-1

I am trying to incorporate IoT to my embedded system project. I would call it soft real-time embedded system project. But because of these 'LAZY' lines,

while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
  delay(500);
  Serial.print(".");
}
Serial.println("");
Serial.println("WiFi connected");
// Start the server
server.begin();
Serial.println("Server started");
if (!client) {
  return;  // Wait until the client sends some data
}
Serial.println("new client");
while (!client.available()) {
  delay(1);
}

The rest of the embedded system project has become so slow. If I don't put any of those lines, there will be obnoxious side-effects. How can I run this code along my actual embedded system project and still get done the soft real-time job?

[Edited] Full code:

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>

const char* ssid = "Linux"; // SSID i.e. Service Set Identifier is the name of your WIFI
const char* password = "0123456789"; // Your Wifi password, in case you have open network comment the whole statement.

int ledPin = 13; // GPIO13 or for NodeMCU you can directly write D7 
WiFiServer server(80); // Creates a server that listens for incoming connections on the specified port, here in this case port is 80.

void setup() {
  Serial.begin(115200);
  delay(10);

  pinMode(ledPin, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);

  // Connect to WiFi network
  Serial.println();
  Serial.println();
  Serial.print("Connecting to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);

  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);

  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
  }
  Serial.println("");
  Serial.println("WiFi connected");

  // Start the server
  server.begin();
  Serial.println("Server started");

  // Print the IP address
  Serial.print("Use this URL to connect: ");
  Serial.print("http://");
  Serial.print(WiFi.localIP()); //Gets the WiFi shield's IP address and Print the IP address of serial monitor
  Serial.println("/");

}

void loop() {
  // Check if a client has connected
  WiFiClient client = server.available();
  if (!client) {
    return;
  }

  // Wait until the client sends some data
  Serial.println("new client");
  while(!client.available()){
    delay(1);
  }

  // Read the first line of the request
  String request = client.readStringUntil('\r');
  Serial.println(request);
  client.flush();

  // Match the request

  int value = LOW;
  if (request.indexOf("/LED=ON") != -1)  {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, HIGH);
    value = HIGH;
  }
  if (request.indexOf("/LED=OFF") != -1)  {
    digitalWrite(ledPin, LOW);
    value = LOW;
  }

// Set ledPin according to the request
//digitalWrite(ledPin, value);

  // Return the response
  client.println("HTTP/1.1 200 OK");
  client.println("Content-Type: text/html");
  client.println(""); //  do not forget this one
  client.println("<!DOCTYPE HTML>");
  client.println("<html>");

  client.print("Led pin is now: ");

  if(value == HIGH) {
    client.print("On");
  } else {
    client.print("Off");
  }
  client.println("<br><br>");
  client.println("<a href=\"/LED=ON\"\"><button>Turn On </button></a>");
  client.println("<a href=\"/LED=OFF\"\"><button>Turn Off </button></a><br />");  
  client.println("</html>");

  delay(1);
  Serial.println("Client disconnected");
  Serial.println("");

}
7
  • 3
    Write it as a finite state machine with none of those whiles and delays.
    – Majenko
    Oct 4, 2017 at 11:30
  • Finite state machine? couldn't catch it. any example(s)? Oct 4, 2017 at 11:34
  • Dual processors is another idea. Oct 4, 2017 at 12:18
  • Are you running that code in loop? Are you starting the server in every loop execution? Post your complete sketch, because your code as is doesn't make sense.
    – user31481
    Oct 4, 2017 at 12:38

2 Answers 2

1

I tested your sketch on a NodeMCU 0.9 and it works fine. Response times is sub-second. I'm using Firefox on a Linux Mint as a client.

Test run

I added code to timed each loop execution. The average time is 20-30 ms per loop. It looks fine to me or is it to long for you?

I think using a ESP8266WebServer is overkill and probably will take more resources to run. Having used ESP8266WebServer, for a project with one or two pages, using your approach is just fine.

2
  • +Look Alterno Actually, my real code is not as short as it looks in this demo code. I am not allowed to post the real code for some privacy reasons of the company I work for. There is another soft real-time embedded project that should go along with this kind of IoT project. Therefore, any further advice? Oct 5, 2017 at 13:39
  • 1
    @BigyanChapagain Nothing else I can do with the available information. The code you share run razonably fast (for me). The problem is elsewhere.
    – user31481
    Oct 5, 2017 at 14:05
-1

Try ESP8266WebServer instead. The following is an example included with the ESP8266 board package.

#include <ESP8266WiFi.h>
#include <WiFiClient.h>
#include <ESP8266WebServer.h>
#include <ESP8266mDNS.h>

const char* ssid = "........";
const char* password = "........";

ESP8266WebServer server(80);

const int led = 13;

void handleRoot() {
  digitalWrite(led, 1);
  server.send(200, "text/plain", "hello from esp8266!");
  digitalWrite(led, 0);
}

void handleNotFound(){
  digitalWrite(led, 1);
  String message = "File Not Found\n\n";
  message += "URI: ";
  message += server.uri();
  message += "\nMethod: ";
  message += (server.method() == HTTP_GET)?"GET":"POST";
  message += "\nArguments: ";
  message += server.args();
  message += "\n";
  for (uint8_t i=0; i<server.args(); i++){
    message += " " + server.argName(i) + ": " + server.arg(i) + "\n";
  }
  server.send(404, "text/plain", message);
  digitalWrite(led, 0);
}

void setup(void){
  pinMode(led, OUTPUT);
  digitalWrite(led, 0);
  Serial.begin(115200);
  WiFi.begin(ssid, password);
  Serial.println("");

  // Wait for connection
  while (WiFi.status() != WL_CONNECTED) {
    delay(500);
    Serial.print(".");
  }
  Serial.println("");
  Serial.print("Connected to ");
  Serial.println(ssid);
  Serial.print("IP address: ");
  Serial.println(WiFi.localIP());

  if (MDNS.begin("esp8266")) {
    Serial.println("MDNS responder started");
  }

  server.on("/", handleRoot);

  server.on("/inline", [](){
    server.send(200, "text/plain", "this works as well");
  });

  server.onNotFound(handleNotFound);

  server.begin();
  Serial.println("HTTP server started");
}

void loop(void){
  server.handleClient();
}
2
  • The fact is that ESP8266WebServer uses WiFiClient itself to implement the web server. So, if WiFiClient fails, then ESP8266WebServer will fails as well. Take a look at github.com/esp8266/Arduino/blob/master/libraries/…
    – user31481
    Oct 5, 2017 at 21:20
  • No evidence WiFiClient is slow.If you are doing something else in loop such as animating LEDs code like this brings loop to dead stop. while(!client.available()){ delay(1); } readStringUntil blocks for up to 1 second waiting for the terminator. Another loop killer. String request = client.readStringUntil('\r');
    – gdsports
    Oct 9, 2017 at 2:29

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