Using the NRF52840 Zephyr applications with Renode

[BChetty]

Hi, I am currently evaluating the NRF52840 for our applications which will be deployed in underground mines across South Africa.

I see that Nordic has a good relationship with Zephyr and Renode as shown in the post below:

     https://devzone.nordicsemi.com/nordic/nordic-blog/b/blog/posts/developing-and-testing-ble-products-on-nrf52840-in-renode-and-zephyr 

My goal at this stage is to evaluate the Openthread protocol with the NRF52840 however when I compile the Zephyr Echo_Server/Client with the openthread overlay or the ieee802.15.4 overlay, I notice that no packets are being sent to the NRF52840 radio as shown by Wireshark on Renode.

If you have any insights as to why this is, or any suggestions on configuring the Zephyr application (Echo_Server/Client) to work on Renode (with 802.15.4 / Openthread), please advise me.

I tested the Zephyr application on 2 physical nrf52840dk devices and that was successful, i.e. Two-way communication was established using openthread or regular 802.15.4.

I need to test on Renode as this will enable me to test a large number of devices which will be required for our application.

My Zephyr Echo_Server prj.conf is as follows:

# Generic networking options
CONFIG_NETWORKING=y
CONFIG_NET_UDP=y
CONFIG_NET_TCP=n
CONFIG_NET_IPV6=y
CONFIG_NET_IPV4=n
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_NEED_IPV4=n
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_NEED_IPV6=y
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS=y
CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS_POSIX_NAMES=y
CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_FDS=6
CONFIG_NET_CONNECTION_MANAGER=y
CONFIG_NET_CONNECTION_MANAGER_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

# Kernel options
CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=12288
CONFIG_ENTROPY_GENERATOR=y
CONFIG_TEST_RANDOM_GENERATOR=y
CONFIG_INIT_STACKS=y

# Logging
CONFIG_NET_LOG=y
CONFIG_LOG=y
CONFIG_NET_STATISTICS=y
CONFIG_PRINTK=y
CONFIG_NET_MGMT_EVENT_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y
CONFIG_NET_CONNECTION_MANAGER_LOG_LEVEL_DBG=y
# Network buffers
CONFIG_NET_PKT_RX_COUNT=16
CONFIG_NET_PKT_TX_COUNT=16
CONFIG_NET_BUF_RX_COUNT=64
CONFIG_NET_BUF_TX_COUNT=64
CONFIG_NET_CONTEXT_NET_PKT_POOL=y

# IP address options
CONFIG_NET_IF_UNICAST_IPV6_ADDR_COUNT=6
CONFIG_NET_IF_MCAST_IPV6_ADDR_COUNT=4
CONFIG_NET_MAX_CONTEXTS=10

# Network shell
CONFIG_NET_SHELL=y
CONFIG_SHELL=y

# Network application options and configuration
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_SETTINGS=y

CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_MY_IPV6_ADDR="fdde:ad00:beef::2"
CONFIG_NET_CONFIG_PEER_IPV6_ADDR="fdde:ad00:beef::1"


# Number of socket descriptors might need adjusting
# if there are more than 1 handlers defined.
CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_FDS=10

# How many client can connect to echo-server simultaneously
CONFIG_NET_SAMPLE_NUM_HANDLERS=2


CONFIG_FLASH=n
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_SETTINGS_RAM=y
#~ CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_FULL_LOGS=y
CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y
CONFIG_NET_IPV6_NBR_CACHE=n
CONFIG_NET_IPV6_MLD=n
CONFIG_SYSTEM_WORKQUEUE_STACK_SIZE=4096
# Enable OpenThread shell
CONFIG_SHELL=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_SHELL=y
CONFIG_SHELL_STACK_SIZE=4096
CONFIG_NET_L2_OPENTHREAD=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_L2_DEBUG=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_L2_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_CHANNEL=26
CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_NETWORKKEY="00:11:22:33:44:55:66:77:88:99:aa:bb:cc:dd:ee:ff"

Regards

Brenton

[Simonr]

Hi Brenton

Have you confirmed whether it is the nRF52840 not transmitting at all or if it's the Wireshark sniffer that's not picking up the data correctly? So the application is working as intended on DKs, but not on custom boards, is that correct?

Also, I'm not too familiar with the Renode, but in the blog post you linked to the Wireshark application is only mentioning analyzing Bluetooth LE traffic, so the first thing I would make sure is that you actually log the 802.15.4 traffic and not just BLE traffic. I guess this guide should tell you how to use either: https://renode.readthedocs.io/en/latest/networking/wireshark.html 

Best regards,

Simon

[BChetty]

Hi Simon

Thank you for your response.

On Renode's emulator, the nRF52840 (emulated node) is not transmitting any packets. I am sure I set up Wireshark correctly on Renode. My renode .resc file is shown below

:name: test_nrf52840

emulation CreateIEEE802_15_4Medium "wireless"

######################### UDP SERVER - begin #########################
 $bin=@/home/brenton/zephyrproject/renode_examples/renode_server/build/zephyr/zephyr.elf

$name="server"
i @scripts/single-node/nrf52840.resc
connector Connect radio wireless
wireless SetPosition radio 0 0 0
mach clear
########################## UDP SERVER - end ##########################

######################### UDP CLIENT - begin #########################
 $bin=@/home/brenton/zephyrproject/renode_examples/renode_client/build/zephyr/zephyr.elf
 $name="client"
 i @scripts/single-node/nrf52840.resc
 connector Connect radio wireless
 wireless SetPosition radio 0 10 0
 mach clear
########################## UDP CLIENT - end ##########################

emulation LogIEEE802_15_4Traffic

When running the built in sample scripts in Renode (quark-c1000-zephyr), I can view 6LowPan packets off wireshark. I did configure Renode to sniff 802.15.4 and not BLE (emulation LogIEEE802_15_4Traffic - Renode)

The application works (Zephyr Echo_Server/Client with 802.15.4 or openthread overlay) on actual dev kits, but it does not work on the Renode Emulator.

The issue seems to be either a compatibility issue or configuration issue between Zephyr and Renode. I assume I am missing some simple config but I tried to get in touch with the renode dev team but they didn't respond and I couldn't find solutions on the internet, so that's why I am posting here.

If you have any suggestions on how I should proceed, it will be truly appreciated.

Regards

Brenton