Lab hardware catalog¶
Photos and main characteristics of the physical testbed equipment.
Sponsors and acknowledgments¶
Part of the equipment arrived as donations from manufacturers, institutions or people:
| Sponsor | Equipment |
|---|---|
| Banana Pi | OpenWrt One and Banana Pi R4 boards. |
| Nisuta | USB hub connected to the host. |
| AlterMundi | Several LibreRouter units; TP-Link TL-WDR3500 testbed gateway router. |
| LibreMesh / aparcar | Belkin RT3200 DUT routers (LibreMesh ecosystem; hardware via community / typical contact aparcar). |
| FCEFyN | Lenovo ThinkPad T430 orchestration host (university equipment). |
| GL.iNet | Mango router; not yet integrated in the rack (hardware too limited for the usual DUT role in the lab). |
Arduino-controlled rack relays¶
The Arduino Nano switches power to DUTs and rack infrastructure (cooler, PSU) by sending GPIO signals to the control pins of the relays. More detailshere.
Arduino Nano¶
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| MCU | Microchip ATmega328P |
| Logic voltage | 5 V |
| USB | Mini-USB or USB depending on clone (serial to PC) |
| Clock | 16 MHz (typical) |
| In the lab | Custom firmware; 11 outputs to SSR modules and mechanical relays |
4-channel SSR module (Omron G3MB-202P)¶
Placed inside the rack's AC control box.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Relay | Omron G3MB-202P per channel; phototriac; zero-cross |
| Control | 5 V DC; active low (~0-2.5 V, ~2 mA); module up to ~48 mA |
| Load | 100-240 V AC, 0.1-2 A per channel; fuse |
| Board / connections | ~57 x 55 x 25 mm; DC+ / DC-; CH1-CH4 |
| In the lab | CH1 no load (D10 wired); CH2 cooler; CH3-CH4 per arduino-relay |
Fotek SSR-25DA (channel 10)¶
Placed inside the rack's AC control box.
This SSR cuts phase to the AC load on channel 10 (rack PSU). In Arduino firmware logic is active high (channel 10: HIGH = ON; channels 0-9: LOW = ON).
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Type | DC in → AC out, high voltage |
| Input | 4-32 V DC |
| Output | 90-480 V AC, up to 25 A (per manufacturer and wiring) |
8-relay module¶
Used for channels 0 to 7 (Arduino pins D2-D9): optocoupled electromechanical relays, 5 V DC supply.
| Parameter | Value |
|---|---|
| Supply | 5 V DC; opto; SMD LED per channel |
| Contacts | Up to 10 A @ 250 V AC or 30 V DC / 10 A (per module) |
| Firmware | Same digital drive pattern as other inputs |
AC to rack outlet boxes: modular switch with phase break; visual reference under Electrical safety and connection.
Electrical safety and connection¶
Reference parts for AC (outlet), 12 V DC positive from DUT relays toward jacks, common GND from PSU toward jacks, and DC connector assembly per DUT. Wiring detail: arduino-relay.
| Part | Role in the rack |
|---|---|
| Modular switch / flush outlet | AC branch toward outlet boxes; phase break. |
| Polyamide terminal block | 12 V+ from DUT relay outputs toward cables to barrel jacks. |
| DIN-rail unipolar distributor (ground) | GND from 12 V PSU toward barrel jack return per DUT. |
| Male DC plug with screw terminals | Barrel jack body feeding each DUT (workshop assembly). |
AC supply (channel 10 load)¶
The PSU feeding that AC branch plugs behind the Fotek; channel 10 role in the rack is explained in arduino-relay.
| Specification | Value |
|---|---|
| Brand / model | Coper Light metal case |
| Power | 480 W |
| Input | 12-110 VAC, 50/60 Hz |
| Output | 12-220 V |
| Operating temperature | 0-40 °C |
| Protection | Short circuit |
Bosser 120 mm AC fan¶
120 mm frame axial fan at 220 V mains at the rack base (not the Arduino 12 V supply). Pushes air into the curved printed duct; assembly with 3D parts is in Physical rack.
| Attribute | Value |
|---|---|
| Brand | Bosser |
| Line | 220 V coolers |
| Model | CBO-12038B-220 |
| Supply | AC 220 V |
| Current | 0.09 A |
| Frequency | 50 / 60 Hz |
| Bearing | Ball |
| Form factor | 120 x 120 mm frame |
In the lab the cooler is switched via SSR (channel 9); detail in arduino-relay.
USB hub¶
Mounted in the rack and connected to the orchestration host: metal enclosure hub with several USB 3.0 ports.
Donation Nisuta (see sponsors table).
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| USB ports | 10 x USB 3.0 (5 Gbps), type A female |
| Fast charge | 1 x QC3.0 port (5 V / 3 A; 9 V / 2 A; 12 V / 1.5 A) |
| Compatibility | USB 2.0 and older |
| Enclosure | Metal |
| Included cable | USB 3.0 A male - B male, 1 m (to PC) |
| External PSU | 12 V, 5.4 A |
| Per USB 3.0 port | Up to 5 V, 0.9 A max per port |
With several serial adapters and peripherals, the hub runs with external PSU connected in addition to the PC USB bus.
Managed switch (TP-Link SG2016P)¶
L2+ lab switch: trunk to host and gateway, access ports to DUTs, some ports PoE. Configuration: switch-config.md. Switch power does not go through the Arduino or rack SSR module (fixed mains); see arduino-relay.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Model | TP-Link SG2016P |
| Ports | 16 x Gigabit Ethernet |
| PoE | 8 ports with PoE (802.3af/at per manufacturer datasheet) |
| Management | Web / SNMP; VLAN 802.1Q, trunk and access |
| In the lab | Port 9 trunk host (Lenovo), 10 trunk gateway, 1-4 and 11-16 to DUTs (see switch-config) |
Orchestration host (Lenovo ThinkPad T430)¶
Lab orchestration host is a Lenovo ThinkPad T430 notebook with Ubuntu: Labgrid, dnsmasq/TFTP, switch scripts, PDUDaemon, and CI runner. Documentation: host-config.md.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Model | Lenovo ThinkPad T430 (14" chassis, T430 generation) |
| Platform | Intel QM77 chipset; Ivy Bridge mobile dual-core CPU (SKU varies) |
| RAM | DDR3L 1600 MHz; up to 16 GB (2 x SO-DIMM) |
| Storage | 2.5" SATA bay (SSD/HDD per lab unit) |
| Ethernet | 1 x GbE Intel (e.g. 82579LM), RJ-45 to switch (802.1Q trunk; typical iface enp0s25) |
| USB | 2 x USB 3.0 + 2 x USB 2.0 |
| Display | 14" (resolution per panel) |
| Video outputs | VGA, Mini DisplayPort |
| Expansion | ExpressCard/54 |
| OS in lab | Ubuntu (LTS); Netplan + NetworkManager: host-config |
| Lab role | Labgrid, dnsmasq/TFTP, switch scripts, PDUDaemon, SSH to DUTs, CI runners |
Host Lenovo: faculty property (FCEFyN / UNC). INTI contributes project hours (no hardware donation); INTI logo in the strip below is acknowledgment only.
USB-TTL serial adapters¶
USB-UART TTL converters for DUT console. Symlinks under /dev/ and udev rules: host-config.
| Type | In the lab |
|---|---|
| FT232RNL | Preferred: one USB serial per unit; udev may not depend on hub port. |
| CH340 | Acceptable budget option; clones share VID/PID. TTL level per jumper (3.3 V / 5 V). |
| CH341 | Budget; not reliable on LibreRouter console in the rack: during boot serial showed garbage and U-Boot prompt could not be captured with labgrid/minicom at 115200, breaking TFTP boot and tests. After replacing the adapter with an FT232RNL, console became readable. |
| Three cheap generics (last 3 carousel photos) | Not used in rack: no DUT console; after DUT reboot USB must be re-plugged to recover serial; overheating or sporadic failures under test. |
For logs when boot fails in multi-node tests (libremesh-tests, mesh_boot_node), see LibreMesh testing approach (libremesh-tests repo).
Testbed gateway (TP-Link TL-WDR3500)¶
OpenWrt router on switch trunk: DUT VLANs, .254 gateway per subnet. Detail in gateway.md.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | TP-Link |
| SoC | Qualcomm Atheros AR9344 (MIPS 74Kc) ~560 MHz |
| Architecture | MIPS |
| RAM | 128 MB |
| Flash | 8 MB NOR |
| Ethernet | 5 x 100 Mbit/s (1 WAN + 4 LAN, integrated AR934x switch) |
| Wi-Fi | Dual-band N600: 2.4 GHz 2x2 + 5 GHz 2x2 (802.11n) |
| PoE | No |
| USB | 1 x USB 2.0 |
| OpenWrt | ath79; in lab as gateway (e.g. 24.x / 25.x). TOH / techdata |
TL-WDR3500 role in the testbed
For current standards CPU and Fast Ethernet are limiting; the unit is adequate as VLAN/gateway router for the lab, not as a high-performance DUT.
Donation AlterMundi.
Devices under test (DUTs)¶
Rack status, switch ports, VLANs, firmware: duts-config.md. Technical sheets per model in use; data may vary by board revision. General reference: OpenWrt Techdata.
OpenWrt One¶
Official OpenWrt community board (Banana Pi hardware); dual NAND + NOR flash oriented to recovery.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer / design | Banana Pi (hardware) + OpenWrt (official project design) |
| SoC | MediaTek MT7981B (Filogic 820), dual-core Cortex-A53 @ 1.3 GHz |
| Architecture | ARM64 |
| RAM | 1 GB DDR4 |
| Storage | 256 MB SPI NAND + 16 MB SPI NOR (recovery) |
| Expansion | M.2 2242/2230 NVMe (PCIe Gen2 x1) |
| Ethernet | 1 x 2.5 GbE (WAN) + 1 x 1 GbE (LAN) |
| Wi-Fi | Wi-Fi 6, MT7976C: 2.4 GHz 2x2 + 5 GHz 3x3 |
| PoE | Yes (802.3af/at on WAN input, per product docs) |
| USB | 1 x USB 2.0 type A + USB-C (power / data, per SKU) |
| Other | RTC with battery, mikroBUS, MMCX antennas |
| OpenWrt | Official support (mediatek/filogic images) |
Donation Banana Pi.
Banana Pi BPI-R4¶
Powerful router with 10G and optional Wi-Fi 7 via miniPCIe modules; used in the lab as a high-performance DUT.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer | Banana Pi (Sinovoip) |
| SoC | MediaTek MT7988A (Filogic 880), quad-core Cortex-A73 @ 1.8 GHz |
| Architecture | ARM64 |
| RAM | 4 GB or 8 GB DDR4 (per commercial variant) |
| Storage | 8 GB eMMC + SPI-NAND (128 MB or 256 MB, per revision) |
| Expansion | microSD + M.2 NVMe (KEY-M) + M.2 KEY-B (cellular, per board) |
| Ethernet | 4 x 1 GbE + 2 x 10 GbE SFP+ (RJ45/SFP combo variants exist) |
| Wi-Fi | No on-board radio; 2 x miniPCIe (PCIe 3.0) for modules (e.g. Wi-Fi 7) |
| PoE | Not integrated on base board |
| USB | 1 x USB 3.2 |
| OpenWrt | Yes (mediatek/filogic); in lab as DUT with 10G links |
Donation Banana Pi.
Libre Router (AlterMundi / LibreRouter.org)¶
Open hardware for community networks and LibreMesh; in the lab with case or bare board per unit.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Manufacturer / project | AlterMundi / LibreRouter community |
| SoC | Qualcomm Atheros QCA9558 MIPS ~720 MHz |
| Architecture | MIPS |
| RAM | 128 MB DDR2 |
| Flash | 16 MB NOR |
| Ethernet | 2 x 1 GbE (QCA8337 switch), PoE and passthrough per design |
| Wi-Fi | Integrated 2.4 GHz 2x2 + up to 2 x miniPCIe for 5 GHz radios (e.g. 802.11an/ac) |
| USB | 2 x USB 2.0 on PCB (may be inaccessible in some enclosures) |
| Other | Published schematics/Gerbers, GPIO, watchdog |
| OpenWrt / LibreMesh | Yes; in lab often LibreRouterOS / LibreMesh derived from OpenWrt |
Donation AlterMundi (LibreRouter project).
Belkin RT3200 / Linksys E8450¶
Same hardware under Belkin (RT3200) and Linksys (E8450) brands. OpenWrt uses UBI layout.
| Attribute | Detail |
|---|---|
| Commercial OEM | Belkin (RT3200) / Linksys (E8450) |
| SoC | MediaTek MT7622BV (dual Cortex-A53) + MT7915E (Wi-Fi 6) |
| Architecture | ARM64 |
| RAM | 512 MB DDR3 |
| Flash | 128 MB SPI-NAND (UBI layout on OpenWrt) |
| Ethernet | 5 x 1 GbE (1 WAN + 4 LAN) |
| Wi-Fi | Dual-band AX3200 (per manufacturer spec) |
| PoE | No |
| USB | 1 x USB 2.0 on chassis |
| OpenWrt | Install and UBI migration: TOH E8450 / RT3200 |
Hardware LibreMesh community / aparcar channel (see sponsors).