1.2 TCP/IP TCP Client

This application demonstrates usage of MPLAB Harmony TCP API to implement a TCP client that establishes TCP/IP connection to a TCP server.

Description

The TCP/IP TCP Client application is based on MPLAB® Harmony 3 TCP/IP Stack.

The Harmony TCP/IP stack is a collection of different network protocols.

The source files of Harmony 3 TCP/IP stack is available here.

The demo is created with MPLAB X IDE and MCC plugin.

MCC Project Graph - TCP/IP TCP Client

The following Project Graph shows the Harmony components included in the TCP/IP TCP Client demo application.

Figure 1-4. Project Graph

FreeRTOS component is required for RTOS application. For bare-metal (non-RTOS) FreeRTOS component should not be selected.

NOTE - The above diagram contains FreeRTOS component and that is required for RTOS application. For bare-metal(non-RTOS) FreeRTOS component shouldn't be selected.

TCP/IP Configuration - TCP/IP TCP Client

The TCP/IP modules enabled for the demo is shown in the TCP/IP Configuration Overview

More details of TCP/IP Configuration plugin is available here

Figure 1-5. TCP/IP Configuration

The Application Layer modules enabled in the demo are as follows:

  • Application Layer Modules
    • DHCP Client to discover the IPv4 address from the nearest DHCP Server.
    • DNS Client provides DNS resolution capabilities to the stack.

Downloading and Building the application

To clone or download this application from Github, go to the main page of this repository and then click Clone button to clone this repository or download as zip file.

This content can also be downloaded using content manager by following these instructions.

Path of the application within the repository is apps\tcpip_tcp_client\firmware

To build the application, refer to the following list of demo configurations and open the project using MPLAB X IDE.

Table 1-3. Demo Configurations
Project Name Target Device Development Board Description
pic32ck_gc01_cult.X PIC32CK2051GC01144 PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra TCP/IP TCP Client with KSZ8091 Ethernet PHY - Bare Metal
pic32ck_gc01_cult_freertos.X PIC32CK2051GC01144 PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra TCP/IP TCP Client with KSZ8091 Ethernet PHY - FreeRTOS

Hardware Setup

The target board for running the application is PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra.

This section provides essential hardware configuration of this target board to run TCP/IP applications.

Figure 1-6. PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra Development Board

Board Setup

To set up the hardware, refer to the section Board Setup in PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra User Guide.

  • Connect the micro USB cable from the computer to the DEBUG USB connector on the PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra Development Board.
  • Establish a connection between the router/switch with the PIC32CK GC01 Curiosity Ultra Development Board through the RJ45 connector.

Running the Application

  1. Open a terminal application on the host computer (like Hyper-terminal or Tera Term).
  2. Configure the terminal application for serial port connected to USB debug port of the board.
  3. Set baud rate as 115200 in the terminal application.
  4. Build and download the application project on the target board.
  5. Verify the TCP/IP Stack initialization console messages.

Console Start up

If DHCP client is enabled in the demonstration, wait for the DHCP server to assign an IP address for the development board.

This will be printed on the console. Otherwise, the default static IP address will be assigned to the board.

By entering the command netinfo, the response is obtained as shown above.

TCP Client Test

Enter following command in console: openurl <url>. For example, openurl http://www.microchip.com/.

The response from the server will be printed on the console as shown below.