Station Mode

2023-09-11

The Wi-Fi NIC connects to the hotspot to provide network access to the module.

Please refer to the Getting Started section for development environment setup. This section introduces the usage of ESP8266/ESP8285.

Hardware Preparation

To use the external Wi-Fi NIC functionality, you need to prepare an external Wi-Fi NIC, a router, and DuPont wires.

Connect the module to the Wi-Fi NIC with DuPont wires. The wiring between the module and the NIC can be configured according to actual requirements. For specific interface configuration parameters, please refer to the ESP8266 section on Wiki.

ESP8266 Hardware Connection Photo
ASR5803 Hardware Connection Photo
FCM360W Hardware Photo
FC41D Hardware Photo

Software Preparation

NIC Initialization

The NIC initialization does not configure the NIC, but initializes the working environment of the Wi-Fi NIC to ensure the intercommunication of the Wi-Fi NIC. The following example demonstrates the initialization process for the ESP8266/ESP8285 Wi-Fi NIC.


# The ESP8266 Wi-Fi NIC is included in the WLAN package. Import ESP8266 from the WLAN package, and then import the required UART module from the machine package
>>> from usr.WLAN import ESP8266
>>> from machine import UART

# Initialize the NIC. Select UART2 as the serial port parameter and STA mode as the mode parameter
>>> wifi = ESP8266(UART.UART2, ESP8266.STA)

Wi-Fi NIC Configuration

ESP8266/ESP8285 provides multiple ways to configure the network, including command line configuration, WEB configuration, and SMARTCONFIG configuration.

Command Line Configuration

# The ESP8266 Wi-Fi NIC is included in the WLAN package. Import ESP8266 from the WLAN package, and then import the required UART package from the machine package
>>> from usr.WLAN import ESP8266
>>> from machine import UART

# Initialize the NIC. Select UART2 as the serial port parameter and STA mode as the mode parameter
>>> wifi = ESP8266(UART.UART2, ESP8266.STA)

# Configure the name and password of the Wi-Fi to be connected when the Wi-Fi NIC is enabled in station mode
>>> wifi.station('wifiname','wifipassword')
0

WEB Configuration

# The ESP8266 Wi-Fi NIC is included in the WLAN package. Import ESP8266 from the WLAN package, and then import the required UART package from the machine package
>>> from usr.WLAN import ESP8266
>>> from machine import UART

# Initialize the NIC. Select UART2 as the serial port parameter, and STA mode as the mode parameter
>>> wifi = ESP8266(UART.UART2, ESP8266.STA)

# Configure the name and password of the Wi-Fi to be connected when the Wi-Fi NIC is enabled in station mode
>>> wifi.web_config('admin','admin123456')
0

SMARTCONFIG Configuration

# The ESP8266 Wi-Fi NIC is included in the WLAN package. Import ESP8266 from the WLAN package, and then import the required UART package from the machine package
>>> from usr.WLAN import ESP8266
>>> from machine import UART

# Initialize the NIC. Select UART2 as the serial port parameter, and STA mode as the mode parameter
>>> wifi = ESP8266(UART.UART2, ESP8266.STA)

# Configure the name and password of the Wi-Fi to be connected when the Wi-Fi NIC is enabled in station mode
>>> wifi.smartconfig('wifiname','wifipassword')
0

Network Forwarding Configuration

ESP8266/ESP8285 is a standalone device that includes independent network configuration methods. After the ESP8266/ESP8285 network configuration is completed, QuecPython needs to configure the network on the module to enable normal network forwarding.

# The ESP8266 Wi-Fi NIC is included in the WLAN package. Import ESP8266 from the WLAN package, and then import the required UART package from the machine package
>>> from usr.WLAN import ESP8266
>>> from machine import UART

# Initialize the NIC. Select UART2 as serial port parameter, and STA mode as the mode parameter
>>> wifi = ESP8266(UART.UART2, ESP8266.STA)

# Configure the name and password of the Wi-Fi to be connected when the Wi-Fi NIC is enabled in station mode
>>> wifi.station('wifiname','wifipassword')
0

# Get the current status of the NIC. The return value 1 indicates the Wi-Fi NIC is connected to Wi-Fi, and 2 indicates it is not connected to Wi-Fi
>>> wifi.status()
1

# Configure the DNS server for the Wi-Fi NIC
>>> wifi.set_dns('8.8.8.8','114.114.114.114')
0

# Check the IP information of the Wi-Fi NIC again. Note that 172.16.1.2 is a virtual IP, not the IP of a specific Wi-Fi terminal
>>> wifi.ipconfig()
('172.16.1.2', '255.255.255.0', '172.16.1.1', 1500, '8.8.8.8', '114.114.114.114')

# Set the Wi-Fi NIC as the default NIC for network communication
>>> wifi.set_default_NIC('172.16.1.2')
0

# At this point, you can access the external network through the Wi-Fi NIC

TCP (socket) Application Example

The following examples demonstrate two methods of TCP communication over Wi-Fi network.

TCP Client Communication with Binding to a Wi-Fi NIC

In this example, TCP communication is performed with a Wi-Fi NIC. The bind interface of the socket module is used to specify sending through the Wi-Fi interface.

Note: In the example below, the bind interface binds to 172.16.1.2, which is the IP address of the Wi-Fi NIC. The IP address of the NIC can be queried through the ipconfig interface of the NIC object. For details, refer to the Wi-Fi chapter in the Wiki.

# Import the usocket module
import usocket

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Create a socket instance
    sock = usocket.socket(usocket.AF_INET, usocket.SOCK_STREAM, usocket.TCP_CUSTOMIZE_PORT)
    sock.settimeout(5)
    sock.bind(("172.16.1.2", 0))
    # Parse the domain name
    sockaddr=usocket.getaddrinfo('python.quectel.com', 80)[0][-1]
    print('start connect')
    # Establish a connection
    sock.connect(sockaddr)
    # Send a message to the server
    ret=sock.send('GET /NEWS HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: python.quectel.com\r\nAccept-Encoding: deflate\r\nConnection: keep-alive\r\n\r\n')
    print('send %d bytes' % ret)
    # Receive messages from the server
    data=sock.recv(1024)
    print('recv %s bytes:' % len(data))
    print(data.decode())

    # Close the connection
    sock.close()

TCP Client Communication without Binding to a Wi-Fi NIC

In this example, TCP communication is conducted over a Wi-Fi network without using the bind interface within the socket module. The communication is achieved by configuring the default NIC. It is necessary to ensure that the Wi-Fi NIC is configured as the default NIC.

# Import the usocket module
import usocket

if __name__ == '__main__':
    # Create a socket instance
    sock = usocket.socket(usocket.AF_INET, usocket.SOCK_STREAM)
    sock.settimeout(5)
    # Parse the domain name
    sockaddr=usocket.getaddrinfo('python.quectel.com', 80)[0][-1]
    print('start connect')
    # Establish a connection
    sock.connect(sockaddr)
    # Send a message to the server
    ret=sock.send('GET /NEWS HTTP/1.1\r\nHost: python.quectel.com\r\nAccept-Encoding: deflate\r\nConnection: keep-alive\r\n\r\n')
    print('send %d bytes' % ret)
    # Receive messages from the server
    data=sock.recv(1024)
    print('recv %s bytes:' % len(data))
    print(data.decode())

    # Close the connection
    sock.close()

Application of MQTT/HTTP and Other Application Protocols

Note that the MQTT/HTTP application protocol is used over a Wi-Fi NIC. Because the built-in MQTT/HTTP communication module does not apply the binding NIC operation interface, you need to configure an Ethernet NIC as the default NIC. For specific MQTT/HTTP usage, refer to the umqtt and reqeust sections in the Application Layer Protocol Wiki.

Wi-Fi Network Interface Card

AP Mode