Feat support for Enterprise WiFi by nitin710 · Pull Request #250 · EmotiBit/EmotiBit_FeatherWing

nitin710 · 2023-03-08T16:50:38Z

Description

Adds support to connect to Enterprise WiFi networks on Feather ESP32.

Requirements

None

Issues Referenced

Fixes Feather is unable to connect to UNR-IOT network #248

Functionality

The user has an option to add enterprise WiFi credentials to the SD-Card. The Enterprise WiFi details required are:
- ssid - Network name you are trying to connect to
- userid - Your userId. (this may be your university ID. You may need to talk to your university network admin to get these details.
- username - oftentimes just a repeat of the userid unless specified by your network admin
- password - Your password associated with your user id.
Note: It is necessary to provide the ssid, password and userid to connect to a network. If the username is not provided, then userid is used as the username. (in the current implementation)
To use, add the following segment to the config file with the required details:

    {
      "ssid": "enterprise-1",
      "userid": "user1",
      "username": "user1_name",
      "password": "prize1"
    },

Documentation update

Provides details about adding enterprise wifi credentials EmotiBit_Docs#110

Testing

Test Configuration:

Firmware version: 1.5.4.feat-espEnterpriseWiFi.0
Hardware: EmotiBit v5 and EmotiBit v4

Using the following config file to test different cases for Enterprise WiFi

{
  "WifiCredentials": [
    {
      "ssid": "personal-1",
      "password": "pass1"
    },
    {
      "ssid": "personal-2",
      "password": "pass2"
    },
    {
      "ssid": "enterprise-1",
      "userid": "user1_id",
      "username": "user1_name",
      "password": "prize1"
    },
    {
      "ssid": "enterprise-2",
      "userid": "user2",
      "password": "prize2"
    }
  ]
}

Testing Results

Feather ESP32 ✔️

Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-1
[ 16379][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:96] set_esp_interface_ip(): Configuring Station static IP: 0.0.0.0, MASK: 0.0.0.0, GW: 0.0.0.0
WiFi.begin() duration = 23
WiFi.status() = 6, total duration = 624
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
[ 18451][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:300] _arduino_event_cb(): STA Disconnected: SSID: personal-1, BSSID: 00:00:00:00:00:00, Reason: 201
[ 18452][D][WiFiGeneric.cpp:852] _eventCallback(): Arduino Event: 5 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[ 18453][W][WiFiGeneric.cpp:873] _eventCallback(): Reason: 201 - NO_AP_FOUND
[ 18453][D][WiFiGeneric.cpp:889] _eventCallback(): WiFi Reconnect Running
[ 18457][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:96] set_esp_interface_ip(): Configuring Station static IP: 0.0.0.0, MASK: 0.0.0.0, GW: 0.0.0.0
Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-2
[ 18551][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:96] set_esp_interface_ip(): Configuring Station static IP: 0.0.0.0, MASK: 0.0.0.0, GW: 0.0.0.0
WiFi.begin() duration = 70
WiFi.status() = 1, total duration = 670
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: enterprise-1
trying enterprise WiFi: -SSID: enterprise-1 -userid: user1_id -username: user1_name -pass: prize1
[ 19234][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:96] set_esp_interface_ip(): Configuring Station static IP: 0.0.0.0, MASK: 0.0.0.0, GW: 0.0.0.0
WiFi.begin() duration = 82
WiFi.status() = 1, total duration = 683
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: enterprise-2
trying enterprise WiFi: -SSID: enterprise-2 -userid: user2 -username: user2 -pass: prize2

Feather M0 ✔️

Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-1
WiFi.begin() duration = 952
WiFi.status() = 6, total duration = 1553
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-2
WiFi.begin() duration = 921
WiFi.status() = 6, total duration = 1521
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: enterprise-1
Skipping Enterprise SSID: enterprise-1
Enterprise WiFi is supported only for ESP32
WiFi.begin() duration = 1
WiFi.status() = 6, total duration = 601
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: enterprise-2
Skipping Enterprise SSID: enterprise-2
Enterprise WiFi is supported only for ESP32
WiFi.begin() duration = 0
WiFi.status() = 6, total duration = 600
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-1

Binaries for testing

test_bin_PR250.zip

Checklist to allow merge

Screenshots:

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-15T22:41:43Z

Testing this on Huzzah32 at the UNR Innevation center on UNR-EXT failed with the following behavior:

<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: UNR-EXT
trying enterprise WiFi: -SSID:UNR-EXT -userid:**** -username:**** -pass:****
[942915][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:96] set_esp_interface_ip(): Configuring Station static IP: 0.0.0.0, MASK: 0.0.0.0, GW: 0.0.0.0
WiFi.begin() duration = 130
WiFi.status() = 4, total duration = 730
<<<<<<< Switching WiFi Networks >>>>>>>
Attempting to connect to SSID: GalaxyBot7
[944623][V][WiFiGeneric.cpp:300] _arduino_event_cb(): STA Disconnected: SSID: UNR-EXT, BSSID: 04:bd:88:69:6d:a2, Reason: 202
[944624][D][WiFiGeneric.cpp:852] _eventCallback(): Arduino Event: 5 - STA_DISCONNECTED
[944624][W][WiFiGeneric.cpp:873] _eventCallback(): Reason: 202 - AUTH_FAIL

Switching to Examples>WiFi>WiFiClientEnterprise.ino initially fails to connect with WiFi.begin(), times-out, and calls ESP.restart(). After restart WiFi.begin() works. Changing the timeout from 30 seconds to 3 seconds works. 2 seconds did not work.

Using this code also did not work:

WiFi.disconnect(true);      
esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_identity((uint8_t *)EAP_ID, strlen(EAP_ID));
esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_username((uint8_t *)EAP_USERNAME, strlen(EAP_USERNAME));
esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_password((uint8_t *)EAP_PASSWORD, strlen(EAP_PASSWORD));
esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_enable();
// WPA2 enterprise magic ends here
WiFi.begin(ssid);

Utilizing ESP.restart() is too janky to include in our firmware, so until we have more time to dig deeper into why it isn't working and figure out if there is a way to fix it gracefully, this PR and enterprise WiFi will unfortunately have to be ice-boxed.

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-16T23:33:15Z

With the following code inside EmotiBitWifi.cpp and a long (>10sec) attemptDelay ESP32 will connect to UNR-EXT enterprise wifi.

    WiFi.disconnect(true);      
    WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA); //init wifi mode
    esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_identity((uint8_t *)credential.userid.c_str(), credential.userid.length());
    esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_username((uint8_t *)username.c_str(), username.length());
    esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_set_password((uint8_t *)credential.pass.c_str(), credential.pass.length());
    esp_wifi_sta_wpa2_ent_enable();
    wifiStatus = WiFi.begin(credential.ssid.c_str());

However, EmotiBit data is not presently visible in the oscilloscope for an unknown reason -- could be the router is filtering our unicasts, but not sure.

Needs to be tested if our auto-reconnect with 100msec attemptDelay will work after dropping the connection. May need to increase WIFI_BEGIN_ATTEMPT_DELAY to >10sec.

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-17T19:13:39Z

2 new problems:

Original Feather with EmotiBit FW was not pingable at it's IP (192.168.226.33) until it was programmed with the enterprise wifi example code (below) and then it was pingable and showed up in Colosoft MAC Scanner. After reprogramming with the EmotiBit FW it continued to be pingable and showed up in MAC Scanner and streamed data in the oscilloscope. It seems possible that ESP.restart() was necessary to clear some garbage. It may be possible to figure out a way to implement ESP.restart(), but it's a tad ugly given that the Feather thought everything was hunky dory.

WiFi.disconnect(true); //disconnect form wifi to set new wifi connection
WiFi.mode(WIFI_STA); //init wifi mode

// Example1 (most common): a cert-file-free eduroam with PEAP (or TTLS)
WiFi.begin(ssid, WPA2_AUTH_PEAP, EAP_IDENTITY, EAP_USERNAME, EAP_PASSWORD);>

while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
delay(500);
Serial.print(".");
counter++;
if(counter>=60){ //after 30 seconds timeout - reset board
ESP.restart();
}
}

Programming a second Feather with the enterprise wifi example worked to ping the device BUT it was assigned to a different subnet (192.168.227.12) than my computer (and the other Feather). The Feather was pingable, but did not show up in MAC Scanner or the Oscilloscope. It's not entirely clear how to solve this problem without spamming 255x255 device IPs (255.255.0.0 mask). This may be the death knell for this PR until a new solution presents itself. Spamming 255x255 devices at 1/msec would take 65 seconds, likely trigger spam filters, and we would need to refactor EmotiBitWiFiHost to support multiple EmotiBits on different networks, which all sounds not super bueno. It's possible we would want to refactor EmotiBitWiFiHost.cpp to have networkIncludeList include work differently so that it didn't do an && with XXX.XXX.XXX.* of subnets the computer is attached to.

Closing PR as too difficult to accomplish in the near future.

…p. Moved WiFi.disconnect out of enterprise wifi cred. conditional

nitin710 · 2023-03-29T16:15:41Z

Added software restart provision.
Press R before setup starts to software reset the Feather.
You may use the following compiled binaries for testing. @produceconsumerobot
1.5.4.feat-espEnterpriseWiFi.1.zip

produceconsumerobot

Review 01

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-29T18:27:10Z

EmotiBit.cpp

 	// ToDo: There is no catch right now for timeout. In case of timeout, EmotiBit still continues to complete setup() and proceed to update()
-	_emotiBitWiFi.begin(-1, 1);
+	_emotiBitWiFi.begin(-1, 1, 20000);
 	led.setLED(uint8_t(EmotiBit::Led::BLUE), false);


Could there be value to adding the following code to (1) self-heal enterprise gunkiness (2) prevent confusion of entering the main loop before a connection is established?
if (_emotiBitWiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED)
{ restart }

Does it create any problems/risks?

Perhaps:
attemptDelay = 20000; // ESP32 has been observed to take >10 seconds to resolve an enterprise connection
maxAttemptsPerCred = 1;
timeout = attemptDelay * maxAttemptsPerCred * _emotibitWifi.getNumCredentials() * 2; // Try cycling through all credentials at least 2x before giving up and trying a restart
_emotiBitWiFi.begin(timeout, maxAttemptsPerCred, attemptDelay );
if (!connected) {restart}

The current behavior is to try and connect to a network in an infinite loop.
I think this change keep the behavior the same, i.e., an infinite connect loop in setup, AND also improves it by providing a software reset.
Also, agreed that it will help with enterprise WiFi too.

Added this change

On testing, i notice that if a user only adds 1 credential, and it happens to be the wrong one, then the Emotibit will restart every 40secs.

Since the EmotiBit will be cycling through setup states, we might want to consider possible UX issues

As per discussion, added the required change.
New behavior:
If enterprise network is listed in the credential list, then a timeout (As calculated above) will be used before MCU is restarted.
If no enterprise network is listed, then there will be no timeout and the emotibit will keep trying to connect to listed networks.

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-29T18:54:14Z

EmotiBitWiFi.cpp

 		credentials[numCredentials].ssid = ssid;
 		credentials[numCredentials].pass = password;
+		credentials[numCredentials].userid = userid;
+		credentials[numCredentials].username = username;


Let's add a conditional here to print an error and return -1 when numCredentials >= MAX_CREDENTIALS

Added. The code now handles passing MAX_ALLOWED number as shown below (with a simulated limit of 1)

Loading configuration file: config.txt Number of network credentials found in config file: 4 Adding SSID: personal-1 -pass:pass1... success Adding SSID: personal-2 -pass:pass2...failed to add credential ***Credential storage capacity exceeded*** Ignoring credentials beginning: personal-2

…dentials at least 2 times

…s listed, MCU restarts, else continues to connect to network without timeout

…n connection attempts.

nitin710 · 2023-03-30T19:49:01Z

EmotiBitWiFi.cpp

 		_needsAdvertisingBegin = true;
-		while((wifiStatus == WL_IDLE_STATUS) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)); // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized
+		//while((wifiStatus == WL_IDLE_STATUS) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)) // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized
+    while((wifiStatus != WL_CONNECTED) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)) // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized


ESP was not waiting for the full 20 secs (set as attemptDelay)
Snippet from serial monitor:

Attempting to connect to SSID: personal-1 WiFi.begin() duration = 134 attemptDelay: 20000 - WiFi.status() = 6 // Wifi status == WL_DISCONNECTED attemptDelay: 20000 - WiFi.status() = 1 // WiFi status changes to WL_NO_SSID_AVAIL WiFi.status() = 1, total duration = 4136 // This WL status makes it jump out of the while(wait for attempDelay) before 20secs

Therefore, the conditional in the while has been changed to make sure the MCU waits for attemptDelay seconds before moving on.

@nitin710 why would we want to wait 20 seconds if WL_NO_SSID_AVAIL?

Better to move on faster i guess.
Change has been undone.
Now ESP moves on to the next SSID if network is not available.

produceconsumerobot · 2023-03-31T00:12:38Z

EmotiBitWiFi.cpp

 		_needsAdvertisingBegin = true;
-		while((wifiStatus == WL_IDLE_STATUS) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)); // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized
+		//while((wifiStatus == WL_IDLE_STATUS) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)) // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized
+    while((wifiStatus != WL_CONNECTED) && (millis() - beginDuration < attemptDelay)) // This is necessary for ESP32 unless callback is utilized


@nitin710 why would we want to wait 20 seconds if WL_NO_SSID_AVAIL?

init commit for enterprise wifi support

250be46

produceconsumerobot mentioned this pull request Mar 15, 2023

Add support for enterprise WiFi (e.g. eduroam) #262

Closed

Enterprise WiFi is connecting. Requires addtl testing

be4f849

produceconsumerobot closed this Mar 17, 2023

Added ip addresss to printEmotiiBitInfo

17ff082

nitin710 reopened this Mar 29, 2023

Added provision for software restart through serial input before setu…

75af5cf

…p. Moved WiFi.disconnect out of enterprise wifi cred. conditional

produceconsumerobot requested changes Mar 29, 2023

View reviewed changes

nitin710 added 4 commits March 29, 2023 18:33

Adding check on wifi credential limit

35f091e

Emotibit now restarts after attempting to connect to all provided cre…

a91ed8f

…dentials at least 2 times

Added conditional on network connect timeout. if enterprise network i…

f0283fe

…s listed, MCU restarts, else continues to connect to network without timeout

Added fix that caused ESP to not wait for attemptDelay seconds betwee…

326d394

…n connection attempts.

nitin710 commented Mar 30, 2023

View reviewed changes

nitin710 mentioned this pull request Mar 30, 2023

Provides details about adding enterprise wifi credentials EmotiBit/EmotiBit_Docs#110

Merged

pulled latest master into espEnterpriseWifi

1920586

produceconsumerobot requested changes Mar 31, 2023

View reviewed changes

nitin710 added 2 commits March 30, 2023 21:09

restored while condition to wait for attemptDelay

515af3f

version bump to 1.7.0

76eefa1

nitin710 merged commit 2c7cc6f into master Mar 31, 2023

nitin710 mentioned this pull request Apr 5, 2023

Add a check to cap the number of credentials added to the config file #252

Closed

nitin710 deleted the feat-espEnterpriseWiFi branch October 16, 2025 19:28

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Description

Requirements

Issues Referenced

Functionality

Documentation update

Testing

Testing Results

Binaries for testing

Checklist to allow merge

Screenshots:

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