otbr: OpenThread Border Router

Lab11's specific Border Router build and related software and services. The most recent Raspberry Pi border router images are hosted here, based on OpenThread's reference implementation.

Assembling a Border Router

What you need: A Rasbperry Pi 3 B+ and a Nordic NRF52840 Dongle. The Raspberry Pi acts as an IPv6 forwarder, while the NCP acts as a bridge between the Thread network and the Pi forwarder.

You will also need to install nrfutil:

pip install nrfutil

Prepare the Border Router

Grab the most recent image hosted here. Flash this image to a micro-sd card according to the normal RPi directions.

Each Border Router has a unique ID that defines its MAC address and hostname. This ID resembles C0:98:E5:C1:XX:XX, and the derived hostname is tb-c098e5c1xxxx. Modify the /etc/hosts, /etc/hostname, and /boot/cmdline.txt files to reflect the hostname and MAC address of your chosen ID.

For example, modify the following lines to reflect your ID:

/etc/hostname:

tb-c098e5c10001

/etc/hosts:

127.0.1.1	tb-c098e5c10001

/boot/cmdline.txt:

smsc95xx.macaddr=c0:98:e5:c1:00:01

Make sure that you add no extra newlines in /boot/cmdline.txt, and it just consists of one line.

Prepare the Network Co-Processor (NCP)

Navigate to the openthread submodule. Bootstrap your system, the repo, and build the NCP firmware:

cd openthread/
./scripts/bootstrap
./bootstrap
make -f examples/Makefile-nrf52840 COMMISSIONER=1 JOINER=1 COAP=1 DNS_CLIENT=1 MTD_NETDIAG=1 BORDER_ROUTER=1 MAC_FILTER=1 UDP_PROXY=1 USB=1 BOOTLOADER=1 DHCP6_SERVER=1 DHCP6_CLIENT=1 DNS_SERVER=1 DISABLE_BUILTIN_MBEDTLS=1

Plug in the dongle, and press the reset button. This puts the dongle into the bootloader. Run the ncp/flash.sh script to program the dongle with NCP firmware:

cd ncp/
./flash.sh

Plug the programmed NCP into any USB port on the Border Router. Plug the Border Router into power, connect it to a network, and wait a few minutes. If your computer is on the same local network as the Border Router, you should now be able to SSH into the Border Router using the MDNS .local hostname:

ssh [email protected]

Where XXXX is the ID specific to your Border Router. The default password for the pi user on our image is lab11otbr!.

After successfully logging into your new Border Router, while optional, it is good practice to change the password. Better yet, disable SSH password access and generate and install your public key on the Border Router.