Porting MySensors to work with the RadioHead library

[bbbio24]

@hek IDE Version : 1.0.5 r2
I tried with version 1.0.6 without success.

[ToSa]

@kolaf
I've been busy with other stuff for some time but looking at the driver separation now once again. With nRF24 working (even bootloader adjusted to pick the right header files etc.) and two Moteinos at hand (Moteino RFM69W 868/915), I compiled and flashed a serial gateway and a simple temperature sensor node. Both appear to work fine looking at the debug messages except the fact that they don't listen to eachother. Both are sending but none is receiving anything (2m distance).
I did not touch or even closely look at the RFM69 driver code yet but will try to do so over the weekend. Do you have any hint where to check first?

[ToSa]

I have the RFM69 setup working now with a couple of additional tweaks mainly for code optimization. Working fine for some time but stops after a few hours - I'll have a closer look the next couple of days.
Felix added three bytes to the payload (source address / destination address / control byte) to manage the acknowledge etc. in the lowpowerlab library. For our specific needs this is redundant as the current message format in development already includes this data. The three additional bytes are not that bad though and I'd propose to leave it like that for now and reconsider when we get to the revised message format :).

[blacey]

@ToSa :+1::+1::+1:

[ToSa]

RFM69 is stable now for >48h.
The OTA bootloader version for RFM69 is in progress. I'm stuck right now where the node debug messages show that it's sending a packet but the gateway doesn't receive anything... I moved the full initialization code back in that I thought would be ok to skip but still the same behavior. Only difference to the full blown driver at this point is that I don't attach the interrupt but that should not be relevant for tx as I'm polling the interrupt register for status (ready to send / send complete etc.).

[ToSa]

I had some time today to look at the bootloader code for RFM69 modules. Got the bootloader code to a point where it appears to be working fine - but the instability of the full MySensors RFM69 code is back - the serial gateway stops receiving packets after some time and it appears that the attempt to download a firmware by the bootloader just makes this problem more obvious due to the high volume of packets...
My prime suspect at the moment is the interrupt driven RFM69 library using a single packet buffer. As long is it's used sequentially everything should be fine but with e.g. submission or retrieval of ack messages it opens up the transceiver while the last packet was not fully processed yet potentially causing this... I'll go ahead and replace the routines in the library with the non-interrupt-driven version I coded for the bootloader just to see if this is the right place to dig deeper...

[CARSTEN]

@bbbio24 Hi
I am running into the same " ISO C++ forbids initialization of member 'radio'" error. Did you manage to solve this issue? am using IDE version 1.0.6. What version should I use?

Update: I managed to get past this error.
By the way I am woring with the latest develpment branch that I downloaded from here https://github.com/mysensors/Arduino/archive/development.zip.
To get past this problem I changed in MyDriverRF69.h the lne 40 to
RFM69 *radio;// = NULL;
This resolved the problem in the arduino IDE 1.0.6. Admittedly I am very new to this whole thing and am not sure what I potentially broe by changing the line bt at least I can explore further. ;-)

[CARSTEN]

I used the Mysensors 1.4.1 library and managed to get a UNO with Ethernet shield and NRF24L01+PA+LNA working as an MQTT gateway.
I then changed the library to the latest development library (downloaded on 01.12.2014) and uploaded the MQTT gateway setch to the same hardware -> Also worked fine.
I then changed MyConfig.h to use the RF69 radio instead of NRF24 and just tried to compile. I got a lot of errors:
MQTT_Gateway_Compile_errors.txt

I am using Arduino IDE 1.5.8

I am happy to help with testing, but I am afraid my programming skills are not good enough to assist with that.

[Francois]

@ToSa do you see the RFM69 only work on the serial gateway or will it also work on the MQTT gateway?

[kolaf]

@TOSA I just popped back into the forum to report on my experiences with instabilities using the current version of the RFM69 code only to find that you have already had the same experience. This makes me quite happy since it means that at least someone else have had a chance to think a bit about it. On a side note, I really wish this forum had some functionality to subscribe to topics, it is not a forum I visit regularly enough to catch everything that's happening.

I do not have any good information regarding why the microcontrollers stop responding, but I see it quite regularly in both the Gateway and in the sensors. For instance, I have a power measuring sensor that counts the blinks on my power meter and toggles a LED each time the power meter blinks. I have to reset this about every two days (sometimes more often) when I see that the LED no longer blinks. All my current sensors are running the first version of the code based on your rewritten radio obstructions.

Please let me know if there's anything I can do to help out with debugging this. The instability is starting to get quite frustrating, and I was actually considering to go back to my earlier prototype implementation based on the radiohead library. I did not experience any such instabilities using this library, so at least we know it is not a hardware problem. As such it shouldn't be too difficult to figure out. Maybe it is possible to discuss this with the lowpowerlabs guy who developed the library?

Unfortunately my experience with debugging microcontrollers is limited, but I will help out where I can.

[Francois]

@ToSa I am running this version and I don't have any problems with it so far. I only have one node up and running with a humility sensor. I order 5 more Anarduino units and hope to get them in Jan so will do more testing then. The humility node is up and running now for more than 3 weeks with out any resets.

[kolaf]

@ToSa How did you make the RF69 stable?

[nagelc]

@CARSTEN I got the same compile errors. It turns out Arduino IDE 1.5.7 and above have a new compiler which requires PROGMEM data to be const.
See this discussion: http://forum.arduino.cc/index.php?topic=277173.0

I was able to resolve the compile errors by adding const where flagged by the compiler:
In MyMQTT.h:
. . . .
const char V_0[] PROGMEM = "TEMP"; //V_TEMP
etc . ..

Then:
const char * const vType[] PROGMEM = {
V_0, V_1, . . . .

You also need to change the getType function in MQTTGateway.ino to account for the change in type of vType[]
char *getType(char *b, const char * const *index) { . . . .

Compiled with no errors for RFM69 on Arduino 1.5.8 after these changes.
I have not had a chance to upload and test on my Motineo's.

[guillaume brucker]

Hi all,

Happy new year
I've just have the same idea, I'm new to arduino since chrismas :)
and I want to test mysensor with nrf905, It seem to be compatible with RH librairies.

Could you just say me what i have to do ?
I'll have to include the kolaf librairies ?

Just, If you have a link to the repository in order to work on it with you

Thanks for all

[guillaume brucker]

So, I'm working on it with the developpement branch of mysensor.

I've find some nrf905 librairies arround the web, but the RadioHead seem to be more powerfull and complete.
I'll give you news soon,

First of all, i probably need help to diagnose because i've had only one raspberry, one arduino and two atmega328p chipset more

[andrewm844]

Did anyone ever solve the this compile error?

In file included from /home/andrew/sketchbook/libraries/MySensors/MyConfig.h:27,
from /home/andrew/sketchbook/libraries/MySensors/MySensor.h:17,
from SerialGateway.ino:27:
/home/andrew/sketchbook/libraries/MySensors/MyDriverRF69.h:40: error: ISO C++ forbids initialization of member ‘radio’
/home/andrew/sketchbook/libraries/MySensors/MyDriverRF69.h:40: error: making ‘radio’ static
/home/andrew/sketchbook/libraries/MySensors/MyDriverRF69.h:40: error: invalid in-class initialization of static data member of non-integral type ‘RFM69*’

I have tried with IDEs 1.04, 1.05 and 1.06

[guillaume brucker]

@andrewm844
Hi,
I'm working on 905, so I don't have to check the 69, but I've the same compile error
I just replace
// RFM69 *radio = NULL;
RFM69 *radio;
in the MyDriverRF69.h file

[BenjaminK87]

Hi everyone,
i am new to MySensors. I already made sime Arduino pro mini running with a NRF24L01.
But i also bought some Anarduino with the RF69 installed. Can anybody tell me how i can tell the library to use the RF69 instead of the NRF24L01?
I used the Developement version of the MySensor library. I tried to find the point in MyConfig.h but i could only find the NRF24L01 Driver Defaults part.

Maybe someone could help me.

Thanks in advance.
Benjamin

[lafleur]

I'm interested in the progress of getting RadioHead working with MySensor....

what the current status??

where is the current code for this effort?

Thanks

[hek]

@lafleur

In the development branch on github we have support for RF69. We have not incorporated the full RadioHead library.