Synapse SNAP Connect E10 User manual

USERS GUIDE
SNAP Connect E10
User Manual for Version 1.1
©2008-2014 Synapse, All Rights Reserved. All Synapse products are patent pending. Synapse, the
Synapse logo, SNAP, and Portal are all registered trademarks of Synapse Wireless, Inc.
Doc# 600034-01B
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Table of Contents
1. Introduction............................................................................................................... 1
Product Overview ............................................................................................................................ 1
Easy-To-Use-Technology ........................................................................................................... 1
Key Features .............................................................................................................................. 1
Included In the Product............................................................................................................. 2
New In This Version ......................................................................................................................... 2
About This Manual........................................................................................................................... 3
Other Important Documentation .................................................................................................... 3
When The Manuals Are Not Enough ............................................................................................... 4
2. Network Application Examples................................................................................... 5
Combining Disparate Networks ....................................................................................................... 5
Logging Data .................................................................................................................................... 8
Offloading Host Processing.............................................................................................................. 8
SNAP Lighting From Anywhere In The World .................................................................................. 9
3. SNAP Connect E10 Overview .................................................................................... 10
Product Description ....................................................................................................................... 10
The E10 is a Small Linux Computer.......................................................................................... 10
The E10 is a SNAP Node with Serial, Ethernet and USB Interfaces......................................... 10
The E10 Includes an Internal, Wireless SNAP Engine.............................................................. 10
A Visual Tour .................................................................................................................................. 10
Top View.................................................................................................................................. 10
Wireless Side View .................................................................................................................. 11
Wired Side View ...................................................................................................................... 12
Bottom View............................................................................................................................ 12
4. Power and Connectivity............................................................................................ 14
Installing the Drivers ...................................................................................................................... 14
Establishing Connectivity to the E10.............................................................................................. 14
Access Via the Serial Port ........................................................................................................ 14
IP Address Resolution .................................................................................................................... 15
Setting A Static IP Address ............................................................................................................. 15
Determining Dynamic IP Addresses............................................................................................... 16
Setting System Hostname.............................................................................................................. 16
Setting System Time Zone.............................................................................................................. 16

Access Via TCP/IP / Ethernet.......................................................................................................... 17
Accessing the SNAP Engine Wirelessly........................................................................................... 18
5. Extending the E10 with USB Accessories ................................................................... 19
Using usb_modeswitch .................................................................................................................. 19
Connecting to an Additional SNAP Device..................................................................................... 20
Establishing a Wi-Fi Connection..................................................................................................... 20
Supported Devices ......................................................................................................................... 20
Setting Up Your Wi-Fi Connection ................................................................................................. 21
Establishing a Data Connection with a USB Cell Modem............................................................... 22
Virgin Mobile MC760............................................................................................................... 23
AT&T USBConnect momentum 4G (Sierra Wireless 313U)..................................................... 24
Verizon Pantech UML295 ........................................................................................................ 24
6. Common Procedures ................................................................................................ 27
Editing E10 Files ............................................................................................................................. 27
Viewing Other Available Commands ............................................................................................. 27
Controlling LED A ........................................................................................................................... 27
Controlling LED B............................................................................................................................ 28
Reading the Mode Button ....................................................................................................... 28
Using an External USB Drive.................................................................................................... 29
Example 1: ............................................................................................................................... 29
Example 2: ............................................................................................................................... 29
Setting the E10 to Automatically Update Scripts........................................................................... 29
Converting DOS and Windows Text Files....................................................................................... 29
Creating Custom Python Software................................................................................................. 30
Making Custom Software run Automatically at Startup................................................................ 30
Method 1: UserMain.py..................................................................................................... 30
Method 2: /etc/inittab .................................................................................................. 30
Shutting Down UserMain.py Manually.......................................................................................... 31
Starting UserMain.py Manually ..................................................................................................... 31
Restarting UserMain.py Manually ................................................................................................. 31
Restoring the Original Behavior of Your E10 ................................................................................. 31
Temporarily Restoring the Original Behavior of Your E10............................................................. 32
Resetting a Lost User Password ..................................................................................................... 32
Recovering Access to the E10’s Radio Node.................................................................................. 32
7. E10 Recovery, Restore, and Upgrade Procedures ...................................................... 34

Beginning the Manual Installation Process.................................................................................... 34
Necessary Hardware................................................................................................................ 34
Necessary Software ....................................................................................................................... 35
Required Files .......................................................................................................................... 35
Recovery Steps............................................................................................................................... 35
Completing the Manual Installation Process ................................................................................. 37
Running the USB Installer Script .................................................................................................... 41
SNAP Connect Installations or Upgrades ....................................................................................... 42
Bridge Recovery Files ..................................................................................................................... 42
8. Regulatory Information and Certifications ................................................................ 44
RF Exposure Statement.................................................................................................................. 44
FCC Certifications and Regulatory Information (USA Only)........................................................... 44
FCC Part 15 Class A .................................................................................................................. 44
Radio Frequency Interference (RFI) (FCC 15.105) ................................................................... 44
Labeling Requirements (FCC 15.19) ........................................................................................ 44
Modifications (FCC 15.21).............................................................................................................. 44
Declaration of Conformity ............................................................................................................. 45
Industry Canada (IC) Certification.................................................................................................. 45

1. Introduction
Product Overview
The SNAP® Connect E10 is a rugged and powerful gateway appliance that allows you to connect to and control
your SNAP network nodes across TCP/IP networks.
In addition to providing network connectivity, the E10 contains a powerful Linux-based computer to which you
can add your own programs for network participation and
control.
In other words, the E10’s SNAP Connect software,
combined with your own Python program, becomes a node
in your SNAP network, responding to RPC messages from
other nodes in your network, and generating its own
procedure calls for other nodes. The E10 can manage a
network of nodes, or it can simply act as a gateway,
connecting isolated nodes by passing radio traffic through
the Internet. It can collect and store data from nodes in one
part of your network, process the data, and forward it to a
data warehouse, or send reports or alarms through the
Internet to anywhere else in the world. In short, the E10
acts as a point of control and connectivity for extending the
reach and capabilities of your SNAP network.
Easy-To-Use-Technology
For many applications, the E10 requires little or no setup. The E10 gateway comes pre-configured to:
•Use DHCP to acquire an IP address
•Automatically participate in any SNAP radio network with compatible radio types and configurations
(i.e., radio rate, channel, network ID, encryption settings, etc.)
•Automatically accept incoming TCP/IP connections from other devices running SNAP Connect
User configuration is only required if you want to change these default settings, if you want to connect to
additional networks over TCP/IP or serial, or if you want to install your own Python application on the node to
interact with the rest of your network in customized ways.
Key Features
Key features of the E10 include:
•ARM Linux operating system (kernel 3.2.34)
•BusyBox multi-call binary for system commands
•32-bit RISC architecture
•400 MHz CPU
•256 MB flash, expandable through external USB connections
•64 MB RAM
•10/100 Mb Ethernet port
•USB 2.0 (host) port
•Micro-USB serial and power port
SNAP Connect E10 Users Guide – 600034-01B 1

•Small form factor
•Rugged metal case
•Internal Synapse SNAP Engine with external antenna
Included In the Product
Your E10 package includes the following:
•SNAP Connect E10 unit
•External antenna
•Power adapter
•Micro USB cable
•Mounting Brackets
New In This Version
The changes between version 1.0 and version 1.1 of the E10 come entirely from the operating system and
included software:
•New packages:
•monit – a utility for managing and monitoring processes, programs, files, directories, and file
systems
•OpenSSH – an SSH/SecSH protocol suite providing encryption for network services such as remote
login or remote file transfer
•NTP – an operating system daemon that sets and maintains the system time of day in
synchronization with Internet standard time servers
•rsync – a fast and extraordinarily versatile file copying tool
•screen – a full-screen window manager that multiplexes a physical terminal between several
processes
•udev – a utility that provides a dynamic device directory that only contains files for present devices
•iptables – a utility used to establish, maintain, and inspect IP packet filter rules tables in the Linux
kernel
•htop – an interactive process viewer
•sqlite – a lightweight SQL database engine
•USB-Serial support (including support for the SNAP Stick 200 and the SN132 SNAPstick)
•Wi-Fi support (through a USB adapter)
•Cell modem support (through a USB adapter)
•Root file system flash increased to 185 MB
•Addition of /etc/E10Version
•Addition of /etc/TZ
•Addition of an autorun rule for invoking a script from a USB drive on reboot
(/etc/init.d/S77RunUsb.py)
•Addition of an autorun rule for invoking a script from a network update server on reboot
(/etc/init.d/X88RunNet.py – disabled by default)
•Modification of /etc/fstab
•/tmp is now limited to 32 MB by default
•Modify fstab to change this limit
•Kernel address locations now dynamically determined by installation script
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•Bad blocks can cause the boot loader or kernel images to “spill into” one another
•Bad block locations are analyzed at install time to determine optimal installation locations for kernel
images and the bootloader
•Script enhancements
•BridgeRecovery.py – recover an unresponsive bridge node from the E10 with these scripts available
from the Synapse User Forum.
•UserMain.py / SynapseMain.py
Added getIpAddress(), an RPC to return any IP address(es) assigned to the E10
Bridge interaction – added options to check or set the bridge channel, network ID, etc. from the
E101
•E10ExampleFor1.1.py – E10 LED toggles on traffic and responds to updated
UserMain.py/SynapseMain.py when they request the address of the bridge node.
•DHCP improvement
•Interfaces that use DHCP will continue to attempt to get an IP address
•Python upgraded to version 2.7.5
One side-effect of the breadth of changes between the original E10 release and version 1.1 is that any custom
code compiled for the original E10 release is likely to require recompiling before it will function in the 1.1
environment.
About This Manual
This manual provides information specifically regarding the SNAP Connect E10, and covers topics like:
•Initial setup
•Port usage (e.g., the micro-USB serial port, Ethernet port, and USB host port)
•Common applications
•Recovery processes that are specific to this product
The author assumes that:
•You have read and understood the SNAP Primer (or are otherwise familiar with the SNAP product line)
•You have installed the Portal software
•You are familiar with the basics of discovering nodes, uploading SNAPpy scripts to them, and controlling
and monitoring them from Synapse’s Portal software
Other Important Documentation
The E10 is typically running Synapse’s SNAP Connect software internally. Be aware that SNAP Connect has its
own dedicated user manual. You will likely need to refer to that manual to develop your own applications using
the SNAP Connect Python library, as much of the fundamental information on SNAP Connect is not repeated
here.
All Synapse documentation is available for free download from our dedicated support forum. Please visit
http://forums.synapse-wireless.com for more information.
1The new "E10exampleFor1.1.py" SNAPpy script should be loaded into the E10's bridge node in order for these new functions to behave as
desired.
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Some of the most relevant documents are:
•SNAP Primer
•SNAP Connect Users Guide
•SNAP Reference Manual
•SNAP Users Guide
•Portal Reference manual
•SNAP Sniffer Users Guide
•SNAP Hardware Technical Manual
•SNAP Firmware Release Notes
•Portal Release Notes
If you acquired standalone modules (instead of buying a kit), you may also want to download the latest version
of the EK2100 or EK2500 user guides. These guides are more tutorial in nature and offer hands- on instructions
for demonstrations of SNAP hardware and software.
When The Manuals Are Not Enough
The dedicated support forum offers more than just user documentation. In this forum you can also view
questions and answers posted by other users, or post your own questions for discussion. The forum also has
examples and application notes available for download. The Synapse website also provides downloads of the
latest SNAP, Portal, E10, and SNAP Connect software.
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