Openthread with FreeRTOS

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Thu, 29 Oct 2020 09:59:51 GMT

static void thread_stack_task(void * arg)
{
    UNUSED_PARAMETER(arg);
    mqttsn_init();
    uint32_t err_code = mqttsn_client_search_gateway(&m_client, SEARCH_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT);
    if (err_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_INFO("SEARCH GATEWAY message could not be sent. Error: 0x%x\r\n", err_code);
    }else{
        NRF_LOG_INFO("Search gateway message sendt");
    }

    while (1)
    {
        NRF_LOG_INFO("in loop");
        
        thread_process();
        app_sched_execute();
        if (NRF_LOG_PROCESS() == false)
        {
            thread_sleep();
        }

        UNUSED_VARIABLE(ulTaskNotifyTake(pdTRUE, portMAX_DELAY));
    }
}

Thank you for the reply!
Moving the mqttsn_init() function and code for connecting the gateway into the task, i.e. running it after the vTaskStartScheduler(), fixed the problem and the program works! I found moving the thread_instance_init() function to the task caused the program to crash.

So now everything seems to work!

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 14:35:18 GMT

Hello,

We believe the issue is that your function calls are using a lot of timers, which are not supposed to be called until you have kickstarted the FreeRTOS itself using vTaskStartScheduler().

Basically, you can't use any of this:

    thread_instance_init();
    mqttsn_init();
    
    /* Connect to gateway */ 
    uint32_t err_code = mqttsn_client_search_gateway(&m_client, SEARCH_GATEWAY_TIMEOUT);
    if (err_code != NRF_SUCCESS)
    {
        NRF_LOG_INFO("SEARCH GATEWAY message could not be sent. Error: 0x%x\r\n", err_code);
    }else{
        NRF_LOG_INFO("Search gateway message sendt");
    }

before you call vTaskStartScheduler(). Please note that the vTaskStartScheduler does not return, so you need to add these parts e.g. within your openthread task.

Without being able to pin point exactly what caused the Hardfault it was definitely a timing related issue. The reason it worked in SES was probably due to optimization. When I compiled the DEBUG variant of the project, it hardfaulted, just like your armgcc project.

I don't know exactly what it should look like, but look at the unmodified freertos_coap_server example, and do only one change at the time. If it stops working, then look into why it doesn't work.

Are you sure you really need FreeRTOS anyway?

BR,

Edvin

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Tue, 27 Oct 2020 12:25:46 GMT

Hi!
Any updates?

One thing i noticed, when trying to run the working project without FreeRTOS in the project directory of the FreeRTOS program (modified coap server), and with the FreeRTOS makefile, the program would not run with the FreeRTOS makefile, despite not using any FreeRTOS functionality.

I did not get a hardfault error, but other than that the program responded as the FreeRTOS program, not receiving any MQTT-events. However when i tried removing the FreeRTOS-files from the makefile, just from the SRC_FILES as shown below the program works.

The right file is the working makefile.

The program flow. First running the makefile on the left, then running the makefile on the right.

It seems that just including the FreeRTOS source files, without including or using them in the main-file,in the project causes the MQTT-events to stop responding.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Sun, 25 Oct 2020 19:25:40 GMT

Ok! I see.
Keep me posted if your college or you find a solution. Hopefully we can make it work.

-Asgeir.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Fri, 23 Oct 2020 12:22:07 GMT

Hello,

I experimented a bit more. It seems like you receive a hardfault, but I am not yet sure why. Please check the attached project:

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../5460.freertos_5F00_coap_5F00_server_5F00_2.zip

Put it in the same location as your current project.

Also, open hardfault_implementation.c and modify the function HardFault_process() to look like this:

/*lint -save -e14 */
__WEAK void HardFault_process(HardFault_stack_t * p_stack)
{
    // Restart the system by default
    //NVIC_SystemReset();
    while (true)
    {
        NRF_LOG_PROCESS();
    }
}
/*lint -restore */

And monitor the RTT log.

I have to ask a colleague of mine, but he is not in today. I'll check with him, hopefully in the beginning of next week.

BR,

Edvin

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 12:47:30 GMT

I only tested the armgcc solution with make. Should i install SES and try the SES file?

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 11:50:22 GMT

Did you test the SES (segger embedded Studio) project that I attatched in the previous reply? Does it behave the same there?

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Wed, 21 Oct 2020 08:46:09 GMT

It behaves the same. The LED only blinks once. When i remove the call to mqttsn_client_search_gateway(), the blinking tasks works as expected.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 13:02:01 GMT

Yes. It was probably what it said earlier as well, but I guess it wasn't an error:

So, I am currently working from home, and can't monitor the LEDs, because the DK is connected in my work computer in the office, so I added the line:

NRF_LOG_INFO("led task"); right before toggling the led in the while loop.

I saw that it was only printed once, and I wanted to debug, so I had to port the segger project that you provided. However, running that, I see that it is printed regularly (LED1_BLINK_INTERVAL).

Can you try the attached project (unzip in the same location as you had your project) and check if it behaves the same, or if the LED keeps blinking in your case?

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../6281.freertos_5F00_coap_5F00_server.zip

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 10:45:34 GMT

The projects are explained in the readme. The "freertos_coap_server" is the freertos openthread mqtt program.

I am able to compile it in an unmodified SDK2.0.0. I tried downloading a new SDK now and tested it. I copied the files from the github repo into SDK/examples-folder. I used VS code to modify the code, but to compile it i ran the makefile in pca/10056/blank/armgcc using a terminal. You can see where i placed the project files in the picture. Does this not work for you?

Kind regards, Asgeir.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Mon, 19 Oct 2020 08:51:03 GMT

I saw that repo, but which of the projects is it? And what IDE did you use to set up the project? I tried the freertos_coap_server\pca10056\blank\ses and armgcc, but none of them compiled in an unmodified SDK2.0.0. Where should I place the project file, and what IDE do you use? Please make sure that it compiles in an unmodified SDK.

SDK2.0.0 is a bit old, so you can consider to move to SDK4.1.0, but we can look into it in the SDK2.0.0 first.

BR,

Edvin

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 15:37:21 GMT

I uploaded it to github, https://github.com/hunshamar/freertos_openthread, which can also be downloaded as a zip. But do you want the full SDK folder with the project zipped?

-Asgeir

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Fri, 16 Oct 2020 13:07:59 GMT

Ok. Thank you for checking. Can you please zip your project (preferably the one that also toggles the led, which also freezes) here, so that I can try to recreate it on my DK.

Best regards,

Edvin

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Thu, 15 Oct 2020 11:06:05 GMT

I gave this a try, but unfortunately it did not work. I even tried a brand new nrf52 dongle.
The problem seems to be with the FreeRTOS program. I tried adding another task that only toggles an LED on the board, and this one freezes as well. The problem seems to be with the mqqtsn_client_search_gateway() function that is run at the start of the program.

When i exclude this piece of code at least the led blinking tasks runs normally. But if I run this function the program seems to halt.

Also if I just comment out all the FreeRTOS -stuff and run the openthread-task as a while-loop it works. So there seems to be some conflict with FreeRTOS and the mqtt event handler or something similar.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 13:31:47 GMT

Then what will happen if the RPi broker already have network data on the DK, that it assumes that the DK also has? Then the DK starts up without any stored network data.

Please give it a go. It is a matter of uploading the hex file from my earlier reply, and re-flashing it. Then let me know if it still behaves the same.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 12:25:13 GMT

The dongle is connected to the MQTT broker, yes. But this works without any problem, the problem is not in the RPi broker. When running the openthread project on nrf52840 DK without freertos everything works.

The problem is when i try to implement FreeRTOS in the thread project on the development kit that I'm trying to connect to the thread network running on the RPi.

The code i attached to a previous comment explaining the problem, https://github.com/hunshamar/freertos_openthread, I have two openthread programs that I can flash to the development kit, one using FreeRTOS which is not working, and one not using FreeRTOS that is working with openthread.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 12:19:49 GMT

[quote user=""]using a Rasperry Pi and nrf52 dongle[/quote]

But you have an nRF52 dongle connected to your RPi? Can you try to erase this one?

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 09:46:04 GMT

I'm using the nrf52840 DK for developing, not the dongle.

For erasing the flash i ran the "make erase" command from the makefile.

I tried flashing the hex file using nrf connect, but it made no difference either.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Tue, 13 Oct 2020 07:44:21 GMT

How did you erase the dongle's flash?

If you haven't tested it, can you please try the hex file found in Jørgen's answer from this post?

The hex file found in flasherase_nrf52840_dongle_sdk16\flasherase\hex\flasherase_pca10059.hex will erase the flash for you if you flash it from nRF Connect for Desktop.

Then you can program it with the correct FW again after that.

BR,

Edvin

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Sat, 10 Oct 2020 11:56:55 GMT

This did not make any difference, unfortunately.

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 15:48:05 GMT

Please make sure that you erase the flash on all devices completely before you flash them with a modified example. Perhaps there were some old network data in the flash on one of the devices?

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Asgeir — Thu, 08 Oct 2020 12:37:43 GMT

Hi!
I've tried this unsuccessfully.

I modified the mqttsn_client_subscriber example some, making it connect to the broker and subscribe to topic automatically, not using the buttons.
This solution works well.

However when i try to implement the same solution in FreeRTOS, using the freertos_coap_server as a reference, it doesn't work. The program does not connect to the gateway etc.

There seems to be an issue with running the mqttsn_evt_handler, perhaps this is related to using the app_scheduler in the program? I am not sure, but the events are not triggered.

Here is my code: https://github.com/hunshamar/freertos_openthread

Do you have any suggestions for making this work? I am not too experienced with FreeRTOS or the nordic SDK, so any help would be appreciated.

-Asgeir

RE: Openthread with FreeRTOS

Edvin — Tue, 06 Oct 2020 13:25:31 GMT

Hello,

There is one example that uses the openthread stack and FreeRTOS:

SDK_for_Thread_and_Zigbee_4.1.0\examples\thread\freertos_coap_server

Perhaps you can use this example for reference.

Best regards,

Edvin