Usage of CLI from BorderRouter to communicate to end device

[UmaMaheswar]

we have BorderRouter- Raspberry pi flashed with nordic alpha 4.1.0.1 image + nrf52840 dongle in NCP design .

As an end device I have EFR32 MG12 WSTK flashed with OT-CLI-FTD code and connected to the BorderRouter as a child.

we have one more extra nrf52840 dongle too.

Want to communicate to EFR32 device from BorderRouter, EFR32 has a CLI and can be able to send some commands to BorderRouter and when it comes to BorderRouter end, got to know that the BorderRouter code from Nordic doesn't provide CLI.

If CLI image [<install folder>\nRF5_SDK_for_Thread_and_Zigbee_v4.1.0_32ce5f8.zip\examples\thread\cli\ftd\usb\hex] is flashed on another dongle and connected to RaspberryPi through USB port, does this support all Commands? Because from Openthread github code they are providing has CLI and used to communicate to other devices in a network.

If the CLI doesn't work with BorderRouter, then how can we send any commands to end device to perform specific operation? [To toggle LED/reading temperature sensor in EFR32 board].

With this image [BorderRouter- Raspberry pi flashed with nordic alpha 4.1.0.1 image + nrf52840 dongle in NCP design] formed thread network and could be able to join end device, but unable to send commands to end device. Let us know if there's any App/tool that we can use to send commands with my existing setup.

Thanks in advance.

[Charlie]

Hi Umamaheswarreddy, 

Please follow the advice from your another thicket. We are not able to help you if you do not follow the advice. Simply summary:

1. You need two nRF52840 DK if you only want to demo how two Thread devices are connected and using one device to control another one.

2. If you want to control a device inside the Thread network from outside through a BoarderRouter. You need to learn about IP/UDP/CoAP based network communication knowledge. CLI is just one configuration interface, you can not use it to do whatever you want, you need to define and develop this kind of high-level application by yourself.

Best regards,

Charlie

[UmaMaheswar]

Is there anyway that I can get the source code of the BorderRouter Alpha 4.0.1 ?

[Charlie]

The BorderRouter Alpha 4.0.1 is in fact a pre-configured Raspbian image. It is a bit out of date. You can find the latest recipe for OpenThread Border Router here.

Best regards,

Charlie

[UmaMaheswar]

I wanted to go for UDP network Communication and I have installed Hercules App to send UDP packets.

When we looked into the code the UDP functions mentioned here https://openthread.io/reference/group/api-udp-forward are present in main branch of GitHub only, but we could not find these functions on NCP design code (wpantund/master branch) which has support for Wpantund and Nordics BorderRouter is also using the same I guess[Since there's no support for Wpantund in main branch of ot-br-posix repo]. Need some confirmation on whether the BorderRouter code it can handle UDP functionality. 

Can you please provide any information how to frame and send a packet through Hercules App.

If there's any other simple option that I can use to frame and transfer packets please provide the info.!!

[Charlie]

Hi Umamaheswarreddy,

Unfortunately, we do not have examples related to Hercules now.

NCP is not part of wpantund but cooperates with it on OTBR, you can find NCP source code here or here. NCP firmware uses the OpentThread Stack library, so you would not be able to find the UDP API source code directly.

CoAP is on top of UDP layer, so I suggest your read the former referred CoAP examples again.

Best regards,

Charlie

[UmaMaheswar]

But CoAP examples are regarding the DKs as I have seen but in my case I have dongles.

And also is ot-rcp.hex file direclty available for nrf52840 dongle if I want to switch for RCP design?

If available please do provide it.