examples_linux/manual_acknowledgements.py

Written by 2bndy5 in 2020

This is a simple example of using the RF24 class on a Raspberry Pi to transmit and respond with acknowledgment (ACK) transmissions. Notice that the auto-ack feature is enabled, but this example doesn't use automatic ACK payloads because automatic ACK payloads' data will always be outdated by 1 transmission. Instead, this example uses a call and response paradigm.

Remember to install the Python wrapper, then navigate to the "RF24/examples_linux" folder.
To run this example, enter

python3 manual_acknowledgements.py 

and follow the prompts.

Note

this example requires python v3.7 or newer because it measures transmission time with time.monotonic_ns().

"""
A simple example of sending data from 1 nRF24L01 transceiver to another
with manually transmitted (non-automatic) Acknowledgement (ACK) payloads.
This example still uses ACK packets, but they have no payloads. Instead the
acknowledging response is sent with `write()`. This tactic allows for more
updated acknowledgement payload data, where actual ACK payloads' data are
outdated by 1 transmission because they have to loaded before receiving a
transmission.
 
This example was written to be used on 2 devices acting as 'nodes'.
 
See documentation at https://nRF24.github.io/RF24
"""
 
import time
from RF24 import RF24, RF24_PA_LOW, RF24_DRIVER
 
 
print(__file__)  # print example name
 
 
CSN_PIN = 0  # GPIO8 aka CE0 on SPI bus 0: /dev/spidev0.0
if RF24_DRIVER == "MRAA":
    CE_PIN = 15  # for GPIO22
elif RF24_DRIVER == "wiringPi":
    CE_PIN = 3  # for GPIO22
else:
    CE_PIN = 22
radio = RF24(CE_PIN, CSN_PIN)
 
# initialize the nRF24L01 on the spi bus
if not radio.begin():
    raise RuntimeError("radio hardware is not responding")
 
# For this example, we will use different addresses
# An address need to be a buffer protocol object (bytearray)
address = [b"1Node", b"2Node"]
# It is very helpful to think of an address as a path instead of as
# an identifying device destination
 
# to use different addresses on a pair of radios, we need a variable to
# uniquely identify which address this radio will use to transmit
# 0 uses address[0] to transmit, 1 uses address[1] to transmit
radio_number = bool(
    int(input("Which radio is this? Enter '0' or '1'. Defaults to '0' ") or 0)
)
 
# set the Power Amplifier level to -12 dBm since this test example is
# usually run with nRF24L01 transceivers in close proximity of each other
radio.setPALevel(RF24_PA_LOW)  # RF24_PA_MAX is default
 
# set the TX address of the RX node into the TX pipe
radio.openWritingPipe(address[radio_number])  # always uses pipe 0
 
# set the RX address of the TX node into a RX pipe
radio.openReadingPipe(1, address[not radio_number])  # using pipe 1
 
# To save time during transmission, we'll set the payload size to be only
# what we need. For this example, we'll be using a byte for the
# payload counter and 7 bytes for the payload message
radio.payloadSize = 8
 
# for debugging, we have 2 options that print a large block of details
# (smaller) function that prints raw register values
# radio.printDetails()
# (larger) function that prints human readable data
# radio.printPrettyDetails()
 
# using the python keyword global is bad practice. Instead we'll use a 1 item
# list to store our integer number for the payloads' counter
counter = [0]
 
 
def master():
    """Transmits a message and an incrementing integer every second, then
    wait for a response for up to 200 ms.
    """
    radio.stopListening()  # put radio in TX mode
    failures = 0
    while failures < 6:
        # use bytes() to pack our counter data into the payload
        # NOTE b"\x00" byte is a c-string's NULL terminating 0
        buffer = b"Hello \x00" + bytes(counter)
        start_timer = time.monotonic_ns()  # start timer
        result = radio.write(buffer)
        if not result:
            failures += 1
            print("Transmission failed or timed out")
        else:
            radio.startListening()  # put radio in RX mode
            timeout = time.monotonic() * 1000 + 200  # use 200 ms timeout
            # declare a variable to save the incoming response
            while not radio.available() and time.monotonic() * 1000 < timeout:
                pass  # wait for incoming payload or timeout
            radio.stopListening()  # put radio in TX mode
            end_timer = time.monotonic_ns()  # end timer
            decoded = buffer[:6].decode("utf-8")
            print(
                f"Transmission successful. Sent: {decoded}{counter[0]}.",
                end=" ",
            )
            has_payload, pipe_number = radio.available_pipe()
            if has_payload:
                # grab the incoming payload
                received = radio.read(radio.payloadSize)
                # NOTE received[7:8] discards NULL terminating 0
                counter[0] = received[7:8][0]  # save the counter
                decoded = bytes(received[:6]).decode("utf-8")
                print(
                    f"Received {radio.payloadSize} bytes",
                    f"on pipe {pipe_number}: {decoded}{counter[0]}.",
                    f"Round-trip delay: {(end_timer - start_timer) / 1000} us.",
                )
            else:
                print("No response received.")
        time.sleep(1)  # make example readable by slowing down transmissions
    print(failures, "failures detected. Leaving TX role.")
 
 
def slave(timeout: int = 6):
    """Listen for any payloads and print the transaction
 
    :param int timeout: The number of seconds to wait (with no transmission)
        until exiting function.
    """
    radio.startListening()  # put radio in RX mode
 
    start_timer = time.monotonic()  # start a timer to detect timeout
    while (time.monotonic() - start_timer) < timeout:
        # receive `count` payloads or wait 6 seconds till timing out
        has_payload, pipe_number = radio.available_pipe()
        if has_payload:
            received = radio.read(radio.payloadSize)  # fetch the payload
            # NOTE received[7:8] discards NULL terminating 0
            # increment the counter from received payload
            counter[0] = received[7:8][0] + 1 if received[7:8][0] < 255 else 0
            # use bytes() to pack our counter data into the payload
            # NOTE b"\x00" byte is a c-string's NULL terminating 0
            buffer = b"World \x00" + bytes(counter)
            radio.stopListening()  # put radio in TX mode
            radio.writeFast(buffer)  # load response into TX FIFO
            # keep retrying to send response for 150 milliseconds
            result = radio.txStandBy(150)  # save response's result
            # NOTE txStandBy() flushes TX FIFO on transmission failure
            radio.startListening()  # put radio back in RX mode
            # print the payload received payload
            decoded = bytes(received[:6]).decode("utf-8")
            print(
                f"Received {radio.payloadSize} bytes"
                f"on pipe {pipe_number}: {decoded}{received[7:8][0]}.",
                end=" ",
            )
            if result:  # did response succeed?
                # print response's payload
                decoded = buffer[:6].decode("utf-8")
                print(f"Sent: {decoded}{counter[0]}")
            else:
                print("Response failed or timed out")
            start_timer = time.monotonic()  # reset the timeout timer
 
    print("Nothing received in", timeout, "seconds. Leaving RX role")
    # recommended behavior is to keep in TX mode while idle
    radio.stopListening()  # put the radio in TX mode
 
 
def set_role() -> bool:
    """Set the role using stdin stream. Timeout arg for slave() can be
    specified using a space delimiter (e.g. 'R 10' calls `slave(10)`)
 
    :return:
        - True when role is complete & app should continue running.
        - False when app should exit
    """
    user_input = (
        input(
            "*** Enter 'R' for receiver role.\n"
            "*** Enter 'T' for transmitter role.\n"
            "*** Enter 'Q' to quit example.\n"
        )
        or "?"
    )
    user_input = user_input.split()
    if user_input[0].upper().startswith("R"):
        if len(user_input) > 1:
            slave(int(user_input[1]))
        else:
            slave()
        return True
    if user_input[0].upper().startswith("T"):
        master()
        return True
    if user_input[0].upper().startswith("Q"):
        radio.powerDown()
        return False
    print(user_input[0], "is an unrecognized input. Please try again.")
    return set_role()
 
 
if __name__ == "__main__":
    try:
        while set_role():
            pass  # continue example until 'Q' is entered
    except KeyboardInterrupt:
        print(" Keyboard Interrupt detected. Powering down radio.")
        radio.powerDown()
else:
    print("    Run slave() on receiver\n    Run master() on transmitter")