Mote_1, Mote_2: motes, running some application with uIP stack and (on application level) sending/receiving messages (e.g. UDP diaframs). Hardware for these motes - CC2538 boards (CC2538EM + SRF06EB, from CC2538 DK)
   ER_1, ER_2: Edge Routers, running router_node application from thingsquare_mist_1.1.0. Hardware - the same as for motes, i.e. CC2538 boards
   Eth_Ctrl_1, Eth_Ctrl_2: Ethernet controllers (MOD-ENC28J60 from Olimex), that connected to CC2538 by SPI and to "Outer World" by Ethernet connector
2. So, to realize such connectivity we need 2 CC2538 design kits (as one kit contains only 2 CC2538 modules) and 2 design kits from Olimex ... as one kits contains only one Ethernet controller ?
3. As I understood, there is no solution to employ WiFi (802.11) between two Edge Routers ... i.e. only wired Ethernet connectivity (802.3) exists nowadays ?
4. For Mote_1 and Mote_2 probably should I use ..\thingsquare-mist-1.1.0\examples\udp-multicast\udp-multicast.c ?

In the 2nd option

1. I would like to use CC2531 to provide interface between 802.15.4 and PC ... in the fashion of Atmel "RZ USB" dongle do this. By the way I'm still not sure what is "background" of such interface - either it convert 802.15.4 frames into Ethernet frames, or 802.15.4 frames are just "envelopped" into USB flow and then PC transform 802.15.4 frames into 802.3 ones or 802.11 ones. I've sent a request to Atmel, but unfortunately they refused provide such information. So for the moment I have no any idea how CC2531 can be enmployed in the connectivity solution I'm looking for.
2. What could be the connectivity schema with the 2nd option

And finally the last question: actually we have only one CC2538 dk (2 CC2538EM, 2 SRF06EB, 1 CC2531 USB stick). If my vision is correct with this staff we can (3rd case - very uncertain) realize the following connectivity scenarios:

• uIP connectivity inside a LoWPAN (only part of full IPv6 address is used: 64-bit MAC address); hardware: 2 CC2538 "motes", one of them run uIP stack + some send/receive application, another run uIP stack + "Router Application" + some send/receive application
• Rime connectivity (also inside LoWPAN): 64-bit MAC address; hardware: 2 CC2538 "motes", both run the same: Rime stack + some send/receive application
  
• "full" uIP connectivity (full IPv6 128-bit address is employed); hardware: 2 CC2538 "motes" + 2 CC2531 (serve as LoWPAN to USB converters) + 2 PC. I'm not sure that such connectivity can be realized with TI devices. Such solution exists with Atmel, but the question "can CC2531 replace Atmel RZ USB dongle ?" remains opened.

Thank you once more

Cordially

Pavel