Thread: CLI

The Thread CLI sample demonstrates the usage of OpenThread Command Line Interface inside the Zephyr shell.

This sample supports optional Experimental Thread v1.2 extension, which can be turned on or off. See Activating sample extensions for details.

Overview

The sample demonstrates the usage of commands listed in OpenThread CLI Reference. OpenThread CLI is integrated into the system shell accessible over serial connection. To indicate a Thread command, the ot keyword needs to precede the command.

The amount of commands you can test depends on the application configuration. The CLI sample comes with the full set of OpenThread functionalities enabled (CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_NORDIC_LIBRARY_MASTER).

If used alone, the sample allows you to test the network status. It is recommended to use at least two development kits running the same sample to be able to test communication.

Diagnostic module

By default, the CLI sample comes with the CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_NORDIC_LIBRARY_MASTER feature set enabled, which allows you to use Zephyr’s diagnostic module with its diag commands. Use these commands for manually checking hardware-related functionalities without running a Thread network. For example, when adding a new functionality or during the manufacturing process to ensure radio communication is working. See Testing diagnostic module section for an example.

Note

If you disable the CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_NORDIC_LIBRARY_MASTER feature set, you can enable the diagnostic module with the CONFIG_OPENTHREAD_DIAG Kconfig option.

Experimental Thread v1.2 extension

This optional extension allows you to test available features from Thread Specification v1.2. You can enable these features either by activating the overlay extension as described below or by setting Thread Specification v1.2 options.

Certification tests with CLI sample

The Thread CLI sample can be used for running certification tests. See Thread certification for information on how to use this sample on Thread Certification Test Harness.

Minimal configuration

This optional extension demonstrates an optimized configuration for the Thread CLI sample. The provided configurations optimize the memory footprint of the sample for single protocol and multiprotocol use.

For more information, see Memory footprint optimization.

Requirements

The sample supports the following development kits for testing the network status:

Hardware platforms	PCA	Board name	Build target
nRF5340 DK	PCA10095	nrf5340dk_nrf5340	nrf5340dk_nrf5340_cpuapp
nRF52840 DK	PCA10056	nrf52840dk_nrf52840	nrf52840dk_nrf52840
nRF52833 DK	PCA10010	nrf52833dk_nrf52833	nrf52833dk_nrf52833

Note

The multiprotocol variant is not supported on nRF53 Series devices yet.

Optionally, you can use one or more compatible development kits programmed with this sample or another Thread sample for testing communication or diagnostics and Configuring on-mesh Thread commissioning.

Thread v1.2 extension requirements

If you enable the experimental Thread v1.2 extension, you will need nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4 based on nRF52840 with Wireshark to observe messages sent from the router to the leader board when testing v1.2 features.

User interface

All the interactions with the application are handled using serial communication. See OpenThread CLI Reference for the list of available serial commands.

Building and running

Make sure to enable the OpenThread stack before building and testing this sample. See Thread for more information.

This sample can be found under samples/openthread/cli in the nRF Connect SDK folder structure.

See Building and programming a sample application for information about how to build and program the application.

To update OpenThread libraries provided by the nrfxlib, please invoke west build -b nrf52840dk_nrf52840 -t install_openthread_libraries.

Activating sample extensions

To activate the optional extensions supported by this sample, modify OVERLAY_CONFIG in the following manner:

• For the experimental Thread 1.2 variant, set overlay-thread_1_2.conf.

• For the minimal single protocol variant, set overlay-minimal_singleprotocol.conf.

• For the minimal multiprotocol variant, set overlay-minimal_multiprotocol.conf.

See Providing CMake options for instructions on how to add this option. For more information about using configuration overlay files, see Important Build System Variables in the Zephyr documentation.

Testing

After building the sample and programming it to your development kit, test it by performing the following steps:

1. Turn on the development kit.

2. Set up the serial connection with the development kit. For more details, see How to connect with PuTTY.

   Note

   This sample has Hardware Flow Control mechanism enabled by default in serial communication. When enabled, it allows devices to manage transmission by informing each other about their current state, and ensures more reliable connection in high-speed communication scenarios.

3. Invoke some of the OpenThread commands:

   1. Test the state of the Thread network with the ot state command. For example:

      uart:~$ ot state
      router
      Done
      

   2. Get the Thread network name with the ot networkname command. For example:

      uart:~$ ot networkname
      ot_zephyr
      Done
      

   3. Get the IP addresses of the current thread network with the ot ipaddr command. For example:

      uart:~$ ot ipaddr
      fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:800
      fdde:ad00:beef:0:3102:d00b:5cbe:a61
      fe80:0:0:0:8467:5746:a29f:1196
      Done
      

Testing with more boards

If you are using more than one development kit for testing the CLI sample, you can also complete additional testing procedures.

Note

The following testing procedures assume you are using two development kits.

Testing communication between boards

To test communication between boards, complete the following steps:

1. Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample.

2. Turn on the developments kits.

3. Set up the serial connection with both development kits. For more details, see How to connect with PuTTY.

   Note

   This sample has Hardware Flow Control mechanism enabled by default in serial communication. When enabled, it allows devices to manage transmission by informing each other about their current state, and ensures more reliable connection in high-speed communication scenarios.

4. Test communication between the boards with the ot ping <ip_address_of_the_first_board> command. For example:

   uart:~$ ot ping fdde:ad00:beef:0:3102:d00b:5cbe:a61
   16 bytes from fdde:ad00:beef:0:3102:d00b:5cbe:a61: icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=22ms
   

Testing diagnostic module

To test diagnostic commands, complete the following steps:

1. Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample.

2. Turn on the developments kits.

3. Set up the serial connection with both development kits. For more details, see How to connect with PuTTY.

   Note

   This sample has Hardware Flow Control mechanism enabled by default in serial communication. When enabled, it allows devices to manage transmission by informing each other about their current state, and ensures more reliable connection in high-speed communication scenarios..

4. Make sure that the diagnostic module is enabled and configured with proper radio channel and transmission power by running the following commands on both devices:

   uart:~$ ot diag start
   start diagnostics mode
   status 0x00
   Done
   uart:~$ ot diag channel 11
   set channel to 11
   status 0x00
   Done
   uart:~$ ot diag power 0
   set tx power to 0 dBm
   status 0x00
   Done
   

5. Transmit a fixed number of packets with the given length from one of the devices. For example, to transmit 20 packets that contain 100 B of random data, run the following command:

   uart:~$ ot diag send 20 100
   sending 0x14 packet(s), length 0x64
   status 0x00
   Done
   

6. Read the radio statistics on the other device by running the following command:

   uart:~$ ot diag stats
   received packets: 20
   sent packets: 0
   first received packet: rssi=-29, lqi=255
   last received packet: rssi=-30, lqi=255
   Done
   

Testing Thread Specification v1.2 features

To test the Thread Specification v1.2 features, complete the following steps:

1. Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample with the Thread v1.2 extension enabled.

2. Turn on the developments kits.

3. Set up the serial connection with both development kits. For more details, see How to connect with PuTTY.

4. Test the state of the Thread network with the ot state command to see which board is the leader:

   uart:~$ ot state
   leader
   Done
   

5. On the leader board, enable the Backbone Router function:

   uart:~$ ot bbr enable
   DIo:
    State changed! Flags: 0x02001000 Current role: 4
   I: State changed! Flags: 0x00000200 Current role: 4
   I: State changed! Flags: 0x02000001 Current role: 4
   

6. On the leader board, configure the Domain prefix:

   uart:~$ ot prefix add fd00:7d03:7d03:7d03::/64 prosD med
   Done
   uart:~$ ot netdataregister
   Done
   I: State changed! Flags: 0x00000200 Current role: 4
   I: State changed! Flags: 0x00001001 Current role: 4
   

7. On the router board, display the autoconfigured Domain Unicast Address and set another one manually:

   uart:~$ ot ipaddr
   fd00:7d03:7d03:7d03:ee2d:eed:4b59:2736
   fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:c400
   fdde:ad00:beef:0:e0fc:dc28:1d12:8c2
   fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861
   uart:~$ ot dua iid 0004000300020001
   Io:
   State changed! Flags: 0x00000003 Current role: 3
   uart:~$ ot ipaddr
   fd00:7d03:7d03:7d03:4:3:2:1
   fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:c400
   fdde:ad00:beef:0:e0fc:dc28:1d12:8c2
   fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861
   Done
   

8. On the router board, configure a multicast address with a scope greater than realm-local:

   uart:~$ ot ipmaddr add ff04::1
   Done
   : State changed! Flags: 0x00001000 Current role: 3
   uart:~$ ot ipmaddr
   ff04:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
   ff33:40:fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:1
   ff32:40:fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:1
   ff02:0:0:0:0:0:0:2
   ff03:0:0:0:0:0:0:2
   ff02:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
   ff03:0:0:0:0:0:0:1
   ff03:0:0:0:0:0:0:fc
   Done
   

   The router board will send an MLR.req message to the leader board (Backbone Router). This can be observed using the nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4 based on nRF52840 with Wireshark.

   Note

   The DUA registration with the Backbone Router is not yet supported.

Dependencies

This sample uses the following Zephyr libraries:

• Kernel Services:

  • include/kernel.h

• Thread protocol