[Tinyos-help] Message Formats for Basestation

[Mr. Jonathan A. Gomez]

Okay, I've been re-reading some of the TEP documents.  I am a bit abashed to find them more 
informative than I remembered.  But then, it took me a while to realize exactly what to look 
for, I guess.

I happened on the following in section 3 of TEP 116: "A platform MUST provide ActiveMessageC as 
a basic HIL to packet-level communication.".  Section 5 requires AM* interfaces also.  As I 
understand it, then, there is a guarantee that the Active Message message type is always 
available.

If I understand correctly, individual platforms may provide their own message types.  In the 
serial protocol, the particular message type being employed is indicated by the dispatch id, and 
the following enumeration, if I understand, is a mapping of id to type:

enum {
  TOS_SERIAL_ACTIVE_MESSAGE_ID = 0,
  TOS_SERIAL_CC1000_ID = 1,
  TOS_SERIAL_802_15_4_ID = 2,
  TOS_SERIAL_UNKNOWN_ID = 255,
};


Well, then, I still have a problem.  Are message types still broken up the way they were in 
TinyOS-1.x, as briefly alluded to by the Octave Technology Brief?  I took the guess from 
Tutorial Lesson 4 that they were specific to app loaded into the mote.

I glanced over the standard for active messages, which I shall have to presumably look at in 
more depth, and it seems that there is a certain amount of leeway to define what handlers are 
for what.

Can anyone clarify this a bit more.  I will continue to research it on my own, but I would 
appreciate some verification ... and correction.

Jon.