Thread: CLI¶
The Thread CLI sample demonstrates how to send commands to a Thread device using the OpenThread Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI is integrated into the Zephyr shell.
This sample supports optional Experimental Thread 1.2 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 1.2 extension¶
This optional extension allows you to test available features from the Thread 1.2 Specification. You can enable these features either by activating the overlay extension as described below or by setting Thread 1.2 Specification 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.
FEM support¶
Note
Software FEM support is not present on nRF53 Series devices yet. For now, it also cannot be combined with multiprotocol operation.
You can add support for the nRF21540 front-end module to the sample. See Radio front-end module (FEM) support for more information.
To add support for the nRF21540 FEM, add the provided dts-nrf21540-fem.overlay
devicetree overlay file when building.
The file is located in the samples/openthread/common
folder.
Make sure that the GPIOs in the file correspond to those in which your front-end module is connected.
Note
You must add the provided overlay file if you use the nRF21540 EK. If you use the nRF21540 DK, build your application for the nrf21540dk_nrf52840 board. The devicetree for the nRF21540 DK already contains the required FEM configuration, so you do not need to add the overlay file.
See Set devicetree overlays for different ways of adding the overlay file.
The easiest way to add the file when building is to set it in the DTC_OVERLAY_FILE
variable.
However, doing so will override the default settings.
For some boards, this sample requires additional overlay files, which are automatically included when building with the default settings.
When you set the DTC_OVERLAY_FILE
variable, you must specify all overlay files that are needed for building.
Check the boards
folder to see the additional overlay files.
Follow the instructions in Providing CMake options to specify the DTC_OVERLAY_FILE
variable.
For example, to build the sample from the command line for an nRF52833 DK with an attached nRF21540 EK, invoke the following command within the sample directory:
west build -b nrf52833dk_nrf52833 -- -DDTC_OVERLAY_FILE="boards/nrf52833dk_nrf52833.overlay;../common/dts-nrf21540-fem.overlay"
Alternatively, you can copy the contents of dts-nrf21540-fem.overlay
to the board’s overlay file.
To add support for other front-end modules, add the respective overlay files in the same way.
Requirements¶
The sample supports the following development kits for testing the network status:
Hardware platforms |
PCA |
Board name |
Build target |
---|---|---|---|
PCA10095 |
|
||
PCA10056 |
|
||
PCA10100 |
|
||
nRF21540 DK |
PCA10112 |
|
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 1.2 extension requirements¶
If you enable the Experimental Thread 1.2 extension, you will need nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4 to observe messages sent from the router to the leader kit when Testing Thread 1.2 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:
Turn on the development kit.
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.
Configure the required Thread network parameters with the
ot channel
,ot panid
, andot masterkey
commands. Make sure to use the same parameters for all nodes that you add to the network. The following example uses the default OpenThread parameters:uart:~$ ot channel 11 Done uart:~$ ot panid 0xabcd Done uart:~$ ot masterkey 00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff Done
Enable the Thread network with the
ot ifconfig up
andot thread start
commands:uart:~$ ot ifconfig up Done uart:~$ ot thread start Done
Invoke some of the OpenThread commands:
Test the state of the Thread network with the
ot state
command. For example:uart:~$ ot state leader Done
Get the Thread network name with the
ot networkname
command. For example:uart:~$ ot networkname ot_zephyr Done
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 kits¶
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 kits¶
To test communication between kits, complete the following steps:
Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample.
Turn on the developments kits.
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.
Configure the required Thread network parameters with the
ot channel
,ot panid
, andot masterkey
commands. Make sure to use the same parameters for all nodes that you add to the network. The following example uses the default OpenThread parameters:uart:~$ ot channel 11 Done uart:~$ ot panid 0xabcd Done uart:~$ ot masterkey 00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff Done
Enable the Thread network with the
ot ifconfig up
andot thread start
commands:uart:~$ ot ifconfig up Done uart:~$ ot thread start Done
Test communication between the kits with the following command:
ot ping ip_address_of_the_first_kit
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:
Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample.
Turn on the developments kits.
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..
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
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
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 1.2 features¶
To test the Thread 1.2 features, complete the following steps:
Make sure both development kits are programmed with the CLI sample with the Experimental Thread 1.2 extension enabled.
Turn on the developments kits.
Set up the serial connection with both development kits. For more details, see How to connect with PuTTY.
Configure the required Thread network parameters with the
ot channel
,ot panid
, andot masterkey
commands. Make sure to use the same parameters for all nodes that you add to the network. The following example uses the default OpenThread parameters:uart:~$ ot channel 11 Done uart:~$ ot panid 0xabcd Done uart:~$ ot masterkey 00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff Done
Enable the Thread network with the
ot ifconfig up
andot thread start
commands:uart:~$ ot ifconfig up Done uart:~$ ot thread start Done
Test the state of the Thread network with the
ot state
command to see which kit is the leader:uart:~$ ot state leader Done
On the leader kit, 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
On the leader kit, configure the Domain prefix:
uart:~$ ot prefix add fd00:7d03:7d03:7d03::/64 prosD med Done uart:~$ ot netdata register Done I: State changed! Flags: 0x00000200 Current role: 4 I: State changed! Flags: 0x00001001 Current role: 4
On the router kit, 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
On the router kit, 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 kit will send an
MLR.req
message and aDUA.req
message to the leader kit (Backbone Router). This can be observed using the nRF Sniffer for 802.15.4.On the leader kit, list the IPv6 addresses:
uart:~$ ot ipaddr fd00:7d03:7d03:7d03:84c9:572d:be24:cbe fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:fc10 fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:fc38 fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:fc00 fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:7000 fdde:ad00:beef:0:a318:bf4f:b9c6:5f7d fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7
Note down the link-local address. You must use this address when sending Link Metrics commands from the router kit to the leader kit.
The following steps use the address
fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7
. Replace it with the link-local address of your leader kit in all commands.Run the following commands on the router kit:
Reattach the router kit as SED with a polling period of 3 seconds:
uart:~$ ot pollperiod 3000 Done uart:~$ ot mode - Done
Perform a Link Metrics query (Single Probe):
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics query fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 single qmr Done Received Link Metrics Report from: fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 - LQI: 220 (Exponential Moving Average) - Margin: 60 (dB) (Exponential Moving Average) - RSSI: -40 (dBm) (Exponential Moving Average)
Send a Link Metrics Management Request to configure a Forward Tracking Series:
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics mgmt fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 forward 1 dra pqmr Done Received Link Metrics Management Response from: fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 Status: Success
Send an MLE Link Probe message to the peer:
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics probe fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 1 10 Done
Perform a Link Metrics query (Forward Tracking Series):
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics query fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 forward 1 Done Received Link Metrics Report from: fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 - PDU Counter: 13 (Count/Summation) - LQI: 212 (Exponential Moving Average) - Margin: 60 (dB) (Exponential Moving Average) - RSSI: -40 (dBm) (Exponential Moving Average)
Send a Link Metrics Management Request to register an Enhanced ACK-based Probing:
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics mgmt fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 enhanced-ack register qm Done Received Link Metrics Management Response from: fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 Status: Success
Send a Link Metrics Management Request to clear an Enhanced ACK-based Probing:
uart:~$ ot linkmetrics mgmt fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 enhanced-ack clear Done Received Link Metrics Management Response from: fe80:0:0:0:10b1:93ea:c0ee:eeb7 Status: Success
Verify the Coordinated Sampled Listening (CSL) functionality.
The following steps use the address
fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861
. Replace it with the link-local address of your router kit in all commands.Send an ICMPv6 Echo Request from the leader kit to link-local address of the router kit:
uart:~$ ot ping fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861 16 bytes from fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861: icmp_seq=2 hlim=64 time=2494ms 1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received. Packet loss = 0.0%. Round-trip min/a Done
Observe that there is a long latency on the reply of up to 3000 ms. This is due to the indirect transmission mechanism based on data polling.
Enable a CSL Receiver on the router kit (now SED) by configuring a CSL period of 0.5 seconds:
uart:~$ ot csl period 3125 Done
Send an ICMPv6 Echo Request from the leader kit to the link-local address of the router kit:
uart:~$ ot ping fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861 uart:~$ W: TX_STARTED event will be triggered without delay 16 bytes from fe80:0:0:0:acbd:53bf:1461:a861: icmp_seq=3 hlim=64 time=421ms 1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received. Packet loss = 0.0%. Round-trip min/a Done
Observe that the reply latency is reduced to a value below 500 ms. The reduction occurs because the transmission from the leader is performed via CSL, based on the CSL Information Elements sent by the CSL Receiver.
Dependencies¶
This sample uses the following Zephyr libraries:
-
include/kernel.h
The following dependencies are added by the optional multiprotocol Bluetooth LE extension:
Zephyr’s Bluetooth:
include/bluetooth/bluetooth.h
include/bluetooth/gatt.h
include/bluetooth/hci.h
include/bluetooth/uuid.h