I have created a Python sketch to try and upload the current NTP time to STM32L476RG Nucleo. The sketch is as follows:
import serial
import glob
import sys
import time
from socket import AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM
import socket
import struct
def serial_ports():
""" Lists serial port names
:raises EnvironmentError:
On unsupported or unknown platforms
:returns:
A list of the serial ports available on the system
"""
if sys.platform.startswith('win'):
ports = ['COM%s' % (i + 1) for i in range(256)]
elif sys.platform.startswith('linux') or sys.platform.startswith('cygwin'):
# this excludes your current terminal "/dev/tty"
ports = glob.glob('/dev/tty[A-Za-z]*')
elif sys.platform.startswith('darwin'):
ports = glob.glob('/dev/tty.*')
else:
raise EnvironmentError('Unsupported platform')
result = []
for port in ports:
try:
s = serial.Serial(port)
s.close()
result.append(port)
except (OSError, serial.SerialException):
print("OSError or Serial Exception raised, exiting...")
pass
return result
def getNTPTime(host = "pool.ntp.org"):
port = 123
buf = 1024
address = (host,port)
msg = '\x1b' + 47 * '\0'
# reference time (in seconds since 1900-01-01 00:00:00)
TIME1970 = 2208988800 # 1970-01-01 00:00:00
# connect to server
client = socket.socket( AF_INET, SOCK_DGRAM)
while True:
try:
client.sendto(msg.encode('utf-8'), address)
msg, address = client.recvfrom( buf )
t = struct.unpack( "!12I", msg )[10]
t -= TIME1970
return t
except (socket.gaierror):
print("Error! Internet connection not found, exiting...")
break
my_t_zone = -8
cur_ser = ''.join([s for s in serial_ports() if 'usbmodem' in s])
if(len(cur_ser)>0):
ser = serial.Serial(cur_ser)
if(not ser.isOpen()):
ser.open()
valid = 0
time.sleep(.5)
while(not valid):
ser.reset_input_buffer()
line = ser.readline().decode('utf-8').strip()
if(line=="Hello"):
ntp_time = ("DEA"+str(getNTPTime()+(my_t_zone*3600))+"L").encode('utf_8')
ser.write(ntp_time)
valid = 1
time.sleep(.5)
print("Done uploading time.")
ser.close()
else:
print("No compatible serial device found, exiting...")
The Mbed code is as follows:
#include "mbed.h"
Serial pc(USBTX, USBRX);
const int kMaxBufferSize = 100;
char buffer[kMaxBufferSize];
int len = 0;
int contact = 1;
void removeChar(char *s, int c){
int j, n = strlen(s);
for (int i=j=0; i<n; i++)
if (s[i] != c)
s[j++] = s[i];
s[j] = '\0';
}
int main()
{
pc.baud(9600);
while(contact) {
pc.printf("Hello\n");
if (pc.readable() > 0) {
char new_char;
while(new_char != 'L') {
new_char = pc.getc();
buffer[len++] = new_char;
}
contact = 0;
}
}
removeChar(buffer, 'D');
removeChar(buffer, 'E');
removeChar(buffer, 'A');
removeChar(buffer, 'L');
int x = atoi(buffer);
while(!contact) {
pc.printf("%s\n",buffer);
}
}
The behavior of the system is unstable. I observe several things:
- Around 60% of the time this code snippet works fine and Mbed shows the uploaded Posix timestamp properly after parsing.
- Sometimes erroneous characters are shown in the parsed timestamp (e.g. symbols and other characters)
- Sometimes the entire posix timestamp is not shown by Mbed and gets cut out.
- Also, you can see the Python code uploads three characters before the timestamp. These are used to make sure the code works the 60% of the time (i.e. without them first two digits of timestamps get cut out most of the time).
Can anyone explain what’s wrong? Seems like a sync issue.