Setup an Access Point for Daisy

Daisy’s standard network setup uses a dedicated router to connect with the OptiTrack or with other rovers. However, you might provide the access point with your notebook too.

daisy-pi automatically connects to the access point <SSID> over its interface wlan0. Setup a hotspot with the same SSID on your notebook to mimic the router.

Ubuntu

(tested with 18.04, but should work similarly for <18.04 too)

With 18.04. you can turn on a default hotspot in the WiFi settings (manager), however, the SSID is your hostname and the password is randomly generated.

You can setup network connections with:

$ nm-connection-editor

Create a new network:

• Add a connection
• Select type WiFi
• Give it a name <hotspot-name>
• Uncheck automatic connection
• Set the SSID
• Choose Hotspot as mode
• IP4 Settings: set your static IP according to the network setup with Daisy
• Security: WPA & WPA2 Personal and set the password

Create a route to reach daisy:

$ sudo route add -net <ne-base-ip> netmask 255.255.255.0 gw <nw-diasy-pi-ip>

Or add the route to /etc/network/interfaces:

# Static route
up route add -net <ne-base-ip> netmask 255.255.255.0 gw <nw-diasy-pi-ip>

(In 18.04:) Do not use the WiFi settings manager to start the hotspot - it resets the SSID to the hostname!

Start the hotspot via the command line:

$ nmcli connection up id <hotspot-name>

Note, Daisy has no internet connection with this simple setup. IP forwarding similar to what daisy-pi is doing for daisy has to be installed (see the overview to Daisy).

Troubleshooting

• Check IP address: ifconfig
• Check WiFi is in master mode: iwconfig
• Check the right hotspot is up: nmcli connection show
• Ping daisy-pi and daisy: ping daisy
• Check route to daisy over daisy-pi: route -v
• Check the settings in /etc/NetworkManager/system-connections/<hotspot-name>

References

• Overview, tutorials and demos for Daisy

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2019-02-06 | Denise Ratasich