2. System Overview

2. System Overview

System Overview

Fig. 1 shows the default network configuration of the Smart Radio. The radios are pre-configured so that the entire Mesh Rider network acts like one big distributed Ethernet switch. Therefore, devices plugged into Mesh Rider will automatically be able to communicate with one another if they are on the same subnet. Accessing the radios themselves requires them to be on the same subnet as the host machine. 


Fig. 1 Default Network Configuration

Available Interfaces

Table 1 shows the available interfaces for the different radio form factors.

Table 1: Available Interfaces for Smart Radios

Interface

Embedded (-H)

Embedded (-J)

External

Wearable

Helix

Mesh Rider Radio

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Ethernet (ETH0)

Yes

Yes

Yes

No

No

Ethernet (ETH1)

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

USB Device Port

No

No

No

Yes

Yes

USB Host Port

-U only

Yes

Yes

Yes

Yes

WiFi Radio

No

No

No

Yes

No

UART

-S only

Yesa

Yesa

Yesa

Yesb

a up to 1 Mbps

b up to 115,200 bps

Mesh Rider Interface

The Mesh Rider interface is the main wireless interface and is available on all Smart Radio products. Because it uses a proprietary wireless protocol, it is only accessible from other Mesh Rider devices. The Mesh Rider wireless interface can be configured in Mesh or WDS AP/Client modes. The WDS AP/Client mode is a star network configuration where all traffic passes through the AP. Clients may not directly communicate with one another except through the AP. APs may not directly communicate with one another except over a wired backbone. In Mesh mode, all devices are equal and communicate with each other or through other devices.

ETH0 and ETH1 Interface

ETH0 and ETH1 are standard Ethernet interfacse and are bridged to the Mesh Rider Interface. You may use the ETH0/ETH1 interface for communications between different devices in the network and also to directly access the radio itself (for device configuration for example).

USB Device Port

The USB Device port is a Ethernet over USB interface and can be connected to USB host ports like those found on PCs, or USB OTG ports like those on Smart Devices. It is bridged to the Mesh Rider interface. USB Devices can only communicate with USB Hosts and not with other USB Devices.

USB Host Port

The USB Host port is setup as an Ethernet over USB interface and can be connected to USB device ports or USB OTG ports like those found on Smart Devices. It is bridged to the Mesh Rider interface. It’s functionality can be extended by installing addition USB drivers on the Smart Radio, like USB HID drivers. USB Hosts cannot communicate with other USB Hosts, only with USB Devices.

WiFi Radio

The WiFi radio is bridged to the Mesh Rider Interface and provides standard WiFi connectivity to devices such as PCs and Smart Devices. The default SSID is DoodleLabsWiFi and the password is DoodleSmartRadio.

UART

The UART interface is not part of the IP network, however, it can be bridged to the IP network using software built into the Smart Radio. The UART interface on the Helix Smart Radios supports up to 115200 bps while other radios support up to 1 Mbps.

Configuration Recommendations

We suggest that for initial bench evaluations, start with the default configuration (Mesh). Just power up the radios and they should establish the wireless link

When changing the configuration of your radio, we always recommend starting with the Simple Configuration menu available in the web GUI by navigating to Network Configuration → Simple Configuration. While configuring your device, take regular back-ups of the configuration so that in the event that you need to factory reset the device, you can always recover your good configuration.  

Accessing the CLI using SSH

You can access the CLI of the Smart Radio using SSH. Windows 10 and many Linux distributions come with a built-in SSH client. SSH into the radio using

user@host-pc:~$ ssh root@<IP ADDRESS>

You may need to update your ssh known hosts file with

user@host-pc:~$ ssh-keygen -R <IP ADDRESS>



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