ADVANTECH WiFi SSID Switch Router App User Guide

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WiFi SSID Switch Router App

Advantech Czech s.r.o., Sokolska 71, 562 04 Usti nad Orlici, Czech Republic
Document No. APP-0074-EN, revision from 1st November, 2023.

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Used symbols

| Danger| Information regarding user safety or potential damage to the router.
---|---|---
| Attention| Problems that can arise in specific situations.
| Information| Useful tips or information of special interest.
| Example| Example of function, command or script.

Changelog

1.1 WiFi SSID Switch Changelog
v1.0.0 (2020-06-05)

• First release.

v1.0.1 (2016-05-06)

• Changed organization of menu.

v1.0.2 (2016-05-16)

• Added support of different auth profile for each SSID.

v1.0.3 (2016-05-30)

• Fixed saving/loading IP addresses to/from configuration file.

v1.0.4 (2016-06-21)

• Added AP switching with the same SSID.

v1.0.5 (2018-09-27)

• Added expected ranges of values to JavaSript error messages.

Router App Description

Router app is not contained in the standard router firmware. Uploading of this router app is described in the Configuration manual (see Chapter Related Documents).
The router app is not v4 platform compatible.
The WiFi SSID Switch router app is an additional feature of Advantech routers. This allows the router to switch automatically between up to four SSIDs – WiFi networks. It is also possible to configure different SSIDs, the types of authentication and encryption, security keys or passwords and DHCP Clients. This feature overrides the settings on the WiFi page in the router and switches among SSIDs (networks) as configured. Automatic switching between networks is decided according to set priorities. When the WiFi
signal is weak, the switching is based on the signal level of the networks. This can be used for example when the router is moving among known locations to automatically connect to the WiFi networks – see Figure below.

To upload the router app archive file, go to the Router Apps page in the Customization section of the router’s Web interface. After uploading the router app to the router, go to its Web interface by clicking on the router app’s name. On the left you will then see the router app’s menu as in Figure2. There is an Overview landing page and Syslog page in the Status section. In the Configuration section there is a Global page with global configuration followed by SSID1 to SSID4 pages where different WiFi network connections can be configured. You can return to the Web interface of the router and the main menu using Return button in the Customization section.

Configuration

In this chapter, the configuration of the router app is described. Make sure that you know the following WiFi access points parameters – SSID, type of authentication and encryption and the security key or password. It is necessary to enable WLAN interface and WiFi in station mode before using the WiFi SSID Switch router app in the router:

3.1 Enable WLAN in STA mode
Enable the wlan0 network interface on the WLAN page in the router’s Web interface. Check the Enable WLAN interface check box, set the Operating Mode to station (STA). The DHCP Client settings will be overridden by the router app. Click the Apply button to confirm the changes. See Configuration Manual [1, 2] for more details.

3.2 Enable WiFi in STA mode
Enable connection to a WiFi network on WiFi page. Check the Enable WiFi box and make sure that the station (STA) operating mode is selected. The SSID, security and password information will be overridden by the WiFi SSID Switch router app settings. Click the Apply button to confirm the changes. See Configuration Manual [1, 2] for more details.

3.3 Global
Go to Router apps page and go to WiFi SSID Switch router app’s interface. Navigate to the Global page in the Configuration section – see Figure5. The configuration items are explained in the table below.

When enabled, the configuration on WiFi page of the router is overridden with multiple SSID configurations set on the SSID1 to SSID4 pages.
Good Signal Level (-)| Negative value of signal level in dBm. The default is -60 dBm. If a positive number is entered, it will be taken as a negative. Networks detected above this level are switched based on priority only.
Weak Signal Level (-)| Negative value of signal level in dBm. The default is -70 dBm.
If a positive number is entered, it will be taken as a negative.
Networks detected with between Good and Weak signal level are switched based on signal strength only – the one with the strongest signal is chosen. Networks detected with below Weak signal level are also switched based on signal strength.
Scan period| How often the WiFi networks are scanned for their signal strength. Switching to different networks (if required) is also carried out at these intervals. The default value is 10 minutes.
Values ranging from 1 to 60 minutes are allowed.

Table 1:Global Configuration
Changes in this configuration will take effect after pressing the Apply button.

3.4 SSID1 – SSID4 Configuration
The router app switches among networks configured on pages SSID1 to SSID4. SSID1 has the highest priority, SSID4 has the lowest priority. (Priority goes from top to the bottom.) When the signal strength is above good level, the network is chosen based on this priority list only. The configuration items are described in the table below. These settings will override the configuration on the WiFi page in the router.
The DHCP Client will override the DHCP Client on WLAN configuration page in the router.

networks to switch among. By default there is shown ’disabled’ notice on the Overview page for the configured SSID.
SSID| The unique identifier of the WiFi network.
Probe Hidden SSID| Probes hidden SSIDs.
Country Code| Code of the country where the router is installed. This code must be entered in ISO 3166-1 alpha-2 format. If a country code isn’t specified, “US” code will be used as the default country code. If no country code is specified or if the wrong country code is entered, the router may violate country-specific regulations for the use of WiFi frequency bands.
Authentication| Access control and authorization of users in the WiFi network.
• Open – Authentication is not required (free access point).
• Shared – Basic authentication using WEP key.
• WPA-PSK – Authentication using higher authentication methods PSK-PSK.
• WPA2-PSK – WPA-PSK using newer AES encryption.
Encryption| Type of data encryption in the WiFi network:
• None – No data encryption.
• WEP – Encryption using static WEP keys. This encryption can be used for Shared authentication.
• TKIP – Dynamic encryption key management that can be used for WPA-PSK and WPA2-PSK authentication.
• AES – Improved encryption used for WPA2-PSK authentication.
WEP Key Type| Type of WEP key for WEP encryption:
• ASCII – WEP key in ASCII format.
• HEX – WEP key in hexadecimal format.
WEP Default Key| This specifies the default WEP key.
WEP Key 1–4| Allows entry of four different WEP keys:
• WEP key in ASCII format must be entered in quotes. This key can be specified in the following lengths.
– 5 ASCII characters (40b WEP key)
– 13 ASCII characters (104b WEP key)
– 16 ASCII characters (128b WEP key)
• WEP key in hexadecimal format must be entered in hexadecimal digits. This key can be specified in the following lengths.
– 10 hexadecimal digits (40b WEP key)
– 26 hexadecimal digits (104b WEP key)
– 32 hexadecimal digits (128b WEP key)
WPA PSK Type| The possible key option for WPA-PSK authentication.
• 256-bit secret
• ASCII passphrase
• PSK File
WPA PSK| Key for WPA-PSK authentication. This key must be entered according to the selected WPA PSK type as follows.
• 256-bit secret – 64 hexadecimal digits
• ASCII passphrase – 8 to 63 characters
• PSK File – absolute path to the file containing the list of pairs (PSK key, MAC address)
Syslog Level| Logging level, when system writes to the system log.
• Verbose debugging – The highest level of logging.
• Debugging
• Informational – Default level of logging.
• Notification
• Warning – The lowest level of system communication.
Extra options| Allows the user to define additional parameters.
DHCP Client| Activates/deactivates DHCP client.
IP Address| If DHCP Client is disabled only. The fixed IP address of the WiFi interface.
Subnet Mask| If DHCP Client is disabled only. Specifies a Subnet Mask for the IP address.
Default Gateway| Specifies the IP address of a default gateway. If filled-in, every packet with a destination not found in the routing table is sent
here.
DNS Server| Specifies the IP address of the DNS server. When the IP address is not found in the Routing Table, this DNS server is requested.

Table 2:SSID1 – SSID4 Configuration
Changes to this configuration will take effect after pressing the Apply button.

Status

The status of the router app – Overview and System Log pages are described in this chapter.

4.1 Overview and Behavior
To see an overview and the status of the WiFi SSID switching, go to the Overview page of the router app (this is also the home page of the router app). When the router app is enabled (on the Global page), information will be displayed as in the Figure below. The parts of this overview are explained in the table below.

4.1.1 Switching Behavior
If the signal level is above Good Signal Level, the networks are switched according to priority only. If the signal level is between Good and Weak, the networks are switched according to signal strength only. The only exception is this: it remains connected to the prioritized network when the signal level is above Good level and then drops to the Good/Weak interval – as is shown in the Figure below (see network2). This is to prevent useless frequent switching – once the network is associated with Good signal level, it is switched only when the signal level drops below the Weak signal level. In such a case, the system switches to the network with the strongest signal level. Switching to the other SSID takes approximately 3 seconds (WiFi service is restarted).

repeatedly at set intervals. This can be either running or stopped.
Scan period| The Scan period as set on Configuration page.
Good signal level| The Good Signal Level as set on Global page.
Weak signal level| The Weak Signal Level as set on Global page.
SSID priority| The priority for the networks as set on SSID1 to SSID4 pages (the lower the number the higher priority). A disabled notice is shown for
disabled networks.
SSID found| The list of SSIDs found on a scheduled scan. This listing additionally contains signal strength and MAC address information. At a selected network there is shown an associated notice, so you can see the actual connected network.
Other status entries| Below all other information are shown log messages concerning switching decisions and the time of the last scan. If the WiFi is not
enabled in the router, there is a notice at the top.

Table 3:Overview Items

4.2 System Log

The Syslog page displays System Log messages. It is the same system log as the one in the main menu of the router. Router app messages are indicated by wpa_supp 1 icant and crond strings. You can check the operation of the router app in the log or view messages in the event of configuration problems. You can download these messages and save them to a computer as a text file (.log) by clicking the Save Log button. You can also download a detailed report (.txt) for communication with support by clicking the Save Report button.

 Related Documents

You can obtain product-related documents on Engineering Portal at icr.advantech.cz address.
To get your router’s Quick Start Guide, User Manual, Configuration Manual, or Firmware go to the Router Models page, find the required model, and switch to the Manuals or Firmware tab, respectively.
The Router Apps installation packages and manuals are available on the Router Apps page.
For the Development Documents, go to the DevZone page.

References

• Advantech 4G, 5G Cellular Routers & Gateways for IoT applications - Engineering Portal
• Advantech 4G, 5G Cellular Routers & Gateways for IoT applications - Engineering Portal
• DevZone - Cellular Routers Engineering Portal
• Router Apps - Cellular Routers Engineering Portal
• Router Models - Cellular Routers Engineering Portal

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