Core UDP not working in Semi-Auto mode without cloud/internet

Troubleshooting
1

Hi everybody,

i try to send UDP packages with my old spark core. When i’m in auto mode, everything works fine. If i set the core to semi_auto the core crashes after trying todo some UDP stuff ( begin() works but it failed when i try to send a package, doesnt matter if it is send to 192.168.2.255 or to 192.168.2.2).
i read several threads about the issue while sending broadcast messages. the mentioned solution “insert a WiFi.ping()” does not solve my problem. core still stucks.

do i have to go to manual mode to get it working?
i thought i updated my core via “particle flash --factory tinker / particle flash --usb cc3000 / particle flash --usb tinker” but i will try it again this afternoon. is there a way to get the version of the cc3000 fw?

hope someone can help me.

2

Are you calling WiFi.connect() and wait for WiFi.ready() before you engage in UDP stuff?

Showing your code could save you getting these questions :wink:

3

yep, connect to WiFi works fine and also ready etc works (getting correct localIp, gatewayIp, etc). i’m also waiting 1sec after i got a successful WiFi.ready() but still got the issue. Currently i’m not at home, will paste some code in around 1h

edit:

  • Updated my core, still same failure
  • Tried manual mode, some failure. only working in auto mode

parts of my code:


setup(){

WiFi.connect();

  while (!WiFi.ready()) {
      Serial.println("Waiting for WiFi...");
      delay(1000);
  }
  WiFi.ping(WiFi.gatewayIP());
  Serial.println("Ping end...");
  delay(1000);

//start udp server
    Udp.begin(port);

IPAddress myAddr = WiFi.localIP();

    byte first_octet = myAddr[0];
    byte second_octet = myAddr[1];
    byte third_octet = myAddr[2];
    byte fourth_octet = 255;

    broadcastIp = IPAddress(first_octet, second_octet, third_octet, fourth_octet);

}

loop() {
   //send CRASH HERE!
    Udp.beginPacket(broadcastIp, port);
    Udp.write(msg, sizeInBytes);
    Udp.endPacket();
}
4

Edit2:

If i add this code directly after the Wifi.ready() and i’m connected to the internet it works in manual mode! But without internet connection no way grrr

Serial.println("Connect to cloud");
Particle.connect();
while(!Particle.connected()) {
  Serial.println("Waiting for cloud connection..");
  delay(1000);
}
Particle.disconnect();
Serial.println("Disconnect from cloud");
delay(1000);
5

Odd, with this code mine runs just fine.

SYSTEM_MODE(SEMI_AUTOMATIC)

UDP Udp;
int port = 14400;
IPAddress broadcastIp;
int sizeInBytes = 16;
char msg[256];

void setup()
{
  WiFi.connect();
  waitUntil(WiFi.ready);
  Serial.println("connected...");

  WiFi.ping(WiFi.gatewayIP());
  IPAddress myAddr = WiFi.localIP();
  broadcastIp = IPAddress(myAddr[0],myAddr[1],myAddr[2],255);

  Udp.begin(port);
}

uint32_t ms;
void loop() 
{
  if (millis() - ms > 100)
  {
    sizeInBytes = sprintf(msg, "It's %d", millis());
    Serial.println(msg);
    Udp.sendPacket((uint8_t*)msg, sizeInBytes, broadcastIp, port);
    //Udp.beginPacket(broadcastIp, port);
    //Udp.write((uint8_t*)msg, sizeInBytes);
    //Udp.endPacket();
    ms = millis();
  }
}
6

I was about to post some of the code that I use to broadcast but it’s basically the same, so no point, but I observe that @ScruffR’s code, and mine, has a time delay before attempting to send another packet. I explicitly coded delay(300) after udp.endpacket(), though cannot remember why I did that.

1 Like
7

@timx, @ScruffR, it would seem to me that without a delay, you pretty well guarantee a flood of the send buffer. Since there is no error code return on Udp.endPacket(), there is nothing to indicate a buffer overrun. With the Core, a buffer overrun on the CC3000 is guaranteed to cause problems.

2 Likes
8

And exactly this might be the reason why AUTOMATIC works and SEMI_AUTOMATIC not.
AUTOMATIC (or cloud connection in SEMI_AUTOMATIC) add an aprox. 1ms delay between two iterations of loop() and hence you’ll not overflow the TX buffer.
At least when you are sending small packets, with bigger packets (1K+) you might even find that AUTOMATIC also crashes.

2 Likes
9

thanks for the reply…strange your code works flawless. i think i have to digg a little bit deeper in mine^^

10

Getting weird. The delay fixed one issue but not everything:

This works, but the UDP reception returns weird things. have to check this again:

//works
Udp.sendPacket(b, sizeInBytes, broadcastIp, port);
delay(1);

This doesn work, core crashes (doesnt matter if i put delays in between):

Udp.beginPacket(broadcastIp, port);
Udp.write(b, sizeInBytes);
Udp.endPacket();
delay(10);

Edit:
Transfer works with version 1 (dont know why v2 crashes the core), but the reception delivers the correct message length but buffer is filled up with zeros when in semi_auto or manual mode:

/**
 * Return 1 if package was available, otherwise 0
 */
int readUpdPackage() {
    int rcvd = Udp.parsePacket();
    if (rcvd > 0) {
        // Read data
        Udp.read(buffer, rcvd);

        decodeIncomingUdpPackage((unsigned char*)buffer, rcvd);

        //more bytes received
        if (rcvd > MAX_SIZE) {
            Serial.println("Too large packet");
            while (Udp.available())
                Udp.read();
        }
        return 1;
    }
    return 0;
}
11

Hi @Silence66

How big is sizeInBytes? Larger than one ethernet packet worth?

12

Hi bko,

between 24 and 350bytes