330 Cory Testbed Usage Instructions

Our Testbed is setup to use static IP addressing.  The DHCP addressing instructions below is given for completeness.  The IP address numbering is 192.168.0.1xx, where xx is the moteID.

First Time Testbed Setup Instructions

1. The first time you set up the network (after physically laying everything out), you must make sure to set the serial communication baud rate on each eMote properly for the mica2dot (see instructions on eMote programming page).
   
2. You may also want to assign static IP addresses for each mote (again, see instructions on eMote programming page), depending on whether or not you have a DHCP server running on your computer.
3. To turn on the PoE switch, plug it in (there is no on/off button).  At first, the fault light will be on.  This is normal, as it is part of the boot up phase.  After a minute or two, it will go through a self test and check that all the ports are active.
• You can connect to the PoE switch via a web browser.  Use the IP address assigned to the switch (the first time requires assigning the switch an IP address through DHCP, but you can then assign it a static IP address under "Configuration(tab)->IP Configuration(button)" in the web browser).

Step I: Setting up network to use DHCP IP addressing

1. Make sure your laptop is running a DHCP server, to give each of the eMotes an IP address.
   
2. Plug your computer to the switch using an ethernet cable to any one of the ports.
   
• You must run a DHCP server on your laptop if you wish to connect through your web browser to the switch for switch administration (See eMote Programming Instructions for how to do this in Windows).  After giving the switch an IP address, simply type in that IP address to your Web Browser.
  
• For our particular testbed ethernet switch, the MAC address is [00-0E-7F-5C-6D-00].  This might help you find out what IP address you gave the switch in your DHCP server log files.  Here are sample dhcpsrv.ini file used for the testbed and the corresponding moteID/MAC address/IP address mapping file.
• Connecting to the switch for administration is not necessary for regular operations, but good for ethernet network diagnostics (ex. which ports are working, being powered, etc.).

Step II: Programming the network

1. Dump cory330-testbed-dhcp.cfg in the directory tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/testbed if you are using DHCP.  This file is using the IP to mote mappings specified in the dhcpsrv.ini file above.  For static IP configurations that correspond to the moteIDs, dump the file cory330-testbed.cfg in the directory tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/testbed.  The MAC address to mote mapping, despite the difference in IP addresses, is the same as that found above.
2. Set the environment variables TOS_TESTBED_CONFIG and PERL5LIB for the scripts to run properly
   
   export PERL5LIB="/opt/tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/perl"
   export TOS_TESTBED_CONFIG="/opt/tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/testbed/cory330-testbed.cfg"
3. Add the directory tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/scripts to your PATH variable and set RSCPATH appropriately.
   
   export RSCPATH="/opt/tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/rsc"
   export TESTBED_SCRIPTS="/opt/tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/scripts"
   export PATH="$PATH:$TESTBED_SCRIPTS"
   
   Note: These scripts will NOT be called correctly if you also have the directory containing Terence's RSC scripts in your PATH and RSCPATH variables.  This is because the testbed scripts call a modified version of intel-program.sh residing in the testbed/scripts directory which has the same name as intel-program.sh in the RSC scripts.  You can use either the RSC scripts OR the testbed scripts, not both.  When running one, remember to remove the references to the other in your PATH and RSCPATH variables.
   
4. Change to the directory containing your NesC program.  Then type at the command prompt
   
   testbed-program.pl --testbed=$TOS_TESTBED_CONFIG --download
   • Note that it will take several minutes before the download is complete (it takes about 2 minutes for the 'Blink' application to load onto 45 nodes), so please be patient (do NOT put the process in the background... I had difficulties getting it to start up properly again).
     
   • To check on the status of the download, open a new cygwin shell and type ps at the command prompt.  You can see that the script spawns a lot of new processes to do the downloading in parallel, since the slowest step is transferring the program to flash.  When all these new processes are closed, you are done programming.
   • A log of the download status of each mote is stored in your /tmp/rsc.XXXXXXX directory.
     

Step III: Logging Data from the network over Ethernet

NesC Programming Changes

Starting Services on the Base Station

1. First make sure that you have compiled the java packet listener, and have added the testbed's java directory to your classpath.  Run
   
   export CLASSPATH="$CLASSPATH;C:/tinyos/cygwin/opt/tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/java"
   javac tinyos-1.x/contrib/testbed/java/net/tinyos/testbed/*.java
   
2. Start a serial forwarder for each mote (no GUI).  Run
   
   testbed_start_sf.pl
   Note that this will take a LOT of memory. With 45 motes, it will take something on the order of 700 MB of memory to open a serial forwarder to each mote.
3. Start the java packet listener.  Run
   
   java net.tinyos.testbed.TestBedPacketLogger <testbed config file> <time to run(seconds)>
4. Start any other java application you need that interfaces with serial forwarder.
5. Tell the network to start reporting (if you wrote your NesC code to have a 'start' command to send to your motes).
6. When you are done, remember to kill al the background serial forwarder processes that are running.  Run
   
   cygwin_kill_all.sh java
   to kill all java processes running.  If you wish to be more specific on which processes to kill, use ps to list the "options".  The script uses grep to match the argument after the script with the strings listed by ps.

Debugging Tips

• To find out the eMote to port mapping on your PoE switch, use the length of the cables as a guideline (labeled at each end).  Also, you can view which ports on the switch are powered and connected using the web interface to the switch under the "Configuration" tab.
• The DHCP IP address of an eMote is reset whenever it is powered off.
• If you wish to NOT program a particular mote, just comment it out from cory330-testbed.cfg with a hash.
• To reset all the motes, run resetlabapp.pl .
• If you have accidentally assigned your mote and IP address that you cannot communicate with (in my case, I assigned an eMote the IP address 192.168.0.0 ... a BAD idea), you will need to use the Device Installer from Lantronix.  Note that your subnet mask for your ethernet adapter should still be set properly for this to work (configured by your OS).
  
1. Connect to a working eMote via the web browser, and click on the "Tech Support" button in the upper right.  (See this figure in the eMote Programming reference page for an example).
2. Click on "Downloads" in the left hand panel.
3. Under "Embedded Device Servers", click on "Device Installer" in the row for "CoBox-Micro" ... these are what are used on the eMotes.  Actually, there is one generic Device Installer for many of the Lantronix embedded server devices.
4. Follow the instructions for installation... including downloading the .NET Framework package and installing it.
5. Run the Device Installer, and click on the "Search" button to find all eMotes on the subnet (Just use a crossover ethernet cable to connect to the eMote your troubleshooting, so you see only one device).
   
6. Go to "Device->Assign IP Address" to reset the IP address of the eMote.