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802.15.4 OpenThread

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VAR-SOM-MX93 OpenThread Overview

VAR-SOM-MX93 SoMs ordered with the WBE option feature an IW612 based tri-radio module that supports Wi-Fi 6, Bluetooth/Bluetooth Low Energy 5.2, and 802.15.4.

The 802.15.4 radio coprocessor is managed by OpenThread. Thread is an IPv6-based networking protocol designed for low-power Internet of Things devices in an IEEE802.15.4-2015 wireless mesh network. OpenThread released by Google is an open-source implementation of Thread.

The OpenThread core runs on the host processor (mx93) and communicates with the 802.15.4 coprocessor via OpenThread Daemon (ot-daemon) through SPI interface. Clients can connect to the ot-daemon UNIX socket and communicate using OpenThread CLI as a protocol.

Configuring ot-daemon

ot-daemon is started with the following command:

ot-daemon "spinel+spi:///dev/spidev1.0?gpio-int-device=4&gpio-int-line=29&gpio-reset-device=4_&gpio-reset-line=4_&spi-mode=0&spi-speed=1000000&spi-reset-delay=500" &

This is done automatically on boot by Variscite's ot-service and the scripts in /etc/openthread on boot. The service can be managed using systemd:

systemctl <start|stop|restart|enable|disable> variscite-ot.service

For example, you can stop and disable the service:

# Stop the service
systemctl stop variscite-ot

# Start the service
systemctl disable variscite-ot

Managing OpenThread using ot-ctl

ot-ctl uses the ot-daemon UNIX socket and can be used to manage OpenThread. It requires that ot-daemon is first running. As a reminder, the variscite-ot service starts this by default.

For example, you can read the extended MAC address of your device:

# ot-ctl extaddr
52fc4e6d3cd98e30
Done

The following sections demonstrate how to create a network on imx93-var-som-a and connect to the network on imx93-var-som-b.

Create OpenThread network using ot-ctl

Variscite provides an example script in /etc/openthread/variscite-ot-server to create an OpenThread network. It is only meant to be an example to accelerate the development process. For example:

root@# /etc/openthread/variscite-ot-server start
State is detached, waiting for state=leader
State is detached, waiting for state=leader
State is detached, waiting for state=leader
State is leader
Network key c9ca829c5a194f86e141a8721f1f38aa saved to /tmp/ot-wpan0.key

Connect to OpenThread network using ot-ctl

Variscite provides an example script in /etc/openthread/variscite-ot-client to connect to an OpenThread network. It is only meant to be an example to accelerate the development process. For example:

root@imx93-var-som-b# /etc/openthread/variscite-ot-client start c9ca829c5a194f86e141a8721f1f38aa
Scanning for available networks:                                                                         
| PAN  | MAC Address      | Ch | dBm | LQI |                                                             
+------+------------------+----+-----+-----+                                                             
| 1234 | 962ba3d53bbc9bb6 | 26 | -46 | 133 |                                                             
Done                                                                                                     
State is detached, waiting to connect to the network                                                     
State is detached, waiting to connect to the network                                                     
State is detached, waiting to connect to the network                                                     
State is child, connected to the network

Once connected, you can