Wifi / Switch for new TCP networking - recommendations

kiwiPaul · April 13, 2024, 11:49pm

Hi - the TCP/ethernet connectivity in v4.5 looks excellent, so looking to go that way for new build rather than RFD900’s which are working well.

We have good/full wifi coverage where we are mowing, and looking for recommendations for hardware to connect it all together. We are not space/weight/power constrained (love rovers!) but would like an external wifi antenna(s) - so sma connectors.

We have Zealot H7 which will do PPP with flow control but no ethernet port.

Would love to find a wifi router with a uart for OpenWRT or DDWRT. Any pointers welcome.

kiwiPaul · April 19, 2024, 7:13am

this is close. A bit spendy, but lacking wifi and PPP

MerkaTony · April 19, 2024, 7:19am

Waiting one to test my self but i think it can also take an ESP to add wifi support.

kiwiPaul · April 19, 2024, 9:03am

perfect …
this + a PPP to Eth adapter would be mostly there.

kiwiPaul · April 19, 2024, 9:07am

This looks interesting - way too smart for my liking. 4K video on a router is wrong. Docker also.
Cheap, 4 ethernet ports. OpenWRT

which supports PPP but more checking needed using USB
Wifi6 with external connectors, and looks like a 7w power draw on a 12v supply.

https://nz.mouser.com/new/seeed-studio/seeed-studio-linkstar-h68k-routers/

Update

googling around shows this unit to be bit of an adventure software wise.
Chinese port of OpenWRT with lots of bugs and no support
Great OpenWRT community effort to support this unit - but still issues
Weak Wifi strength - 3db meaning short range only (maybe not confirmed)
The hardware is superb, fast. The software is meh
New Version is available LinkStar-H68K-1432 V2 Few reviews available

kiwiPaul · April 20, 2024, 10:46am

…and further down the rabbit hole.
finding a wifi router with a serial/uart/usb port and an os (OpenWRT or RouterOS etc) that supports PPP is not so easy.

Better to get Ethernet out of the the flight controller or at least ESP32 doing PPP to Ethernet/TCP. Looks like Espressif have already done all/most of this with ESP-IoT-Bridge.

maybe running on a lilygo ESP32 with Ethernet ?

Question - Andrew Tridgel teased an ESP32 solution for ppp → Ethernet. Any pointers most appreciated !!

Question 2 - Anyone looked into ESP-IoT-Bridge ? It looks the part, but its well hidden and not easy to find much about it. The code and some doco is here

github.com

espressif/esp-iot-bridge/blob/master/components/iot_bridge/User_Guide.md

- [中文版](./User_Guide_CN.md)

# ESP-IoT-Bridge Solution

This document describes how to configure and use ESP-IoT-Bridge.

ESP-IoT-Bridge solution focuses on connectivity and communication between various network interfaces in IoT application scenarios, such as SPI, SDIO, USB, Wi-Fi, Ethernet and other network interfaces. In this solution, the bridge device can not only provide net access for other devices, but also be a separate equipment to connect the remote server.


# Table of Contents

- [1 Overview](#1-overview)
- [2 Hardware](#2-hardware)
- [3 Development Environment](#3-set-up-development-environment)
- [4 SDK](#4-get-sdk)
- [5 Configuration](#5-configuration)
- [6 Build Flash Monitor](#6-build-flash-monitor)
- [7 Network Configuration](#7-network-configuration)
- [8 OTA](#8-ota)
- [9 Solution Highlights](#9-solution-highlights)

This file has been truncated. show original

and the Ethernet ↔ USB solution being here

geofrancis · April 21, 2024, 12:52am

I have a ESP32 serial bridge with a wireshark vpn client, its only a prototype but it was for controlling serial devices over LTE on my rover without forwarding ports. I just connect it to the phone hotspot on the rover that im using for andruav and I can access it like it was on my local network. I have a ESP32 ethernet board I was planning on getting working but I haven’t got around to it yet.

this works as a proof of concept but I havent got around to error handling like auto reconnect.