• Overview
• Parts/Components
• Configure Hardware
• Configure Software
• Configure Wireless
• Check Network Settings
• Install Toolchain
• Writing & Compiling Programs
• Uploading Files
• Executing Files
• Download Files
• Final Thoughts & Useful Links
  
  

Keywords: stargate, wireless network, Crossbow, Zagi

Table 1. Parts List

• Required Hardware Components
  
  
  • Stargate Processor Board
    
    
    • 32-bit, 400 MHz Intel PXA255 XScale RISC processor.
    • SA1111 StrongARM companion chip for multiple I/O access.
    • 32 MB of Intel StrataFlash.
    • 64 MB of SDRAM.
    • Type II CompactFlash slot.
    • 16-bit PCMCIA slot.
    • 51 pin expansion connector for Mica2, MicaZ, or µNav integration.

• Establish Host Connection
  
  
  • Linux Host – Minicom
    
    Minicom is a terminal emulation and modem interface program included in most Linux distributions. It is used to communicate with the Stargate board.
    
    To configure Minicom, complete the following steps:
    
    
    • Log in as root on your Linux host machine.
    • Type minicom -s
    • The Minicom configuration menu appears.
    • Select Serial port setup. Configure Minicom to use the tty port that is connected to the target, for example /dev/ttyS0 (com1), 115200 baud, 8 data bits, No parity and 1 stop bit and flow control set to None.
      
      

      A - Serial Device         : /dev/ttyS0      B - Lockfile Location     : /var/lock        C - Callin Program        :                  D - Callout Program       :                  E - Bps/Par/Bits          : 115200 8N1       F - Hardware Flow Control : No               G - Software Flow Control : No                Change which setting?

      
      
    • Press Enter to return to the main configuration menu.
    • Select Save setup as dfl to save these as default settings.
    • Select Exit from Minicom to complete setup configuration.
    • When you need to enter Minicom again, you will be able to communicate with your target by using the command minicom
    • To get help on any Minicom commands, use the command Ctrl+A-Z
    • To exit Minicom, use the command: Ctrl+A-X
      
      
  • Windows Host – HyperTerminal or SecureCRT
    
    
    • Establish a new Connection with the following COM Port settings:
      
      

      Bits per second	115200
      Data Bits	8
      Parity	0
      Stop bits	1
      Flow Control	None

      
      
• Power up the Stargate
  
  
  • Power Settings
    
    
    • If you are using an external power supply, you could use the power supply/adapter provided with the Development kit. Connect the DC input of the AC wall power adapter to the J49 connecter on the daughter card. Make sure to check the jumper settings listed below.
      
    • If you are using a Li-Ion battery pack, there are 2 usage models:
      
      
      • If both Stargate Processor Board and the Daughter Card are used, then J8 must be jumpered on 1-2 position (JACK) and the battery plugged in at the J7 connector on the Daughter Card.
      • If only Stargate Processor Board is used, the J8 must be jumpered on 2-3 position (BATTERY) and the battery is plugged in at J23.
        
        
    • Boot Prompt - Once the power settings and host connection are properly established, the following message will appear on the console. This will verify a proper Stargate boot up. See boot.txt.
    • At this point you are ready to log into the target system.
      
      
      • For “login:” type root.
      • For “Password:” type rootme.
        

      stargate login: root

      Password:

      Linux stargate 2.4.19-rmk7-pxa2-star #1 Fri Aug 13 12:58:00 PDT 2004 armv5tel unknown

      login[177]: root login  on `tts/0

    • You are now logged in to the Stargate and ready to use it. Here are some basic linux commands that you can use. Note: not all commands will be available since this is a compressed embedded linux version.
      
      

• All file modifications will be made by the vi Editor. Here are some simple vi commands.
  
  
  • Start vi using: “vi filename”
  • Save and write to file: “:wq”
  • Quit without saving any changes: “:q!”
    
    
• With the PCMCIA or Compact Flash wireless card inserted, use the cardctl ident command to identify the card.

stargate:/root# cardctl ident

Socket 0:

  no product info available

Socket 1:

  product info: "AmbiCom", "WL1100C 802.11b CF-Card", "2.2"

  manfid: 0xd601, 0x0002

  function: 6 (network)

• After booting-up login into the Stargate again and check all the wireless network configurations you just did.
• Use the iwconfig command to verify the wireless settings.

stargate:/root# iwconfig

lo        no wireless extensions.

 

eth0      no wireless extensions.

 

Warning: Driver for device wlan0 has been compiled with version 14

of Wireless Extension, while this program is using version 16.

Some things may be broken...

 

wlan0     IEEE 802.11b  ESSID:"DASL"  Nickname:"stargate"

          Mode:Ad-Hoc  Frequency:2.412GHz  Cell: 02:10:81:7D:CE:2B 

          Bit Rate:2Mb/s   Sensitivity=1/242700000 

          Retry min limit:8   RTS thr:off   Fragment thr:off

          Encryption key:off

          Power Management:off

          Link Quality:0/1  Signal level:-100 dBm  Noise level:-100 dBm

          Rx invalid nwid:0  Rx invalid crypt:40  Rx invalid frag:0

          Tx excessive retries:8  Invalid misc:374   Missed beacon:0

• Use the ifconfig command to verify the network settings.

• Linux Installation
  
  
  • This method is the ideal one since it will also accommodate the lnurse class. I haven't tried this on cygwin yet. I will update this once is done. For the time being, I am doing all my compiling in Linux. For those who prefer to not install Linux natively, consider using parallel OS programs like VMWare.
  • The first step is to download all the required files:
    
    
    • Cross Compiler: arm-linux-gcc-3.3.2 or arm-linux-gcc-3.4.1
    • Cross Tools: crosstool-0.27-gcc-3.4.1
    • NCurses: ncurses-5.6
      
      
  • Save these files or move them to the top of your file system i.e. /
  • Create the directory /usr/local/arm i.e. mkdir /usr/local/arm
  • Extract the cross tool, crosstool-0.27-gcc3.4.1.tar.gz, to the directory /
  • Extract the cross compiler now from the / directory, it should default install to /usr/local/arm
  • Add /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/bin to the PATH environment variable i.e. export PATH=$PATH:/usr/local/arm/3.3.2/bin
  • You can now compile using the arm-linux-gcc command
  • Extract ncurses-5.6.tar.gz anywhere. NOTE: This is needed for MNAV versions 1.3+
  • Navigate into the new extracted folder then run the following command(s):
    ./configure --host=arm-linux --target=arm-linux --build=i686-pc-linux (or i686-pc-cygwin)
    --without-ada --prefix=/usr/local/arm/3.3.2/
  • make
  • make install
  • Copy the ncurses libraries in /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/lib to /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/arm-linux/lib
    cp /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/lib/libncurse* /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/arm-linux/lib
    
  • All these steps are very time and resource consuming. For more information, read the INSTALL file in the ncurses-5.6 folder. But this is needed for the auto-pilot "GUI" on the Stargate.
    
    
• Windows Installation
  
  
  • This method I have yet to personally test but should be some what similar to that of the Linux installation. The difference is you will be using cygwin as your command line tool. The cross compiler will be different since you are using Windows.
  • You will need the following files:
    
    
    • Cygwin
    • Cross Compiler: arm-cygwin-gcc-3.3.2
    • NCurses: ncurses-5.6
      
      
  • The installation process is the same as above for the Linux version but instead of using the Linux Bash Terminal you will using cygwin. Therefore, cygwin will have to be installed first before you can install the other components.
  • Follow the ncurses library files as instructed above but during the configure stage set the build to i686-pc-cygwin.
  • The installation process will be very time consuming, be patient. If the make or make install process fails, just retry if you are getting a random Win32 error.
  • Before compiling the files, you will need to make sure the ncurse libraries are in the right place. To do so run the following command cp /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/lib/libnc* /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/arm-linux/lib
    
    

• Compiling files for the Stargate cannot be done onboard. You must compile the files from your PC using the toolchain described above.
• You can find an example "Hello World" program and compile instructions are found here.
• For the MNAV auto-pilot, you will only have to use the included makefile
• Use the make command to compile and build avionics and decoder executable files.
  NOTE: This will only work if you have make package and toolchain installed.
• The command make clean removes all the objective files that were created during the last compilation and the avionics executable.
  
  

• After compliling and building the executable avionics file, you can then upload it to the Stargate.
• The first step is to establish a wired communication with the Stargate using HyperTerminal or Minicom. The instructions to do that is in the "Configure Hardware" section listed above.
• The Zmodem protocol is used to transfer files to the Stargate. The method copies file to the current directory on the Stargate. NOTE: It does NOT overwrite existing files.
• After logging into the Stargate, make sure navigate to the directory where you want the files to be copied to then do the following:
  
  
  • For HyperTerminal:
    
    
    • Select the "Transfer" menu
    • Select the "Send File" menu item.
    • Set the protocol to Zmodem
    • Browse for the file of interest
    • Press the "Send" button
      
      
  • For Minicom:
    
    
    • <ctrl> A
    • s   -- send command
    • <return>   -- select Zmodem
    • <up/down arrow keys>  -- to move the cursor up and down
    • <space><space> -- to move into the directory at the cursor
    • <space> -- selects the file at the cursor
    • <return>  -- starts the transfer
    • -- wait until it completes
    • <any key> -- exit
      
      
• After uploading the avionics file, you will have to make sure it is executable by running this command in the same folder chmod +x avionics
  
  

• To use the MNAV auto-pilot, just run the avionics executable.
• There are a few options that you can use with the avionics code, you can list them all using
  avionics -help

./avionics -option1 -option2 ...
-wifi on/off : enable or disable WiFi communication with GS
-save on/off : enable or disable datalogging in /mnt/cf1/
-screen on/off : enable or disable dumping data to screen
-ip xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx : set GS i.p. address for WiFi comm.
-help : display the help messages

• To use the new GUI that uses ncurses also needs you to do the following:
  • cp proper terminal to the stargate /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/share/terminfo
    
  • The stargate already has /terminfo in /etc directory.
  • The reason that /terminfo needs to be installed in /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/share/terminfo is simply because of --prefix=/usr/local/arm/3.3.2
    
  • If you used a different --prefix directory, then you need to install /terminfo to the corresponding directory.
    
    • vt100, cp vt100 to /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/share/terminfo/v/.
      
    • cygwin, cp cygwin to /usr/local/arm/3.3.2/share/terminfo/c/.
      
      

The Stargate is a very versatile single-board computer. It's strengths lie in its size, it's 32-bit processor, and the fact that is has Linux already embedded to it. I've used it for interfacing with Motes and the µNav. This tutorial basically runs through its basic use and configuration to use it with the MNAV autopilot. The next tutorial will explain how to set-up the µNav and connect it to the Stargate.