IEEE 802.15.4 subsystem
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Source at commit 5c5a93686b7e8985872ed451f53933f5303eba1c created 7 years 4 months ago. By Stefan Schmidt, atusb/fw: update changelog for 0.3 firmware release | |
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1 | <HTML> |
2 | <TITLE> |
3 | Ben-WPAN Overview |
4 | </TITLE> |
5 | <BODY> |
6 | |
7 | <H1>Ben-WPAN Overview</H1> |
8 | |
9 | Ben-WPAN is a hardware and software effort within the |
10 | <A href="http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Main_Page">Qi-Hardware</A> project. |
11 | The objective is to enable the |
12 | <A href="http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_NanoNote">Ben NanoNote</A> |
13 | to communicate wirelessly using IEEE 802.15.4-based protocols. |
14 | <BR> |
15 | All elements of the project are licensed |
16 | under open licenses, such as the GPLv2+, LGPLv2.1+, and CC-BY-SA 3.0. |
17 | Furthermore, only Free tools were used for the electronic design, |
18 | such as the |
19 | GPL-licensed <A href="http://www.lis.inpg.fr/realise_au_lis/kicad/">Kicad</A>. |
20 | <BR> |
21 | This page is a brief summary. For background information and further |
22 | details, please visit the |
23 | <A href="http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_WPAN">wiki page</A>. |
24 | <P> |
25 | A first run of <B>atben</B> and <B>atusb</B> boards has been produced |
26 | by <A href="http://www.tuxbrain.com/en">Tuxbrain S.L.</A> and is currently |
27 | available for sale from <A href="http://pulster.eu/">Pulster</A>. |
28 | <P> |
29 | <TABLE> |
30 | <TR> |
31 | <TD><A href="800px-Atben_atusb_prod_03.jpg"><IMG |
32 | src="atben-pcba-small.jpg"></A> |
33 | <TD><A href="800px-Atben_atusb_prod_07.jpg"><IMG |
34 | src="atben-use-small.jpg"></A> |
35 | <TD><A href="800px-Atben_atusb_prod_05.jpg"><IMG |
36 | src="atusb-pcba-small.jpg"></A> |
37 | <TD><A href="zoom.html"><IMG |
38 | src="atusb-use-small.jpg"></A> |
39 | <TR bgcolor="#d0d0d0"> |
40 | <TH colspan="2">atben (for the Ben NanoNote) |
41 | <TH colspan="2">atusb (Full-Speed USB) |
42 | </TABLE> |
43 | |
44 | |
45 | <H2>Hardware</H2> |
46 | |
47 | Both boards are based on the Atmel |
48 | <A href="http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4338"> |
49 | AT86RF231</A> transceiver. They operate in the license-free 2.4 GHz band |
50 | using the |
51 | <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.15.4">IEEE 802.15.4</A> |
52 | physical and link layer. |
53 | <BR> |
54 | Note that IEEE 802.15.4 is different from |
55 | <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IEEE_802.11">IEEE 802.11</A> (WLAN) |
56 | and <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bluetooth">IEEE 802.15.1</A> |
57 | (Bluetooth). |
58 | <P> |
59 | Both boards transmit with a maximum power of 2 mW (+3 dBm) over a |
60 | distance of up to about 10 m in a typical indoors environment. |
61 | <BR> |
62 | The standard data rate of IEEE 802.15.4 is 250 kbps. The transceiver |
63 | supports non-standard rates of up to 2 Mbps, with a reduced range. |
64 | |
65 | |
66 | <H2>Compatibility</H2> |
67 | |
68 | <B>atben</B> and <B>atusb</B> can communicate at the physical and link |
69 | layer with any device that implements the |
70 | <A href="http://standards.ieee.org/getieee802/download/802.15.4-2006.pdf">IEEE |
71 | 802.15.4-2006 standard</A> for the 2.4 GHz band. |
72 | <BR> |
73 | This includes <B>atben</B> with <B>atusb</B>, <B>atben</B> with <B>atben</B>, |
74 | etc. There are |
75 | <A href="http://sourceforge.net/apps/trac/linux-zigbee/wiki/HardwareSupport">many |
76 | more</A> IEEE 802.15.4 devices, which should also interoperate with the |
77 | Ben-WPAN boards. |
78 | <P> |
79 | <B>atben</B> plugs into the Ben's |
80 | <A href="http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/pipermail/discussion/2011-January/006908.html">8:10 card</A> slot. |
81 | Note that it is <U>not</U> an SDIO card. |
82 | <P> |
83 | <B>atusb</B> is designed for USB 2.0 Full-Speed and has an USB A connector. |
84 | The host needs suitable drivers for the board. |
85 | |
86 | |
87 | <H2>Software</H2> |
88 | |
89 | The ultimate goal is to fully support IPv6 with |
90 | <A href="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/6LoWPAN">6LoWPAN</A>, in |
91 | cooperation with the |
92 | <A href="http://wpan.cakelab.org/">linux-wpan</A> |
93 | project. |
94 | <P> |
95 | To make use of the boards while working on IPv6, we have developed a quick |
96 | and dirty tunnelling mechanism for IPv4. A video demonstrating its use |
97 | can be seen |
98 | <A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/tmp/wpan-ipv4.ogg">here</A>. |
99 | <P> |
100 | <B>atben</B> has no local "intelligence" and its SPI interface is |
101 | bit-banged directly by the Ben. |
102 | <BR><B>atusb</B> uses an |
103 | Atmel |
104 | <A href="http://www.atmel.com/dyn/products/product_card.asp?part_id=4602"> |
105 | ATmega32U2</A> microcontroller to interface between USB and SPI with |
106 | a homebrewn protocol on top of USB. |
107 | <BR> |
108 | The firmware includes a boot loader allowing easy firmware updates in the |
109 | field with the |
110 | <A href="http://www.usb.org/developers/devclass_docs/DFU_1.1.pdf">DFU</A> |
111 | protocol. |
112 | <BR> |
113 | This boot loader occupies a fixed 4 kB of the 32 kB of Flash memory in |
114 | <B>atusb</B>. The "application" currently uses another 6 kB. Developers |
115 | wishing to extend or replace the firmware thus have between 22 and |
116 | 28 kB available for experiments. |
117 | <P> |
118 | While not an immediate project goal, it may be possible to |
119 | write firmware for <B>atusb</B> that turns it into a transparent |
120 | gateway for legacy operating systems and protocols. |
121 | |
122 | |
123 | <H2>Status and resources</H2> |
124 | |
125 | Here is an overview of the status of the various project elements: |
126 | <P> |
127 | <TABLE> |
128 | <TR bgcolor="#d0d0d0"><TH>Element<TH>Status<TH>Links |
129 | <TR><TH align="left">Schematics<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center">Done |
130 | <TD><A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/schhist/atben/">atben</A>, |
131 | <A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/schhist/atusb/">atusb</A> |
132 | <TR><TH align="left">Layout<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center">Done |
133 | <TD><A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/tmp/atben-110324-overview.png">atben</A>, |
134 | <A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/tmp/atusb-110330-overview.png">atusb</A> |
135 | <TR><TH align="left">Test software<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center">Done |
136 | <TD><A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/source/tree/master/prod">scripts</A>, |
137 | <A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/source/tree/master/tools">tools</A>, |
138 | <A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/prod/">description</A> |
139 | <TR><TH align="left">Production<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center">Done |
140 | <TD><A href="http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_WPAN#Production_Notes">Production notes</A>, factory files: |
141 | <A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/fab/atben-pcb-110330.tar.gz">PCB</A> and |
142 | <A href="http://downloads.qi-hardware.com/people/werner/wpan/fab/atben-smt-110330.tar.gz">SMT</A> |
143 | <TR><TH align="left">Firmware<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center"> |
144 | Done |
145 | <TD><A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/source/tree/master/atusb/fw">source</A>, |
146 | <A href="atusb-0.2.dfu">0.2 release</A> |
147 | <TR><TH align="left">Device driver<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center"> |
148 | Done |
149 | <TD><A |
150 | href="https://git.kernel.org/cgit/linux/kernel/git/torvalds/linux.git/tree/drivers/net/ieee802154/atusb.c">In Linux mainline since 4.2 </A> |
151 | <TR><TH align="left">MAC layer<TD bgcolor="#ffff00" align="center"> |
152 | Finishing |
153 | <TD><A href="http://wpan.cakelab.org/">linux-wpan project |
154 | <TR><TH align="left">IPv4 hack<TD bgcolor="#80ff80" align="center">Done |
155 | <TD><A href="http://projects.qi-hardware.com/index.php/p/ben-wpan/source/tree/master/tools/dirtpan">dirtpan</A> |
156 | <TR><TH align="left">6LoWPAN stack<TD bgcolor="#ffff00" align="center">Finishing |
157 | </TABLE> |
158 | <P> |
159 | |
160 | |
161 | <H2>Further reading</H2> |
162 | |
163 | We have a more detailed |
164 | <A href="http://en.qi-hardware.com/wiki/Ben_WPAN">wiki page</A>. |
165 | <BR> |
166 | Discussions related to the project take place on the Qi-Hardware |
167 | <A href="http://lists.en.qi-hardware.com/mailman/listinfo/discussion">mailing |
168 | list</A> and on the |
169 | <A href="http://webchat.freenode.net/?randomnick=1&channels=qi-hardware">#qi-hardware |
170 | channel</A> on |
171 | <A href="http://freenode.net/">freenode</A>. |
172 | <BR> |
173 | Tuxbrain has a |
174 | <A href="http://www.tuxbrain.com/en/content/free-and-open-replacement-wireless-lan">description</A> |
175 | with additional pictures.<!-- and a link to their |
176 | <A href="https://www.tuxbrain.net/shop/index.php?cPath=347">shop</A>.--> |
177 | <BR> |
178 | Shop links at Pulster: |
179 | <A href="http://pulster.eu/index.html?d__atben__NanoNote_wireless_card__atben_1183.htm">atben</A> and |
180 | <A href="http://pulster.eu/index.html?d__atusb__NanoNote_wireless_card__atusb_1185.htm">atusb</A>. |
181 | |
182 | <P> |
183 | <HR> |
184 | Last update: 2015-05-21 |
185 | <A href="mailto:werner@almesberger.net"><I>Werner Almesberger</I></A>, |
186 | <A href="mailto:stefan@datenfreihafen.org"><I>Stefan Schmidt</I></A> |
187 | <HR> |
188 | </BODY> |
189 | </HTML> |
190 |