Complete guide of using NetworkAnalyzerBone

This work is a part of my Masters degree thesis paper. Click here to read the corresponding paper.

Schematic diagram for the custom AD5933 PCB board will be shared later on.

Setting up BeagleBone

What you need

• BeagleBone Rev.B
• WiFi dongle (RTL8192CU driver)
• Putty
• Micro-SD card
• Ethernet cable connected to BeagleBone
  

Note

This setup was tested and worked with Debian 7.8 (Wheezy). Setup with other version may differ from this.
All command lines were performed via Putty @ 192.168.7.2:22
nano command will edit the text file and you can save edited file with CTRL+X and enter Y.

1. Expanding partition of micro-SD card

By default, the partition of micro-SD is not fully expanded. Do the following scripts to expand it:

sudo fdisk /dev/mmcblk0

Then enter followings:

1. p "View summary of the storage"
   
2. d "Delete command"
   
3. 2 "Delete partition 2. Do not delete one with * mark"
   
4. n "Create new partition"
   
5. enter twice "Default setting will use maximum available storage"
   
6. w "Commit changes"
   

reboot
sudo resize2fs /dev/mmcblk0p2

Now SD card is expanded to use maximum available storage size.

2. Dealing with HDMI Interference Issue

Go to the default directory of the BeagleBone. (It will show up automatically when connected via USB)
Uncomment following line:

##Disable HDMI
#cape_disable=capemgr.disable_partno=BB-BONELT-HDMI,BB-BONELT-HDMIN   <-- This line

3. Update & Upgrade

Follow next few lines to update and upgrade the system:

sudo apt-get update
sudo apt-get upgrade

This step may take a while to be finished.

4. Install Git (V.2.6.0)and Generate SSH key

Install git with following commands:

wget https://www.kernel.org/pub/software/scm/git/git-2.6.0.tar.gz
tar xvf git-2.6.0.tar.gz
cd git-2.6.0
./configure –without-tcltk
make NO_TCLTK=Yes NO_MSGFMT=Yes NO_GETTEXT=Yes install            

Install process will take about 20 minutes.
Once Git is installed, generate SSH.

ssh-keygen
Hit 'Enter' 3 times (Save file in default location without passphrase)
nano ~/.ssh/id_rsa.pub (To see ssh)
cd /home/debian
git clone [email protected]:NetworkAnalyzerBone.git (If SSH key is added)

This will allow downloading of NetworkAnalyzer software into your BeagleBone system. Make sure this software folder is placed at /home/debian path.

5. Reset WiFi interface

This step will allow BeagleBone to install a script that will reset WiFi interface by bringing it down and up automatically on boot. This helps BeagleBone to have reliable WiFi performance.

cd ~ 
git clone https://github.com/adafruit/wifi-reset.git
cd wifi-reset
chmod +x install.sh
./install.sh

Now WiFi is ready to use with BeagleBone, but we will modify setup it up as an Access point (AP).

6. Setting up Access Point

By default, RTL8192CU driver is faulty and it needs to be replaced with modified version. Reference Link
Install the drivers and dependencies:

sudo apt-get install build-essential dkms
or
sudo apt-get install git linux-headers-generic build-essential dkms

sudo apt-get install hostapd isc-dhcp-server
git clone https://github.com/pvaret/rtl8192cu-fixes.git
sudo dkms add ./rtl8192cu-fixes
sudo dkms install 8192cu/1.10
sudo depmod -a
sudo cp ./rtl8192cu-fixes/blacklist-native-rtl8192.conf /etc/modprobe.d/  (Ensure broken kernel is blacklisted)
reboot

Install compatible hostapd:
Reference Link

wget http://adafruit-download.s3.amazonaws.com/adafruit_hostapd_14128.zip
unzip adafruit_hostapd_14128.zip
sudo mv /usr/sbin/hostapd /usr/sbin/hostapd.ORIG
sudo mv hostapd /usr/sbin
sudo chmod 755 /usr/sbin/hostapd

Next we will configure DHCP setting so that BeagleBone can distribute IP to clients automatically instead of using Static IP:

sudo nano /etc/dhcp/dhcpd.conf

Add following block to the very end of this file:

subnet 192.168.4.0 netmask 255.255.255.0 {
range 192.168.4.25 192.168.4.50;
interface wlan0;
}

Now let's configure network interfaces:

sudo nano /etc/network/interfaces

The file should look something like this:

# The loopback network interface
auto lo
iface lo inet loopback

# The primary network interface
auto eth0
iface eth0 inet dhcp
# Example to keep MAC address between reboots
#hwaddress ether DE:AD:BE:EF:CA:FE

# The secondary network interface
#auto eth1
#iface eth1 inet dhcp

# WiFi Example
#auto wlan0
#iface wlan0 inet dhcp
   # wpa-ssid "Ohyes”
   # wpa-ssid "IllinoisNet"
   # identity "syoo15"
   # wpa-psk  "123456"

iface usb0 inet static
    address 192.168.7.2
    netmask 255.255.255.252
    network 192.168.7.0
    gateway 192.168.7.1
allow-hotplug wlan0
iface wlan0 inet static
    address 192.168.4.1
    netmask 255.255.255.0

At this point, restart the network and reboot the system.

/etc/init.d/networking restart
reboot

Now we can configure access point details. Create a new file by running:

sudo nano /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf

And edit this file to look like below:
Reference Link

interface=wlan0
driver=rtl871xdrv
ssid=beagleNet
hw_mode=g
channel=6
macaddr_acl=0
auth_algs=1
ignore_broadcast_ssid=0
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=beaglebone
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
wpa_pairwise=TKIP
rsn_pairwise=CCMP

If these steps were correctly followed, BeagleBone is now able to create an access point. Let's test it out:

sudo reboot
sudo hostapd /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf -dd
sudo /etc/init.d/isc-dhcp-server restart

If hostapd does not have any errors, you will be able to see an access point with name "beagleNet". If so, let's edit this file:

nano /etc/default/hostapd

Set the following and save it:

DAEMON_CONF="/etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf"

Additionally, add following line before 'exit' to the rc.local file:

nano /etc/init.d/rc.local

if up wlan0

Now you need to restart it to get it work:

/etc/init.d/hostapd restart
reboot

Once restart your BeagleBone, it will always create an access point.

Setting up the NetworkAnalyzer Web application

1. Install Node.js and dependencies

Copy and paste following lines to install node engine and necessary dependencies.

curl -sL https://deb.nodesource.com/setup_4.x | sudo -E bash -
sudo apt-get install -y nodejs
sudo apt-get install -y build-essential
sudo npm -g install forever
cd /home/debian/NetworkAnalyzerBone/webapp
npm install

This will install all components required to run NetworkAnalyzer application.
Test the app by running following command:

node /home/debian/NetworkAnalyzerBone/webapp/app.js

You can access the app via 192.168.7.2:3030 with the device connected via USB or WiFi access point @ 192.168.4.1:3030.

2. Configuring auto-run of the node app on boot

Configuring automatic run of netanalyzer app can be done by following simple steps below.

cp /home/debian/NetworkAnalyzerBone/webapp/netanalyzer.sh /etc/init.d/
chmod 755 /etc/init.d/netanalyzer.sh
update-rc.d netanalyzer.sh defaults
sudo service netanalyzer.sh start
reboot

*Forever.js auto-boot (Works but crash after 5 min)

During previous step, forever module was installed in order to configure BeagleBone to run the app automatically. Create a file and edit the file as below:

sudo mkdir /var/run/forever
sudo nano /etc/init.d/nodeup

nodeup file should look like this:

#!/bin/sh
#/etc/init.d/nodeup

export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/bin
export NODE_PATH=$NODE_PATH:/usr/local/lib/node_modules
export SERVER_PORT=3030

case "$1" in
  start)
  exec forever --sourceDir=/home/debian/NetworkAnalyzerBone/webapp -p /var/run/forever app.js scriptarguments
  ;;
stop)
  exec forever stop --sourceDir=/home/debian/NetworkAnalyzerBone/webapp app.js
  ;;
*)
  echo "Usage: /etc/init.d/nodeup {start|stop}"
  exit 1
  ;;
esac

exit 0

Once the file has been saved, enter followings to make the script executable on boot:

chmod 755 /etc/init.d/nodeup
update-rc.d nodeup defaults
sudo service nodeup start
reboot

On rebooting of the system, BeagleBone will always run NetworkAnalyzer app on port 3030.

Connect to WiFi

Wifi SSID = beagleNet or whatever name you have chosen to be. (PWD for JBS sensor = beaglebone) Select static IP. Type in 192.168.4.2 (4.4 also works) in static IP section.(For iphone, IP: 192.168.4.4, Subnetmask: 255.255.255.0, Router: 192.168.4.1, DNS: 192.168.4.1) Others are not required to fill in. (For Android, when alertdialog asks this wifi has no internet --> check the box saying "Do not ask this message again") Open an web browser. Access to the web server @ 192.168.4.1:3030

Trouble Shooting

When temperature is not correctly shown in web application:

i2cdetect -r 1
or 
i2cdetect -r 2

then
i2cdump -y 1 0x0D 
to probe registers of the AD5933 whether BBB can read or not

An issue regarding netanalyzer.sh file not recognized by the debian

head -1 netanalyzer.sh | od -c

Incorrect output: #   !   /   b   i   n   /   b   a   s   h  \r  \n
Correct output: #   !   /   b   i   n   /   b   a   s   h  \n

Fix this by..

cp netanalyzer.sh _p4 && tr -d '\r' < _p4 > netanalyzer.sh && rm _p4

Other References

RTL8192CU Driver Installing Kernel

End of the document.