Station Ping#

1. Purpose / Scope#

Ping is used diagnostically to ensure that a host computer the user is trying to reach is actually operating. Ping works by sending an Internet Control Message Protocol (ICMP) Echo Request to a specified interface on the network and waiting for a reply. Ping can be used for troubleshooting to test connectivity and determine response time. The application demonstrates how to configure Silicon Labs device in client mode to send ping request to target IP address .

2. Prerequisites / Setup Requirements#

Before running the application, the user will need the following things to setup.

2.1 Hardware Requirements#

Windows PC with Host interface (UART / SPI/ SDIO).
Silicon Labs RS9116 Wi-Fi Evaluation Kit
Host MCU Eval Kit. This example has been tested with:
- Silicon Labs WSTK + EFR32MG21
- Silicon Labs WSTK + EFM32GG11
- STM32F411 Nucleo
Wireless Access Point
Silicon Labs module
A TCP server application running on the Windows PC2 (This example uses iperf for windows )

Setup Diagram for Station ping Example

2.2 Software Requirements#

WiSeConnect SDK
Embedded Development Environment
- For STM32, use licensed Keil IDE
- For Silicon Labs EFx32, use the latest version of Simplicity Studio
- A TCP server application running on the Windows PC2 (This example uses iperf for windows )

3. Application Build Environment#

3.1 Platform#

The Application can be built and executed on below Host platforms

3.2 Host Interface#

By default, the application is configured to use the SPI bus for interfacing between Host platforms(STM32F411 Nucleo / EFR32MG21) and the RS9116W EVK.
This application is also configured to use the SDIO bus for interfacing between Host platforms(EFM32GG11) and the RS9116W EVK.

3.3 Project Configuration#

The Application is provided with the project folder containing Keil and Simplicity Studio project files.

Keil Project
- The Keil project is used to evaluate the application on STM32.
- Project path: <SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects/station_ping-nucleo-f411re.uvprojx
Simplicity Studio
- The Simplicity Studio project is used to evaluate the application on EFR32MG21.
- Project path:
  - If the Radio Board is BRD4180A or BRD4181A, then access the path <SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects/station_ping-brd4180a-mg21.slsproj
  - If the Radio Board is BRD4180B or BRD4181B, then access the path <SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects/station_ping-brd4180b-mg21.slsproj
    - User can find the Radio Board version as given below

EFR Radio Boards

EFM32GG11 platform
- The Simplicity Studio project is used to evaluate the application on EFM32GG11.
  - Project path:<SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects/station_ping-brd2204a-gg11.slsproj

3.4 Bare Metal/RTOS Support#

This application supports bare metal and RTOS environment. By default, the application project files (Keil and Simplicity Studio) are provided with bare metal configuration.

4. Application Configuration Parameters#

User has to configure the below parameters for executing the application.

4.1 Open rsi_station_ping.c file and update/modify following macros,#

SSID refers to the name of the Access point.

#define SSID                                    "SILABS_AP"

CHANNEL_NO refers to the channel in which device should scan. If it is 0,device will scan all channels.

#define CHANNEL_NO                              0

SECURITY_TYPE refers to the type of security. In this application STA supports Open, WPA-PSK, WPA2-PSK securities.

Valid configuration is:

RSI_OPEN - For OPEN security mode
RSI_WPA - For WPA security mode
RSI_WPA2 - For WPA2 security mode

#define SECURITY_TYPE                           RSI_WPA2

AP_BSSID refer to BSSID of AP, join based up on BSSID (Example : If two Access points had same SSID then at the time based on this BSSID,module will join to particular AP). This feature is valid only if RSI_JOIN_FEAT_BIT_MAP set to RSI_JOIN_FEAT_BSSID_BASED in the rsi_wlan_config.h file.

#define AP_BSSID                                    { }

PSK refers to the secret key if the Access point configured in WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK security modes.

#define PSK "1234567890"

To configure IP address

DHCP_MODE refers whether IP address configured through DHCP or STATIC

#define DHCP_MODE                               1`

Note If user wants to configure STA IP address through DHCP then set DHCP_MODE to 1 and skip configuring the following DEVICE_IP,GATEWAY and NETMASK macros. (Or) If user wants to configure STA IP address through STATIC then set DHCP_MODE macro to "0" and configure following DEVICE_IP, GATEWAY and NETMASK macros.

IP address to be configured to the device in STA mode should be in long format and in little endian byte order.

Example: To configure "192.168.10.10" as IP address, update the macro DEVICE_IP as 0x0A0AA8C0.

#define DEVICE_IP                               0X0A0AA8C0

IP address of the gateway should also be in long format and in little endian byte order

Example: To configure "192.168.10.1" as Gateway, update the macro GATEWAY as 0x010AA8C0

#define GATEWAY                                 0x010AA8C0

IP address of the network mask should also be in long format and in little endian byte order

Example: To configure "255.255.255.0" as network mask, update the macro NETMASK as 0x00FFFFFF

#define NETMASK                                 0x00FFFFFF

Configure following macro stoping initiate ping with the remote peer

IP address of the remote peer (AP IP address).

Example: To configure "192.168.10.1" as REMOTE_IP, update the macro REMOTE_IP as 0x0A0AA8C0.

#define REMOTE_IP                               0x010AA8C0

PING_SIZE refers the size of ping packet.

#define PING_SIZE                               100

NUMBER_OF_PACKETS refers how many number of pings to send from device.

#define NUMBER_OF_PACKETS                       1000

The following parameters are configured if OS is used. WLAN task should be of low priority

#define RSI_WLAN_TASK_PRIORITY                   1

Driver task should have the highest priority among all threads

#define RSI_DRIVER_TASK_PRIORITY                 2

WLAN Task stack size is configured by this macro

#define RSI_WLAN_TASK_STACK_SIZE           500

Driver Task stack size is configured by this macro

#define RSI_DRIVER_TASK_STACK_SIZE         500

Application memory length which is required by the driver

#define GLOBAL_BUFF_LEN                         15000

User can connect to access point through PMK

To Enable keep 1 else 0

#define CONNECT_WITH_PMK                         0`

Note: If CONNECT_WITH_PMK is enable ,SECURITY_TYPE is set to RSI_WPA2_PMK

4.2 Open rsi_wlan_config.h file and update/modify following macros,#

#define CONCURRENT_MODE                         RSI_DISABLE
#define RSI_FEATURE_BIT_MAP                     FEAT_SECURITY_OPEN
#define RSI_TCP_IP_BYPASS                       RSI_DISABLE
#define RSI_TCP_IP_FEATURE_BIT_MAP             (TCP_IP_FEAT_DHCPV4_CLIENT| TCP_IP_FEAT_ICMP)
#define RSI_CUSTOM_FEATURE_BIT_MAP              FEAT_CUSTOM_FEAT_EXTENTION_VALID
#define RSI_EXT_CUSTOM_FEAT_BIT_MAP             EXT_FEAT_256k_MODE
#define RSI_BAND                                RSI_BAND_2P4GHZ

/* ping response timeout in seconds */
    
#define RSI_PING_REQ_TIMEOUT      `              1
    
/* If want to join with BSSID of AP,then enable this feature and add BSSID of AP in the rsi_station_ping.c file*/
   
#define  RSI_JOIN_FEAT_BIT_MAP                  RSI_JOIN_FEAT_BSSID_BASED

Note: rsi_wlan_config.h file is already set with desired configuration in respective example folders user need not change for each example.

5. Steps for Executing the Application#

User has to follow the below steps for the successful execution of the application.

5.1 Loading the RS9116W Firmware#

Refer Getting started with a PC to load the firmware into RS9116W EVK. The firmware file is located in <SDK>/firmware/

5.2 Steps for Compiling and Building the Application on the Host Platform#

5.2.1 Using STM32#

Refer Getting started with STM32

Open the project <SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects/station_ping-nucleo-f411re.uvprojx in Keil IDE.
Build the project
Debug the project
Check for the RESET pin:
- If RESET pin is connected from STM32 to RS9116W EVK, then user need not press the RESET button on RS9116W EVK before free run.
- If RESET pin is not connected from STM32 to RS9116W EVK, then user need to press the RESET button on RS9116W EVK before free run.
Free run the project
Then continue the common steps from Section 5.3

5.2.2 Using EFX32#

Refer Getting started with EFX32, for settin-up EFR & EFM host platforms

Open Simplicity Studio and import the EFR32/EFM32 project from <SDK>/examples/snippets/wlan/station_ping/projects
- Select the appropriate .slsproj as per Radio Board type mentioned in Section 3.3 for EFR32 board. (or)
- Select the *.brd2204a-gg11.slsproj for EFM32GG11 board.
Compile and flash the project in to Host MCU
Debug the project
Check for the RESET pin:
- If RESET pin is connected from EFX32 to RS9116W EVK, then user need not press the RESET button on RS9116W EVK before free run
- If RESET pin is not connected from EFX32 to RS9116W EVK, then user need to press the RESET button on RS9116W EVK before free run
Free run the project
Then continue the common steps from Section 5.3

5.3 Common Steps#

Configure the Access point in OPEN/WPA-PSK/WPA2-PSK mode to connect Silicon Labs device in STA mode.
After the program gets executed, Silicon Labs module configured as client and connects to AP and gets IP.
After successful connection with the Access Point, the device starts sending ping requests to the given REMOTE_IP with configured PING_SIZE to check availability of target Device.
Device sends the number of ping packets configured in NUMBER_OF_PACKETS.
In rsi_station_ping.c file, rsi_wlan_ping_async API returns success status, which means that the ping request packet is successfully sent in to the medium. When actual ping response comes from the remote node, it is known from the status parameter of the callback function (rsi_ping_response_handler) registered in the Ping API.

Compressed Debug Logging#

To enable the compressed debug logging feature please refer to Logging User Guide