Networking, Explained

Each Rover is configured with a specific networking setup to enable the ASE framework to function in the labs. Sometimes, you might need to access the Rover in a different environment. In this tutorial we will describe how you can replicate the ASE network to use your Rover outside the ASE labs.

Elias Groot

Founding Member, Ex-Software Lead and Ex-Project Administrator

The most useful for replicating the ASE network is when competing in the NXP cup. During practice, you will want to receive debugging data to understand, tune and optimize your Rover's behavior. The main goal is to make the Rover connect to your local network (LAN) to be able to use it with roverctl.

The main requirement is to replicate the network SSID and password, so that they are identical to the settings in the labs. Furthermore:

• The Rover expects a DHCP server to be up on the network, to get assigned an IP dynamically
• You will want to set up Internet access to download new releases of roverctl and roverd
  • If you cannot enable Internet access, make sure to download these releases beforehand!

We suggest to bring your own router and configure the SSID, password and DHCP server as described. You can also use your phone's hotspot/tethering features, but this creates a weaker signal which might incur connectivity issues.

You can check that your Rover is up and accessible by running ping with your Rover number and the mDNS name which ends in .local:

# Ping rover 7
ping rover07.local

If the ping succeeds, you can use roverctl. If it fails, check the mDNS settings on your machine and follow this trouble-shooting guide.

In the worst case, you can plug in an Ethernet cable into the Debix, and connect it to your own router to check for connectivity issues. You are prohibited to do so in the ASE labs! Always ask a TA to help you with this.