OpenThread Periodic Parent Search

[Ewout]

Hi,

I have been trying to get Periodic Parent Search active on my nRF54L15DK (and also on an nRF52840DK) without success. My approach has been:

• Use the OpenThread CLI sample project provided in the nRF Connect SDK (v3.1.1) as the base
• Changed the `prj.conf`to the following

# Enable OpenThread
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD=y

# Network shell
CONFIG_SHELL=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_SHELL=y
CONFIG_SHELL_ARGC_MAX=26
CONFIG_SHELL_CMD_BUFF_SIZE=416

# Increase Settings storage size
CONFIG_PM_PARTITION_SIZE_SETTINGS_STORAGE=0x8000

# Enable OpenThread features set
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_NORDIC_LIBRARY_MASTER=y

CONFIG_GPIO_SHELL=y

CONFIG_LOG=y

# Use separate thread for logging
CONFIG_LOG_MODE_DEFERRED=y

# Increase max log level to informative
CONFIG_LOG_MAX_LEVEL=4

# Option for configuring log level in this sample
CONFIG_OT_COMMAND_LINE_INTERFACE_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y

# Enable OpenThread logging
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_DEBUG=y
# Option for configuring log level in OpenThread
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_LOG_LEVEL_DEBG=y

# Disable UART logging backend
CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_UART=y
CONFIG_SHELL_LOG_BACKEND=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_PARENT_SEARCH=y

CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_PARENT_SEARCH_CHECK_INTERVAL=10
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_PARENT_SEARCH_BACKOFF_INTERVAL=1

• Flashed that firmware after a pristine build
• Use the CLI to connect to an existing Thread network

ot ifconfig down
ot thread stop
ot dataset clear
ot dataset set active [TLV]
ot ifconfig up
ot thread start
ot routereligible disable

• Confirmed succesfull connection both on the device, and in the OpenThread Border Router UI (using the topology tab)
• Moved the freshly flashed nordic DK entirely out of the network's range; observed no mention of parent search in the cli debug logs
• Also moved it out of range of its parent, and moved it in range to another router (potential new parent)
  • Again no mention of parent searching, nor a new connection to the potential parent

I did see this documentation that metions that it might be a good idea to use the OpenThread API and IPv6 stack directly, but I do not know whether that's the culprit, nor do I know how to switch to it. 

Am I missing something? 

[Marte Myrvold]

Hi,

Do you get other logs from the device that are not related to parent searching? In the CLI sample, it is recommended to use logging over RTT. You can enable this with the logging snippet, as described in the sample's documentation: https://docs.nordicsemi.com/bundle/ncs-3.1.1/page/nrf/samples/openthread/cli/README.html#snippets.

It is possible that this feature is enabled in the prebuilt OpenThread libraries. You can try building the libraries from sources by setting CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_SOURCES=y. See  Select OpenThread libraries for more information.
Please note that only the prebuilt libraries are certified, so you might not be able to use certification by inheritance when building the libraries yourself.

Best regards,
Marte

[Ewout]

Hi, Thanks! That resolved my issue; my device is now properly searching for new parents!