problems with wifi connection.
mystery
Russia
I updated wifi shild to firmware 2.0.5. Connect it to your network. When I connect it through the GUI, it sees it, but does not display information, writes that the Cyton board is none. The firmware version does not show. ip address is 192.168.4.1, although ip my local network. Three LEDs on the board are on. Cyton is also updated to the latest firmware, the LED is constantly on.
if you select a wifi board and press the system start, then after a couple of seconds the error flashes in red and the operation is canceled, I return to the board selection
What could be the problem?
Comments
Hi, @mystery.
Your WiFi shield symptomatology looks very similar to mine.
It seems to be sort of parasitic interference between WiFi ESP module’s internal antenna and circuits of Cyton board, placed beneath WiFi shield, that degrades WiFi connection.
External antenna would be a cure.
Regards,
Alex, your analysis and solution may be very important to communicate to the team.
Do any of the issues mentioned on Github, correspond to what you and Mystery have seen? If so can you log a comment there? If not, can you open a new issue? With the title referencing your parasitic interference conjecture & solution. It may even be possible that a single layer of some type of non-conductive RF shield material, placed between the Cyton and Wifi Shield, might resolve the parasitic coupling. And solve other obscure glitches that have been seen with the Wifi Shield.
https://github.com/OpenBCI/OpenBCI_WIFI/issues
https://www.digikey.com/products/en/rf-if-and-rfid/rfi-and-emi-shielding-and-absorbing-materials/869
Also, can you both clarify: this thread was filed in Build-it-yourself, vs. Wifi Shield category. Does that mean your wifi shield boards are home built, or are they manufactured by OpenBCI? I've seen photo's of Alex's board, it looks identical to what is in the shop. I assume all the PC board planes must be the same. For those who have not seen it, this is Alex's post with his enclosure and external antenna:
https://openbci.com/forum/index.php?p=/discussion/2279/external-antenna-plus-enclosure-for-wifi-shield
Mentioning @Conor, @produceconsumerobot,
Regards, William
Hi, William!
Thanks for your interest and feedback!
As for me, both modules are original and were bough by me directly from OpenBCI online shop.
I’ve just found @mystery post in this particular section and replied accordingly.
Your idea about EMI and RFI shielding is great and definitely deserved to be tested. Only it’s necessary to note, that such shielding could alter ESP antenna parameters to suboptimal ones, but at least would cancel coupling between ESP antenna components and high speed circuits on Cyton board.
Below is ESP manufacturer’s hardware guidelines, dealing with proper location of ESP module on board.
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1miFPpNh9YFhk3Y4fXw7_BpPNcv1TXtrt/view?usp=
As someone could note, the design and way of placement of our WiFi shield doesn’t follow very strictly those guidelines in every aspect.
So, in some cases it could cause trouble.
External antenna is really good thing
Thank you again and best regards,
Alex