Herelink Ethernet

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

Hi all,

I’m trying to get ethernet pasthrough working. I’m running on the Beta Channel, SRU01200616 on the ground unit and the corresponding version on the air side.

I understand a ethernet adapter with a R8152/8153 chip is required, I have have a ANKER A7610011 and a Cable Matters 202023-BLK for testing. Both use the correct chip according to the Amazon comments, although its very hard to get the information directly from the manufactures.

On the ground side I have a generic OTG adapter, and have tested it with a USB stick. On the airside I have a OTG charging pass through cable, this allows to power the adapter (and the airside, and cube, I’m not sure if that is a good idea).

I undstand with a adapter on both ends it should be a transparent link but I cant seem to get it working.

It does have to be said that I am a complete beginner with regard to networking stuff such as this.

[frame]

@iampete - where did you get this information about ethernet passthrough feature? Is it documented somewhere?

[Michael_Oborne]

so the basics look good to me, the next trick is getting adb access to confirm (gcs)

the stock image includes
AX8817X
AX88179_178A
NET1080
R8152

to update the boot image via usb (i asume you have adb access already/developer mode)

adb reboot bootloader
fastboot flash boot boot.img
fastboot reboot

Next we enable adb via tcpip, but first we need to enable this via usb

adb shell
setprop persist.adb.tcp.port 5555
reboot

then after the reboot, get the ip of the GCS unit (eg 10.0.0.99)

adb connect 10.0.0.99
adb shell

you should get the shell again
do a

ifconfig

and check if eth0 exists

Now verify we can adb into the air unit
once you have adb to the gcs unit, power on the air unit and do a

adb shell (gets you into the gcs unit)
adb connect 192.168.0.10
adb -s 192.168.0.10:5555 shell

this should now get you into the air unit.

Next
try running a

/bin/busybox brctl show

under interfaces you should see vxlan1 and eth0

optimus:/ $ /bin/busybox brctl show
bridge name bridge id STP enabled interfaces
br-vxlan 8000.00e04c360345 no vxlan1
eth0

also run

ping 192.168.144.10
ping 192.168.144.11

these are the bridge endpoint ip’s

during testing, make sure the screen stays on on there GCS unit, otherwise power saving features limit background data flow (most likerly setting i have not found yet)

ive just confirmed that this is working ok. one possible caveat. if you home network is using 192.168.0.x, things may not work.

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

Thanks Michael,

After installing adb, I managed to verify both ends are detecting the adapters, I swapped to a AX88179 (I think) based adapter on the ground side. The ground side sees this:

And the air side:

Both clock up some RX and TX bytes if I plug into a network. However I can’t connect via the link. (would be not be surprised if there is a PEBKAC).

Interestingly the ground side will shows up on the network, and I can ping it:

However the air side does not.

[Michael_Oborne]

when you say ground side? thats the wifi ip ground side?

[Michael_Oborne]

taken via herelink ethernet

i have uplink BW set to 1.4mhz and down set to 10mhz (non default)

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

I have it working!

Cant quite do 4K YouTube, but 1440p no problem, Wifi is only slightly faster on my old laptop. (I am not also streaming from a camera, I suspect that would slow this down)

I suspect I was having a couple of issues.

firstly the second Ethernet port on my desktop was not connecting, maybe due to the first already being connected to the same network (no doubt this is fixable but I’m a networking newb).

Secondly /bin/busybox brctl show was only showing eth0 if it was conected at boot. But it still shows up in ifconfig if you plug it in after the fact.

So, booting both ends with compatible adapters already plugged in has resulted in it ‘just working’ adb is useful to debug, but I didn’t actually have to change anything with it.

Now to see if I can get the camera working…

[Michael_Oborne]

Correct they must be booted with Ethernet plugged in ,as there are things run at startup to setup the bridge

[dstefanakis (Dimitris Stefanakis)]

Hi Michael,

If you find the time, kindly add a how to first steps in a post or wiki.
Until now, we used to have a mikrotik routerboard, an ethernet switch and a capable wifi card along with the herelink to accomplish the same scenario onboard the drone.
Thats a really super good to have capability for ethernet talking payloads, as well as simplifies the 4G add-on.

Best regards,
Dimitris Stefanakis,
UcanDrone

[Michael_Oborne]

assuming all you want is a transparent link between the 2 Ethernet adapters, all you need to do it plug it in, and boot the air and gcs unit, all the setup is done by default.

the key is getting the correct adapters, and verifying those details are what ive listed above.
ive been testing with RTL8152 adapters, but you need to update the GCS unit to use these, other than that, it should be plug and play, just make sure they are plugged before power on.

[dstefanakis (Dimitris Stefanakis)]

Thanks Michael! We have updated all our clients Herelinks, but haven’t heard for the Ethernet adapter compatibility.
This feature must advertised as hell!!!
I’ll check my adapters for RTL8152 and maybe upload a showcase vid.

Best,
Dimitris

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

I have quite a section of adapters here now, maybe we should start a comparability list, like the one for cameras.

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

I have the camera working, just had a loose connection.

The camera gives a rtsp stream, I can view it on a PC connected to the Ethernet on the ground side. It looks like QGC on the Herelink can view rtsp streams, but it cant connect, maybe because the like is transparent?

I guess that is also linked to how one would use the Herelink hot spot on the ground side rather than Ethernet?

[Michael_Oborne]

correct, its transparent and independent of the Herelink video. it is possible to make it visible, via some routing changes

[Steve]

@iampete can you better explain your setup (camera, connections)? Do your camera has native RTSP output? why do you need a full IP bridge? I ask because it’s an interesting setup

[iampete (Peter Hall)]

Yeah, the camera is basically a IP security camera, it has native RTSP.

Bit of a tangent, but my understanding is that IP style cameras are quite common due to the licencing cost associated with having a HDMI connection.

The setup is very basic.

Camera ethernet out -> USB OTG adapter -> herelink air -> herelink ground -> USB OTG adapter -> PC ethernet in

I can then logon to the Cameras webpage and point it about, zoom in ect. You can also just view the RTSP stream.

[Steve]

this is a very interesting thread, because of growing popularity of RTSP camera in industrial sector and ethernet cable is handy. I would like the air unit had an integrated ethernet port to avoid clumsy converters etc… or at least an USB-C port, since handles power more reliably

[2meC (Tomasz Cieślak)]

@Michael_Oborne What changes in routing need to be made? You could provide accurate information.

[Michael_Oborne]

i cant give details for a setup without alot more info from you.

however there is another thread

Herelink ethernet Devices with App

HI guys!, we just got an new IP cam with RJ45 out and completable APP for it, we would like to use the Herelink with USB ethernet adapter on the air side and running the app on the ground controller with Specify ip address, but however as what i read on the other topic that the Herelink ethernet Features is only for transparent link when there’s also an USB adapter on the ground controller, so does the app that runs on the Android system can actually "access " to that network? if it does than …

talking about having a rtsp camera connected via ethernet and viewing it on there herelink GCS

[Lachlan (Lachlan Brewster)]

@Michael_Oborne
Hi, I have managed to get this passthrough working using the same setup described without any additional setup needed.

laptop 1 -> ethernet adaptor -> herelink -> herelink air -> ethernet adaptor -> laptop 2

I can ping back and forth, and ssh into each computer from the other. However I can not telnet from one to the other, even after I allow tcp on the relevant port using ufw. Is there any additional setup required in order to do this? I intend to eventually have a python application running on each laptop using sockets to communicate (or anything similar), does this connection allow this and would it be suitable? I just cannot find any other information online other than these threads.

Additionally I would like to be able to connect to the flight controller using mission planner on the ground laptop, I can do this using the hotspot on the herelink controller, but it does not work when using the wired connection. It makes sense that it would not work if it is just a transparent ethernet link straight through to laptop 2, but is it possible to be able to do this without having to be connected to the herelink hotspot?

Thanks

Ethernet adaptors used:
Ground side Buy the StarTech USB3.0 to Gigabit Ethernet NIC Adapter ( USB31000NDS ) online - PBTech.co.nz
Air side https://www.pbtech.co.nz/product/ADPSTT2374377/StarTech-USB31000SW-USB-30-to-Gigabit-Ethernet-NIC