AP not connecting to other (non-ESP32) devices

[kallu1294]

Tool Settings

• Baud Rate:921600
• WiFi Channel per Device: 6
• FreeRTOS > Tick rate (Hz): 1000

To Reproduce

1. Build project(s) ... active_ap
2. Flash project(s) ... active_ap

Desktop (please complete the following information):

• OS: Ubuntu

• ESP-IDF Version: idf_ver 5.0

Hi everyone I'm really thankful to the steven sir and some other authors. Now I'm ready with steven sir's AP code and running it successfully but the problem arises when i try to connect any other devices with esp32

The following use to display

I (947221) wifi:new:<6,1>, old:<6,0>, ap:<6,1>, sta:<255,255>, prof:6 I (947223) wifi:station: 00:1a:ef:58:29:85 join, AID=1, bgn, 40U I (951227) wifi:station: 00:1a:ef:58:29:85 leave, AID = 1, bss_flags is 658530, bss:0x3ffbb84c I (951228) wifi:new:<6,0>, old:<6,1>, ap:<6,1>, sta:<255,255>, prof:6 I (967688) wifi:new:<6,1>, old:<6,0>, ap:<6,1>, sta:<255,255>, prof:6 I (967690) wifi:station: 00:1a:ef:58:29:85 join, AID=1, bgn, 40U

please help me out and let me collect the csi data successfully :-(

[StevenMHernandez]

I am not sure what the problem or bug is here.

You are using the active_ap. Are you also using the active_sta on a second ESP32? The active_ap can receive CSI, but you also need a device to connect and transmit CSI. Otherwise the active_ap is just sitting and waiting for CSI.

The easiest way to accomplish this is through the use of a second ESP32 running the active_sta firmware. It is possible to use other devices as well, but this is an advanced use case that requires user's to have further advanced knowledge. This means: if you use anything other than an ESP32, I can not promise that I will be able to help you.

[kallu1294]

I am not sure what the problem or bug is here.

You are using the active_ap. Are you also using the active_sta on a second ESP32? The active_ap can receive CSI, but you also need a device to connect and transmit CSI. Otherwise the active_ap is just sitting and waiting for CSI.

The easiest way to accomplish this is through the use of a second ESP32 running the active_sta firmware. It is possible to use other devices as well, but this is an advanced use case that requires user's to have further advanced knowledge. This means: if you use anything other than an ESP32, I can not promise that I will be able to help you.

Thank you for the reply actually I'm using only active_ap on one esp32 board and trying to connect that with other devices like mobile,laptop or desktop while connecting to those devices it is giving problem like above which i have mentioned

[StevenMHernandez]

I am still not sure what the problem is though. You need to details the steps you have taken otherwise I cannot guess what your setup is. Are you connecting the external laptop device to the esp32 AP? How did you do this? Have you set up this external laptop device to transmit any packets? How did you do this?

I will reiterate: if you use anything other than an ESP32 for transmitting CSI, I can not promise that I will be able to help you.

If you find any useful tools or have any recommendations for how to generate CSI packets from non-ESP32 devices, please feel free to share your discoveries.

[kallu1294]

I am still not sure what the problem is though. You need to details the steps you have taken otherwise I cannot guess what your setup is. Are you connecting the external laptop device to the esp32 AP? How did you do this? Have you set up this external laptop device to transmit any packets? How did you do this?

I will reiterate: if you use anything other than an ESP32 for transmitting CSI, I can not promise that I will be able to help you.

If you find any useful tools or have any recommendations for how to generate CSI packets from non-ESP32 devices, please feel free to share your discoveries.

sure sir

[kallu1294]

I am still not sure what the problem is though. You need to details the steps you have taken otherwise I cannot guess what your setup is. Are you connecting the external laptop device to the esp32 AP? How did you do this? Have you set up this external laptop device to transmit any packets? How did you do this?

I will reiterate: if you use anything other than an ESP32 for transmitting CSI, I can not promise that I will be able to help you.

If you find any useful tools or have any recommendations for how to generate CSI packets from non-ESP32 devices, please feel free to share your discoveries.

Sir i have one doubt can we scan the available wifi devices in our surroundings and connect to the particular wifi to esp32 in STA mode..??

[StevenMHernandez]

I think you need to review what the difference is between an AP and an STA.

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/api-reference/network/esp_wifi.html

https://defineinstruments.com/blog/networking-iot-and-wifi-101/

AP does not connect to other devices. Other devices connect to the AP.

[kallu1294]

I think you need to review what the difference is between an AP and an STA.

https://docs.espressif.com/projects/esp-idf/en/latest/esp32/api-reference/network/esp_wifi.html

https://defineinstruments.com/blog/networking-iot-and-wifi-101/

AP does not connect to other devices. Other devices connect to the AP.

Yes sir i know the difference between AP and STA quite well. But when i made esp32 as STA there are many active wifi devices around me but still it's not connecting to any of open wifi

[StevenMHernandez]

Please share all of the settings that you set with menuconfig. Specifically under ESP32 CSI Tool Config > ****.

[kallu1294]

Please share all of the settings that you set with menuconfig. Specifically under ESP32 CSI Tool Config > ****.

Thank you sir i rectified my problem it was just a silly mistake i made but i learnt something from that Now I'm able to connect esp32 to my wifi device(router) and now it's showing like sending frames

And i really apologize because I'm getting more doubts and disturbing you and my issue headline is AP, here I'm asking about STA now

[kallu1294]

Sir i established a connection between esp32(STA) and my wifi router(AP) and now I'm getting some values on my console by the name of CSI_DATA,STA are they really a CSI values ? If "YES" then why I'm not able to download those values.? If "NO" then what should i do to get CSI DATA downloaded.?

Once again I apologize for a silly question

[StevenMHernandez]

Are you deleting your messages? I received an email saying that you left a comment with your menuconfig parameters, but I cannot find the comment anymore. It makes it very confusing for me to help track down and understand your problems when the messages keep disappearing.

In the future, other users might look through these conversations to solve their own problems. If you made a mistake, someone in the future will likely make the same mistake. You say:

i rectified my problem it was just a silly mistake

but you did not share the mistake or the solution. If you share the mistake and the solution, then it could help user's in the future.

Also, there are no silly questions. We do not know how to walk or talk when we are born, we have to learn how to do these things.

[StevenMHernandez]

Now on to your question. Yes the data labelled CSI_DATA,STA,... is the CSI data. What do you mean by:

I'm not able to download those values?

What do you mean by "download"?

Share a small sample of the output lines that start with CSI_DATA,STA so that I can understand what you are looking at.

Imagine I am all the way on the other side of the planet and I am trying to help solve problems with you. Imagine that I cannot see what you have done. Imagine that I cannot know what you have tried or what you have not tried yet. Imagine that I cannot read your mind to understand what actual problems are happening. With that imagined scene in your mind, make sure to add as much useful information to your comments as you can. The better that you can explain what is happening, the better that I can help you. Read and reread your comments before you post them to make sure that they are readable and can be understood by someone that is not in the same room with you.

[kallu1294]

Are you deleting your messages? I received an email saying that you left a comment with your menuconfig parameters, but I cannot find the comment anymore. It makes it very confusing for me to help track down and understand your problems when the messages keep disappearing.

In the future, other users might look through these conversations to solve their own problems. If you made a mistake, someone in the future will likely make the same mistake. You say:

i rectified my problem it was just a silly mistake

but you did not share the mistake or the solution. If you share the mistake and the solution, then it could help user's in the future.

Also, there are no silly questions. We do not know how to walk or talk when we are born, we have to learn how to do these things.

Sorry sir for this actually in the ESP32 CSI tool config i did not set my wifi(router) SSID name and PASSWORD that's why i was not able to connect my to wifi before . Before i rectify my mistake the settings were like this

ESP32 CSI tool config

(6) WiFi Channel (myssid) WiFi SSID (mypassword) WiFi Password (100) Packet TX Rate [ ] Should this ESP32 collect and print CSI data? [ ] (Advanced users only) Should we only collect LLTF? [ * ] Send CSI data to Serial [ ] Send CSI data to SD

[kallu1294]

Now on to your question. Yes the data labelled CSI_DATA,STA,... is the CSI data. What do you mean by:

I'm not able to download those values?

What do you mean by "download"?

Share a small sample of the output lines that start with CSI_DATA,STA so that I can understand what you are looking at.

Imagine I am all the way on the other side of the planet and I am trying to help solve problems with you. Imagine that I cannot see what you have done. Imagine that I cannot know what you have tried or what you have not tried yet. Imagine that I cannot read your mind to understand what actual problems are happening. With that imagined scene in your mind, make sure to add as much useful information to your comments as you can. The better that you can explain what is happening, the better that I can help you. Read and reread your comments before you post them to make sure that they are readable and can be understood by someone that is not in the same room with you.

I mean I'm getting the values(data) like below if these are CSI data only then why I can not able to download those by using the command "idf.py moniotr -p /dev/ttyUSB0 |grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv"

initial wifi connection established. sending frames. CSI_DATA,STA,38:D5:47:42:F6:D0,-58,11,1,7,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,-96,1,1,0,1610937,0,134,0,0,1.76928,384,[-122 96 8 0 -19 3 -15 2 -11 2 -5 1 1 1 6 1 10 1 14 1 19 1 21 2 23 2 25 3 24 3 24 4 21 5 19 5 15 5 10 5 6 3 2 2 -3 0 -7 -3 -10 -6 -13 -8 -14 -11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 5 -2 7 -5 10 -8 12 -12 15 -14 16 -16 18 -17 19 -18 20 -17 20 -17 19 -15 17 -13 14 -13 11 -10 6 -9 2 -6 -3 -5 -8 -3 -12 -1 -17 1 -20 3 -24 4 -27 4 -27 4 -28 5 -28 5 ] CSI_DATA,STA,38:D5:47:42:F6:D0,-60,11,1,7,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,-96,1,1,0,5889409,0,98,0,0,6.04754,384,[98 32 6 0 -7 -6 -3 -4 1 -4 4 -5 7 -5 9 -6 11 -8 12 -10 12 -12 12 -12 11 -14 9 -15 8 -15 6 -15 5 -14 3 -13 2 -11 2 -9 1 -7 1 -5 1 -3 2 -1 3 1 3 2 4 3 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 -9 17 -13 19 -15 20 -16 21 -17 22 -17 21 -16 21 -15 19 -14 17 -13 14 -11 10 -10 6 -9 1 -8 -4 -8 -8 -9 -11 -9 -15 -11 -17 -13 -19 -14 -20 -16 -20 -18 -20 -18 -18 -18 -16 -17 -14 -15 -12 ] CSI_DATA,STA,38:D5:47:42:F6:D0,-60,11,1,7,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,-96,1,1,0,5900711,0,98,0,0,6.05851,384,[98 32 6 0 -25 6 -25 7 -23 10 -22 11 -19 11 -16 11 -12 10 -10 9 -7 7 -5 5 -3 2 -2 -1 -2 -5 -1 -7 -2 -9 -3 -11 -3 -13 -5 -14 -6 -15 -7 -15 -8 -14 -8 -14 -8 -13 -8 -12 -7 -11 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 9 -20 10 -17 9 -12 10 -7 9 -1 9 4 9 9 9 14 10 19 11 23 12 25 13 28 14 28 14 28 14 26 14 23 13 20 11 16 9 13 6 10 2 7 -2 5 -7 3 -12 2 -16 2 -19 3 ] CSI_DATA,STA,38:D5:47:42:F6:D0,-60,11,1,6,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,-96,1,1,0,5921241,0,98,0,0,6.07906,384,[98 32 6 0 17 -18 17 -20 15 -21 13 -21 10 -20 8 -18 5 -16 3 -13 1 -10 0 -7 0 -3 0 -1 1 3 2 5 3 8 5 10 6 11 8 12 9 12 10 12 10 11 10 11 10 10 9 10 8 9 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 12 19 8 18 4 15 0 11 -4 7 -8 4 -13 0 -17 -3 -22 -6 -25 -8 -28 -10 -30 -12 -31 -12 -31 -11 -30 -10 -28 -8 -25 -6 -22 -5 -17 -4 -12 -3 -7 -4 -2 -5 3 -6 8 -8 12 -11 14 -13 ] CSI_DATA,STA,38:D5:47:42:F6:D0,-60,11,1,7,0,1,1,1,1,0,0,-96,1,1,0,5945501,0,100,0,0,6.10328,384,[100 64 6 0 9 -26 7 -26 6 -26 4 -25 2 -23 0 -21 -1 -18 -2 -14 -3 -10 -3 -7 -1 -3 0 0 2 3 3 5 6 7 8 9 9 10 11 10 12 10 13 10 13 9 13 9 13 9 12 8 10 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 23 4 20 5 14 6 9 7 3 6 -4 6 -9 7 -15 7 -20 7 -25 8 -29 8 -32 9 -33 10 -33 10 -31 10 -29 10 -25 10 -21 8 -16 6 -12 5 -8 1 -3 -2 1 -6 4 -11 7 -14 8 -19 ]

[StevenMHernandez]

Great, that helps understand the problem a little bit better. However, I still do not understand:

why I can not able to download those by using the command "idf.py moniotr -p /dev/ttyUSB0 |grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv"

Is there an error that is occurring? Does the command generate a blank file? What are you expecting to see specifically and what are you actually seeing? You need to be more specific about what problems are happening or I cannot help you. Here are some example of Good ways to ask technical questions and a Bad way to ask technical questions.

Good Example: I run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv. sta-file.csv is created, but the file is empty. I tried breaking down the problem myself by doing X, Y and Z. X works fine Y works fine Z seems to cause an issue.

Bad Example: I run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv. But data does not exist.

I hope you can recognize the difference in approaches for the two example.

Finally, please see the following: https://github.com/StevenMHernandez/ESP32-CSI-Tool/issues/6#issuecomment-801992612

[kallu1294]

Great, that helps understand the problem a little bit better. However, I still do not understand:

why I can not able to download those by using the command "idf.py moniotr -p /dev/ttyUSB0 |grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv"

Is there an error that is occurring? Does the command generate a blank file? What are you expecting to see specifically and what are you actually seeing? You need to be more specific about what problems are happening or I cannot help you. Here are some example of Good ways to ask technical questions and a Bad way to ask technical questions.

Good Example: I run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv. sta-file.csv is created, but the file is empty. I tried breaking down the problem myself by doing X, Y and Z. X works fine Y works fine Z seems to cause an issue.

Bad Example: I run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv. But data does not exist.

I hope you can recognize the difference in approaches for the two example.

Finally, please see the following: #6 (comment)

Thank you sir for your guidelines So now I'm getting CSI_DATA right..? Yes sta.csv file is created but the file is blank(empty) . It doesn't contain any data in it

[kallu1294]

1) sir if run echo "testing" > new_file.csv I have CSI_DATA in my console and the csv is file created if i open that file in libreoffice it is empty with single name CSI_DATA

2) sir if i run make monitor > new_file.csv the csv file is created but it is empty

3) if i run make monitor | grep "CSI_DATA" the csv file is not getting created 4) and if i run "make monitor | grep "CSI_DATA" > new_file.csv" and "make monitor | cat > new_file.csv" the same thing happening like what i said in point no 2.

what is happening really i don't know

One more question sir why I'm getting csi data delayed by more than 5-8 seconds

[kallu1294]

Sorry to disturb you sir. Can you please help me how can i download that csv file now ;-(

[StevenMHernandez]

Sorry, I have been busy with my own work and I have been unable to look at issues.

Take a look at learning about "unix-pipes" and "unix-redirection". These concepts will be very useful for your future knowledge. It will also help understand why I was asking you to perform the 4 steps and what you should expect to see after each step.

For example: 1 and 3 are doing exactly what would be expected. Number 2 and 4 are not working as expected. Number 2 is a simplified version of number 4.

This means we should look at why number 2 is not working. Thank you for adding screenshots, this helps with this process. It looks like when you run make monitor > sat_file.csv the process stops with some (Error?) message:

`...make target 'monitor'. Stop.

Why is the process stopping? Did you stop the process manually? Actually, I think I already helped you with this exact problem See #44.

[kallu1294]

Sorry, I have been busy with my own work and I have been unable to look at issues.

Take a look at learning about "unix-pipes" and "unix-redirection". These concepts will be very useful for your future knowledge. It will also help understand why I was asking you to perform the 4 steps and what you should expect to see after each step.

For example: 1 and 3 are doing exactly what would be expected. Number 2 and 4 are not working as expected. Number 2 is a simplified version of number 4.

This means we should look at why number 2 is not working. Thank you for adding screenshots, this helps with this process. It looks like when you run make monitor > sat_file.csv the process stops with some (Error?) message:

`...make target 'monitor'. Stop.

Why is the process stopping? Did you stop the process manually? Actually, I think I already helped you with this exact problem See #44.

i didn't stop manually until that csv file get created. I'm just stuck at the end point (not able to get CSI data in csv file) :-(

[StevenMHernandez]

Do you understand unix pipes and redirection?

[kallu1294]

Do you understand unix pipes and redirection?

Yes sir I'm understanding it, Now my question is

1. I'm using a single esp32 board(STA mode) is that the reason why I'm not able to get csi data downloaded into csv file.?? If i get to know is that the reason means i could use another esp32 board as AP

And again i went through those 5 steps of make monitor to rectify myself but :-( echo "testing" > new_file.csv here it is redirected with an empty csv txt file but whenever i run make monitor it shows no rule to make target monitor and then it automatically stops without any error message as shown in the image below I didn't stop it manually

what can be the reason for this..?? Extremely sorry sir for disturbing you again and again over the same issue I'm trying myself to debug it but i couldn't do that , not getting what to do next :-(

[StevenMHernandez]

Oh I see. Please use idf.py instead of make.

Also, do not forget -p from #44

[kallu1294]

Oh I see. Please use idf.py instead of make.

Also, do not forget -p from #44

Yes sir i did that too idf.py adding -p to it but once you check the images which i got

when i run

1. echo "testing" > new_file.csv the csv file is created but no CSI data in that

2.make monitor > new_file.csv csv file is created but showing something else which i don't have any idea

3.when i run this command nothing is happening make monitor | grep "CSI_DATA

4.make monitor | grep "CSI_DATA" > new_file.csv
csv is getting created but it is empty

5.make monitor | cat > new_file.csv when i run this same thing happening as point 2

And finally when i run idf.py monitor -p /dv/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > my-experiment-file.csv here also csv file is getting created but it is empty

Sir please can you help me how can i download CSI DATA however CSI data is getting printed on serial but not on csv file

[StevenMHernandez]

Did you read the error in new_file1.csv and new_file3.csv?

---

Run these three steps and identify the errors:

1. idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0
2. idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA"
3. idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > my-experiment-file.csv

[kallu1294]

Did you read the error in new_file1.csv and new_file3.csv?

Run these three steps and identify the errors:

1. `idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0`

2. `idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA"`

3. `idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > my-experiment-file.csv`

Sir if i run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 this command runs same as the idf.py flash monitor and connect to my AP (wifi router) and I'll start getting CSI_DATA on my console

If i run idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" it shows binary file (standad input) matches and idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv and in csv file it shows like below image

And if i run directly idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv after idf.py flash monitor the same thing is coming on the csv file as in the image

One more question sir if i run this command will this automattically exit or manually i need to exit it..?? idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0 | grep "CSI_DATA" > sta-file.csv

[StevenMHernandez]

Show me a screenshot for:

1. idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0

---

Did you search for "binary file (standad input) matches"?

---

None of the commands I shared should automatically exit. Are they?

[kallu1294]

Show me a screenshot for:

1. `idf.py monitor -p /dev/ttyUSB0`

Did you search for "binary file (standad input) matches"?

None of the commands I shared should automatically exit. Are they?

No sir they are not exiting automatically just i asked for the information whether we manually need to exit or they automatically exit Once again sorry sir if you feel frustrated because of me :-( Sir i changed the baud rate now so I'm able to see the CSI data for STA mode in csv file .Before the baud rate was 921600 now i made that 115200 i don't think it was because of baud rate where i was not getting before.

[kallu1294]

Sir how i can find real and imaginary data from CSI_DATA which i got in csv file..??

[kallu1294]

Sorry to disturb you sir,, Sir i have one more doubt can we get the two sets of same data while receiving the csi data..??

[StevenMHernandez]

To parse the real/imaginary data, see https://github.com/StevenMHernandez/ESP32-CSI-Tool/blob/master/python_utils/parse_csi.py

[kallu1294]

Sir i gone through python_utils file in your project
when i try to run parse_csi.py it is throwing an error like IndexError as per my knowledge it is trying to take value from next index at the line 20 and 21 from parse_csi.py file

[kallu1294]

@StevenMHernandez Thank you so much sir for your source by which i can able to complete my project up to some extent :-) Now just trying to plot it for real time but not getting that, could you please help me for this..??

[StevenMHernandez]

Real-time plotting is not provided by this project currently. You will have to use your own software development knowledge to accomplish real-time plots. See #24

[kallu1294]

Okay thank you so much sir :-)