This is a valid question. In 2020 we introduced the 2nd version of the CTT SensorStation
, and simultaneously released new versions of the CTT Node
and CTT LifeTag
. For the latter two products we made some significant advances in the way they communicate with our SensorStation radios, and they way they confirm their digital ID. Technology moves at lightning speed, and while we made these changes with every intention of full backwards compatibility, we soon learned that the radios would need to be manually updated once before they could join the V2 SensorStations in receiving over-the-air radio programming.
So should you update? If you plan to add Version 2 CTT Nodes
to your study, then the answer is absolutely yes. If your station is listening for V2 LifeTags
, it will still pick up the tag ID like it always has, but will not be able to use the tag ID confirmation code to absolutely validate the ID. So if you want the highest degree of confirmation for LifeTags, then the answer is also yes.
If you’re doing a localized study using PowerTags and not using any of the newer Nodes, then you don’t need to update the radios at all…but of course you still can! To find out how, read on…
USBtinyISP
see Troubleshooting for special instructions before proceeding.Software
> Downloads
Arduino IDE 1.6.9
or earlier. You can do so here). Again, see Appendix I for full instructions for using that programmer.File
menu, select Preferences
Preferences
page you’ll see a window for Additional Boards Manager URLs
. Past the following in that window:https://adafruit.github.io/arduino-board-index/package_adafruit_index.json
Now go to Tools
> Board “xxx”
> Boards Manager
Install the latest version of Adafruit AVR Boards
Now the Adafruit boards will appear un the Tools
> Board:”xxx”
menu…choose Adafruit Feather 32u4
At this point you are almost ready to connect the adapter on the USBtinyISP to the header on the SensorStation radios and burn the new bootloader on each radio, but first we have a little prep work to do…
Connect the USBtinyISP device to your compute using a USB cable.
Go to Tools
> Programmer
and select USBtinyISP
OFF
, and the power has been disconnected.The first step of Part 3 will differ depending on whether your V1 SensorStation came with the radio programming headers or not (whether there are six holes, or six pins, in a 2x3 grid just above the radio SMA ports). The directions below are written assuming no headers are present, so the header pins are on the end of the adapter instead. If your board has headers already, simply insert the female 6-pin header onto the radio pins instead.
Place the adapter pins into the holes on the header for the first radio (Note: You will need to apply some downward pressure to ensure a connection to the header.)
With the adapter connected to the header, from the Tools
menu on the Arduino IDE click Burn Bootloader
.
At this point you will see dialogue on the Arduino IDE interface indicating that the Bootloader is being burned on to the radio. This should take less than a minute for each radio. Once it is complete, the radio light will be pulsing red.
Repeat steps 3.1 - 3.3 for each of the remaining four 434MHz radios
Now that the radios are reprogrammed, you will need to SSH into your SensorStation, so…
reconnect the power and connect to your station via the Ethernet adapter, or by plugging it into a router and accessing the IP over your local internet.
Download the following zip file:
https://s3.amazonaws.com/media.celltracktech.com/sensor-station/SensorStationFiles+2.zip
and then expand the file into your Downloads
folder. Once done, you should see the following files in your Downloads
folder:
ssr_v2_3_1.ino.hex
program-radio.sh
program-radios_sh.sh
Open the PowerShell Command Prompt (PC) or Terminal (Mac)
Change your directory to the Downloads folder:
On Mac: cd ~/Downloads
On PC: cd Downloads
sensorstation.local
with the IP address of your SensorStation. So, for instance, if your station IP address is 255.255.233.0
the first scp
command above would read scp ssr_v2_3_1.ino.hex pi@255.255.233.0:/home/pi/
.scp ssr_v2_3_1.ino.hex pi@sensorstation.local:/home/pi/
scp program-radio.sh pi@sensorstation.local:/home/pi/
scp program-radios_sh.sh pi@sensorstation.local:/home/pi/program-radios.sh
ssh pi@raspberrypi.local
sudo su
mv ./program-radio.sh /usr/sbin/program-radio
chmod a+x /usr/sbin/program-radio
chmod a+x ./program-radios.sh
./program-radios.sh ./ssr_v2_3_1.ino.hex
You should now see your radio lights now switch off, and only blink when detecting tags.
Now that you’ve updated the radios, you’ll need to update your SensorStation to detect the newer tags and nodes.
You can use the Sensor Station to burn a new operating system onto the compute module using a micro USB cable attached to your computer.
Please follow the directions here to do so: https://woodcreeper.github.io/ctt_documentation/flashingComputeModule.html
Programmer drama! So it appears all programmers are not created equal.
USBtinyISP
Try this…
agree
usbtinyisp
is tickedinstall
USBasp
instead of USBtinyISP
In order to run the above using the USBasp
device instead of the USBtinyISP
programmer, please follow the steps below. Note this ONLY works on PC computers so far…so Mac users should get the USBtinyISP
.
Zadig
(https://zadig.akeo.ie)Zadig
Options
menu check the box for List all devices
USBAsp
from the dropdown listlibusb-win32 (v1.2.6.0)
in the right menureinstall driver