gl.inet-gl-s200-http-post-script

Two scripts:

• A script to POST the GL-S200 Thread Development Board sensor data to an HTTP Endpoint as JSON
• A script to POST the GL-S200 Thread Development Board knob interaction events to an HTTP Endpoint as JSON

Overview

The GL.iNet GL-S200 is an impressive Dual-Protocol Thread Border Router. It can be bought by itself, or with a set of three Thread Development Boards. The Thread Development Boards contain an optional testing module that includes a variety of sensors and control interfaces, such as push & turn dial, RGB light, PIR, Humidity, Temperature, and atmospheric pressure. What is fantastic is that these Thread Development Boards fully support mesh networking, and can be configured in both "router" and "end node" modes. I have have both in my networks to extend the range of the mesh network.

This product has so much potential, but in my opinion the firmware is only ~80% complete. This includes the firmware for the router, and the firmware for the Thread Development Boards. I have written a lot of suggested improvements to GL.iNet, and continue to do so, and there is slow progress. But too slow in my opinion to make this the successful product it could be.

The webpage and documentation are quite confusing as they mention support for MQTT, but ONLY Bluetooth to MQTT. I quickly found that there was no way to get the Thread Dev Board data to my cloud applications. Within the web interface, when viewing the Thread Boards (GL Dev Boards -> Devices), there is an Action column with the (...) menu. Clicking that will present the option to </> Get Code where you can view sample code that you can use and modify.

The first script(wovyn_get_sensor_data_post) in my /src directory is based on the script they provided to Read sensor data from devices, modified to also POST the data via HTTP as JSON to an endpoint.

The second script(wovyn_user_action_trigger) in my /src directory is based on the script they provided to User action trigger, modified to also POST the data via HTTP as JSON to an endpoint.

Installation - wovyn_get_sensor_data_post

Installation of this script is simple.

1. First, edit the script and change the following line to set your endpoint:
   • http_endpoint="http://{your.server.hostname}:{port number}/{path}"
   • Replace {your.server.hostname} with your hostname
   • Replace {port number} with the desired port. (or remove :{port number} to use port 80
   • Replace {path} with your desired path
2. Connect to the GL-S200 via SSH or any tool that allows you to copy files to the router, and to set the file permissions
   • I use WinSCP to do this
   • Use the username "root" with the password you set for the web interface
3. Once connected, copy the wovyn_get_sensor_data_post script into the /user/bin directory
4. Use chmod to set the file permissions for execute. I use the command chmod 755 /usr/bin/wovyn_get_sensor_data_post
   • The script can now be run from the command line, but we want it scheduled to run via cron
5. As root you could simply edit the file at: /etc/crontabs/root and add the following line:
   • */5 * * * * /usr/bin/wovyn_get_sensor_data_post
   • This will cause the script to be run every 5 minutes
   • This is the same interval as the sensor reporting interval to the router
   • Run the command service cron restart (apply changes and restart)
6. The other way to edit the crontab is using the folling set of commands:
   • crontab -e (edit the crontab for root)
   • i (enter insert mode)
   • (move to the end of the file)
   • Enter the new line: */5 * * * * /usr/bin/wovyn_get_sensor_data_post
   • :wq (write the file and exit)
   • crontab -l (verify the new line was saved)
   • service cron restart (apply changes and restart)
7. The script should now begin running every 5 minutes and reporting the data from your Thread Development Boards

Sample JSON

The following is an example of the JSON that arrives at my HTTP endpoint:

{
   "report_intervel":300,
   "dev_sw_ver":"2.1.1",
   "dev_proto_ver":3,
   "addr":"fd0b:5fc9:3138:5258:41d0:b6b0:b6d9:332c",
   "connected":true,
   "is_upgrading":false,
   "dev_id":"9483c477aca475c8",
   "dev_rloc16":52224,
   "dev_name":"TBD - Test1",
   "dev_fw_type":"FTD",
   "type":"A0+A1",
   "is_new":false,
   "dev_data":{
      "temperature":22.66777,
      "pressure":83.295992,
      "humidity":29.512023,
      "brightness":76,
      "battery_level":100
   },
   "joined_time":1743351938,
   "timestamp":1745176030,
   "dev_sys_ver":"OPENTHREAD/57ef721ee-dirty; Zephyr; Dec 23 2024 11:46:10",
   "dev_extaddr":"5efeb295c5b6e994"
}

Installation - wovyn_user_action_trigger

Installation of this script is also simple.

1. First, edit the script and change the following line to set your endpoint:
   • http_endpoint="http://{your.server.hostname}:{port number}/{path}"
   • Replace {your.server.hostname} with your hostname
   • Replace {port number} with the desired port. (or remove :{port number} to use port 80
   • Replace {path} with your desired path
2. Connect to the GL-S200 via SSH or any tool that allows you to copy files to the router, and to set the file permissions
   • I use WinSCP to do this
   • Use the username "root" with the password you set for the web interface
3. Once connected, copy the wovyn_get_sensor_data_post script into the /user/bin directory
4. Use chmod to set the file permissions for execute. I use the command chmod 755 /usr/bin/wovyn_get_sensor_data_post
   • The script can now be run from the command line, but we want it to run as a daemon after the GL-S200 boots up
5. Copy the file /src/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger into your GL-S200 /etc/init.d/ directory.
   • You can do this from the command line using vi with the following commands:
   • vi /etc/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger
   • i (enter insert mode)
   • (copy/paste or type the contents of the file /src/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger)
   • :wq (write the file and exit)
   • chmod +x /etc/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger (make the file executable)
   • /etc/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger enable (enable the service to start at boot)
   • (optional) /etc/init.d/wovyn_user_action_trigger start (start the service now)
6. The script should now begin running every time the GL-S200 boots

Sample JSON

The following are examples of the JSON that arrives at my HTTP endpoint:

{
   "trigger":"9483c47f2cade52a",
   "operation":"turning",
   "direction":"forward"
}

{
   "trigger":"9483c47f2cade52a",
   "operation":"turning",
   "direction":"reverse"
}

NOTE: I do not yet have example of the knob "press" since there is a bug in the current version (v2.1.1) of the GL.iNet Thread Development Board firmware. The "press" events are not working.

3D Printable Enclosure

I also designed a 3D printable enclousre for the A0+A1 configuration. It's a first revision, and while tweaking the top lid I forgot to add tabs to hold in in place. That will be coming with a future revision.

TODO

• Add script to report knob press or turn
• Add script to report PIR Human Detection
• Possibly create an MQTT version of this script
• If MQTT, then add commands to control LEDs and GPIO

Feedback

Please feel free to open issues against this code. If you have requests please feel free to add them.