Thread: CLI¶

Overview¶

The Thread CLI sample demonstrates how to send commands to a Thread device using the OpenThread Command Line Interface (CLI). The CLI is integrated into the Zephyr shell.

Requirements¶

Before you start, check that you have the required hardware and software:

2x nRF54L15 Connect Kit with U.FL cabled 2.4 GHz Antenna
2x USB-C Cable
A computer running macOS, Ubuntu, or Windows 10 or newer

Attaching the 2.4 GHz antenna¶

Before applying power to the board, ensure the U.FL cabled 2.4 GHz antenna is properly installed.

Building the sample¶

To build the sample, follow the instructions in Getting Started Guide to set up your preferred building environment.

Use the following steps to build the Thread CLI sample on the command line.

Open a terminal window.
Go to NCS-Project/nrf54l15-connectkit repository cloned in the Getting Started Guide.
Build the sample using the west build command, specifying the board (following the -b option) as nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp.
```
west build -p always -b nrf54l15_connectkit/nrf54l15/cpuapp samples/openthread/cli
```
Tip

The -p always option forces a pristine build, and is recommended for new users. Users may also use the -p auto option, which will use heuristics to determine if a pristine build is required, such as when building another sample.
After building the sample successfully, the firmware with the name merged.hex can be found in the build directory.

Flashing the firmware¶

Connect the nRF54L15 Connect Kit to the computer with a USB-C cable:

Then flash the sample using west flash:

west flash

Tip

In case you wonder, the west flash will execute the following command:

pyocd load --target nrf54l --frequency 4000000 build/merged.hex

Testing¶

After both boards are programmed with the CLI sample, complete the following steps to test communication between boards:

Connect to both boards with a terminal emulator, specifying the primary COM port that your computer uses to communicate with the nRF54L15:
WindowsmacOSUbuntu
1. Start PuTTY.
2. Configure the correct serial port and click Open:
Open up a terminal and run:
screen <serial-port-name> 115200
Open up a terminal and run:
screen <serial-port-name> 115200
Press the DFU/RST button on both boards to reset the nRF54L15.
Configure the required Thread network parameters with the ot channel, ot panid, and ot networkkey commands. Make sure to use the same parameters for all nodes that you add to the network. The following example uses the default OpenThread parameters:
Terminal
1 2 3 4 5 6
uart:~$ ot channel 11 Done uart:~$ ot panid 0xabcd Done uart:~$ ot networkkey 00112233445566778899aabbccddeeff Done

Enable the Thread network with the ot ifconfig up and ot thread start commands:

Terminal
uart:~$ ot ifconfig up
Done
uart:~$ ot thread start
Done

Invoke some of the OpenThread commands to obtain network-related details from each device:

Device-1Device-2

Terminal
uart:~$ ot state
leader
Done
uart:~$ ot networkname
OpenThread
Done
uart:~$ ot ipaddr
fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:fc00
fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:1c00
fdde:ad00:beef:0:7e01:5f90:7cda:5690
fe80:0:0:0:bc1a:d6d8:9009:75a0
Done

Terminal
uart:~$ ot state
router
Done
uart:~$ ot networkname
OpenThread
Done
uart:~$ ot ipaddr
fdde:ad00:beef:0:0:ff:fe00:a800
fdde:ad00:beef:0:1c64:740:cc44:1066
fe80:0:0:0:e8a9:c27c:1a5:a188
Done

Test communication between the devices with the ot ping command. For example:

Device-1Device-2

Terminal
uart:~$ ot ping fdde:ad00:beef:0:1c64:740:cc44:1066
16 bytes from fdde:ad00:beef:0:1c64:740:cc44:1066: icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=41ms
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received. Packet loss = 0.0%. Round-trip min/avg/max = 41/41.0/41 ms.
Done

Terminal
uart:~$ ot ping fdde:ad00:beef:0:7e01:5f90:7cda:5690
16 bytes from fdde:ad00:beef:0:7e01:5f90:7cda:5690: icmp_seq=1 hlim=64 time=11ms
1 packets transmitted, 1 packets received. Packet loss = 0.0%. Round-trip min/avg/max = 11/11.0/11 ms.
Done