WiFi Connection in Thunder RDKV RPI - User Manual

Introduction

This document describes the Wifi Establishment  in Thunder images.This can be achieved by using NetworkControl plugin and Netsrvmgr component.Here Networkcontrol plugin is used for IP configurations as part of the WPEFramwork infrastructure and  Netsrvmgr component is used for Managing the Wi-Fi network by connecting to AP (Access Point) and provide the notification to the application. Generally it is called as Wi-Fi Network Manager.

Building Procedure

$ repo init -u https://code.rdkcentral.com/r/manifests -m rdkv-asp-nosrc.xml -b thunder

$ repo sync -j4 --no-clone-bundle

$ source meta-cmf-raspberrypi/setup-environment

select meta-cmf-raspberrypi/conf/machine/raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder.conf

$ bitbake rdk-generic-hybrid-thunder-image

Block diagram

Block diagram explanation

    For establishing the wifi  in Thunder image we need   two things one is Networkcontrol  plugin and other is Netsrvmgr. The Network Control plugin provides functionality for network interface management. Networkcontrol has mainly two properties which are Network and up. Network  is used for Provides access to the current network information and up is used for Provides access to the interface up status.This plugin is designed to be loaded and executed within the Thunder framework.We can enable or disable Networkcontrol Plugin by using UI. And Netsrvmgr has 3 major functionalities like wifi,moca,route.Here we will discuss about wifi .This will takes some responsibilities likedetect the Network interfaces dynamically , send notifications to subscribers and Setup and update the network routes based on priorities, wifi connection status, availability, etc.we can provide ssid and password details in /opt/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf.After reboot the box we can see the wifi connection in raspberry pi .we can verify this by using the netsrvmgr.service.

Note:Need to add below line in /opt/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf before testing the wifi functionality.

ctrl_interface_group=0

network={
     ssid=""
     psk=""
}

Debug Logs

• For confirming  IP configuration in wpeframework we can verify it on wpeframework  service.

          Example:
           journalctl -x -u wpeframework

Logs should be like this: 

           n/WPEFramework[215]: [Thu, 28 Nov 2019 14:38:12 ]:[NetworkControl.cpp:143]: Startup: Interface [wlan0] activated, DHCP request issued

           n/WPEFramework[215]: [Thu, 28 Nov 2019 14:38:12 ]:[NetworkControl.cpp:143]: Startup: Interface [eth0] activated, DHCP request issued

• We can verify wifi-hal logs like connecting to particular ssid or not,wifi initialization and all  it on netsrvmgr service. 
  Example:   journalctl -x -u netsrvmgr

Logs should be like this

             Nov 28 14:38:18 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Inside wifi_event_monitor_thread

             Nov 28 14:38:19 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Scanning results received

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Authentication completed successfully and data connection

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # wifi_event_monitor_thread <=> Waiting lock <=> held by:

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # New lock acquired by :wifi_event_monitor_thread

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # bssid=00:7f:28:67:d9:0f

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # ssid=RDK

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Successfully connected to AP:RDK

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Released lock: wifi_event_monitor_thread

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # wifi_event_monitor_thread <=> Waiting lock <=> held by:

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # New lock acquired by :wifi_event_monitor_thread

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # Released lock: wifi_event_monitor_thread

             Nov 28 14:38:21 raspberrypi-rdk-hybrid-thunder netsrvmgr[1220]: WIFI-HAL # The SSID is:RDK   

•  If we have network issues we may have seen problem with lighting apps.For Debugging Lightening apps, in WebBrowser provide the <STB-ipaddress:9998> as shown below.          

Testcase Validation

  Need to give details of the wifi interface like  ssid and psk in /opt/wifi/wpa_supplicant.conf file  and remove Ethernet interface and do reboot.After that it will show the wifi ip in RDKSplashscreen.

Referrence

https://wiki.rdkcentral.com/display/RDK/netsrvmgr

https://github.com/WebPlatformForEmbedded/ThunderNanoServices/blob/master/NetworkControl/doc/NetworkControlPlugin.md#ref.Thunder