EtherWind Configuration
From MobileRobots Research and Academic Customer Support
The EtherWind ethernet-serial bridge device provides a means of connecting to your robot via 802.11b wireless ethernet. The device is configured to communicate with the robot via a serial connection, and to provide access to the serial data via TCP port 8101.
To connect to the serial device over the network it must configured to have an IP address that is on the same subnet as your computer, and the wireless settings must match those of your access point.
The lights on the device indicate its status. A solid amber light means that it is connected to an access point. The green light indicates network activity, and will flicker based on the amount of traffic.
Once you can ping it from your computer you test it with the ARIA demo program. Make sure that the robot's serial cable is plugged in to the device. Invoke the ARIA demo with the following:
demo --remoteHost 192.168.1.11
(Or use the IP address you assign to the device if different, see below for instructions.)
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Default Configuration
The device is configured by default with the following IP settings:
IP address: 192.168.1.11 subnet mask: 255.255.255.0 gateway: 192.168.1.1
The wireless settings are as follows:
SSID: Wireless Network Mode: infrastructure Speed: 1mbps Channel: 11 (unless the AP choosese otherwise)
The device's name is:
AMR-EW-1
If you receive multiple robots, each with its own wireless serial device, then the IP addresses are set as to not conflict with each other. Each additional device is numbered one higher than the previous, so a sales order with three robots will have IP addresses and names of:
192.168.1.11 AMR-EW-1 192.168.1.12 AMR-EW-2 192.168.1.13 AMR-EW-3
If you also received a Cisco access point, then we have already configured it to operate with the SSID of "Wireless Network". You can further configure the access point by consulting its documentation, or by visiting Cisco's website at http://www.cisco.com.
Powering the device
If you have a Pioneer robot, then the power to the device is controlled via the auxiliary power switches on the microcontroller side-panel interface. It either uses Aux1 or Aux2.
If you have an Amigobot robot, then the device is always on when the robot is on.
Configuring the device
The serial ethernet device can be configured in two ways.
The first way is to connect to it via its serial port. To do this you will need a null-modem adapter and a serial cable, and a computer with a serial port and terminal emulation software. In Windows, use the HyperTerm program (Start->Accessories->Communications->HyperTerm). Configure the software settings to communicate at 115kbps and 8-none-1, with no handshaking, and open the serial connection.
Put the EtherWind device in 'console mode' by holding down the 'test' button while powering it on.
Once you do this you should see some information print on your screen. Press return a few times to get to a prompt that looks like:
Local>
To configure the IP settings use these commands. Replace aa.bb.cc.dd with the appropriate numbers:
set ip address aa.bb.cc.dd set ip router aa.bb.cc.dd set ip subnet aa.bb.cc.dd
To configure the wireless settings use these settings (Replace <Network Name> with your network's SSID/ESSID name):
set enet ssid <Network Name> set enet mode infrastructure
or, for adhoc/peer-to-peer (see below):
set enet mode adhoc
When you are done making changes type:
save init exit
At this point you should power-cycle the device and the new changes will have taken effect.
These settings can also be done via the devices web interface. To gain access to the web interface your computer must ALREADY be able to communicate with the device.
From the webpage:
- Go to http://192.168.1.11
- The default password is 'access'
- Click "Configure TCP/IP"
- Change the fields for the IP address, subnet mask, and gateway
- Click submit
- Power cycle the device
To use peer-to-peer or adhoc networking
Change the EtherWind device as follows - Use this command to change the setting from the console:
set enet mode adhoc
then,
save init exit
Or, from the webpage:
- Click "Configure WiFi"
- Choose "Ad-hoc" from the Mode drop-down menu
- Click submit
- Power-cycle the device
Next, make sure that the desktop/laptop computer is also set to Peer-to-Peer networking, and that the SSID is set to "Wireless Network". This is case sensitive, so make sure to type it in the same format as shown.
Also, the IP addresses of the two peer-to-peer devices must be on the same subnet, and have the same subnet mask so that they can communicate with each other.
When running in ad-hoc mode the channel must be set manually. It should currently be set to 11. All of the relevant peer-to-peer devices will need to be set to the same channel.
Troubleshooting
If at any point the devices settings get corrupted, or you do not know what they are, you can restore the device to our default settings or to the factory default settings. To do so, power it on, then press and hold the 'test' button for at LEAST 5 seconds. Then power-cycle the device. If the device still does not show up with our settings, then restore the defaults again. The restoring process alternates between restoring ActivMedia's default settings, and the default factory settings. Note that as of Nov, 2003 we have been experiencing some problems with getting the defaults restored. To restore ActivMedia's default, first perform the 'restore defaults' procedure, which will restore the original manufacturers defaults. Then, connect to the device with a serial cable in console mode, as described above, and once connected, press and hold the 'test' button for 10 or more seconds. This will restore ActivMedia's default settings.
This device is based on TroyGroup's EtherWind product. More information can be found at:
http://www.troygroup.com/wireless/support/wireless/etherwind/etherwind.asp
ActivMedia's support group can be reached at support@activmedia.com. Our website is:
Notes
- This device uses the 2.4GHz radio frequency range. You may experience interference if there are other 2.4GHz devices in the area.
- Amigobot users - if your Amigobot is equipped with an A/V system, you will need to set the channels of the A/V transmitter and on your 802.11b devices to not interfere. For best results use channel 3 on the A/V transmitter, and channel 1 for the 802.11b network. Also, the channel for the 802.11b network should be set on the access point. The clients will use the channel that the access point is using.
| Channel | Frequency (GHz) |
| 1 | 2.412 |
| 2 | 2.417 |
| 3 | 2.422 |
| 4 | 2.427 |
| 5 | 2.432 |
| 6 | 2.437 |
| 7 | 2.442 |
| 8 | 2.447 |
| 9 | 2.452 |
| 10 | 2.457 |
| 11 | 2.462 |
| Channel | Frequency (GHz) |
| 1 | 2.434 |
| 2 | 2.453 |
| 3 | 2.473 |
| 4 | 2.411 |
