Network and Connectivity¶

Phase 4 — Track B — Module 5.2 · Application Development

Focus: Configure wired and wireless networking on the Jetson Orin Nano 8GB — Ethernet, Wi-Fi (client and AP), Bluetooth, VPN tunnels, and lightweight web servers for device management.

Hub: 5. Application Development

1. Ethernet (Linux)¶

Gigabit Ethernet is the primary network interface on most Jetson carriers.

Configuration¶

# Check link status
ip link show eth0
ethtool eth0

# Static IP
sudo nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" \
    ipv4.addresses 192.168.1.100/24 \
    ipv4.gateway 192.168.1.1 \
    ipv4.dns "8.8.8.8" \
    ipv4.method manual
sudo nmcli con up "Wired connection 1"

# DHCP (default)
sudo nmcli con mod "Wired connection 1" ipv4.method auto

Performance validation¶

# Install iperf3
sudo apt install iperf3

# Server (on another machine)
iperf3 -s

# Client (on Jetson)
iperf3 -c <server-ip>
# Expected: ~940 Mbps for GbE

2. Wi-Fi client (Linux)¶

Jetson Orin Nano dev kit does not include Wi-Fi — add it via USB dongle or M.2 Key E module (Intel AX200/AX210, Realtek RTL8852).

Connect with NetworkManager¶

# Scan for networks
nmcli dev wifi list

# Connect
sudo nmcli dev wifi connect "SSID" password "password"

# Verify
nmcli con show --active
ip addr show wlan0

Connect with wpa_supplicant (headless)¶

# /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
network={
    ssid="SSID"
    psk="password"
}
EOF

sudo wpa_supplicant -B -i wlan0 -c /etc/wpa_supplicant/wpa_supplicant.conf
sudo dhclient wlan0

3. Wi-Fi access point mode (Linux)¶

Run the Jetson as a Wi-Fi hotspot for direct device connection (useful for field configuration or standalone operation).

Using NetworkManager¶

sudo nmcli dev wifi hotspot ifname wlan0 \
    ssid "Jetson-Setup-AP" password "securepass"

Using hostapd (more control)¶

sudo apt install hostapd dnsmasq

# /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/hostapd/hostapd.conf
interface=wlan0
driver=nl80211
ssid=Jetson-Setup-AP
hw_mode=g
channel=7
wmm_enabled=0
auth_algs=1
wpa=2
wpa_passphrase=securepass
wpa_key_mgmt=WPA-PSK
rsn_pairwise=CCMP
EOF

# /etc/dnsmasq.conf (DHCP for AP clients)
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/dnsmasq.d/ap.conf
interface=wlan0
dhcp-range=192.168.4.2,192.168.4.50,255.255.255.0,24h
EOF

sudo systemctl start hostapd
sudo systemctl start dnsmasq

4. Bluetooth (Linux)¶

Bluetooth is available via USB dongle or M.2 combo Wi-Fi/BT module.

Basic operations¶

# Check adapter
bluetoothctl
  power on
  agent on
  scan on
  # Wait for devices...
  pair <MAC>
  connect <MAC>

Bluetooth serial (SPP / RFCOMM)¶

# Listen for incoming serial connections
sudo rfcomm listen /dev/rfcomm0 1

# Connect to a device
sudo rfcomm connect /dev/rfcomm0 <MAC> 1

Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE)¶

# Scan for BLE devices
sudo hcitool lescan

# Use bluetoothctl for GATT operations
bluetoothctl
  menu gatt
  list-attributes <MAC>
  select-attribute <UUID>
  read
  write <value>

Python (bleak for BLE)¶

import asyncio
from bleak import BleakScanner, BleakClient

async def main():
    devices = await BleakScanner.discover()
    for d in devices:
        print(d)

    async with BleakClient("AA:BB:CC:DD:EE:FF") as client:
        value = await client.read_gatt_char("0000180a-0000-1000-8000-00805f9b34fb")
        print(value)

asyncio.run(main())

5. VPN (WireGuard / OpenVPN)¶

WireGuard (recommended — faster, simpler)¶

sudo apt install wireguard

# Generate keys
wg genkey | tee privatekey | wg pubkey > publickey

# /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
cat <<EOF | sudo tee /etc/wireguard/wg0.conf
[Interface]
PrivateKey = $(cat privatekey)
Address = 10.0.0.2/24

[Peer]
PublicKey = <server-public-key>
Endpoint = <server-ip>:51820
AllowedIPs = 10.0.0.0/24
PersistentKeepalive = 25
EOF

sudo wg-quick up wg0

OpenVPN¶

sudo apt install openvpn
sudo openvpn --config client.ovpn

Use case for deployed Jetson devices¶

Remote access: SSH into field devices through VPN tunnel
Fleet management: All devices on same VPN for OTA and telemetry
Security: Encrypted communication even on untrusted networks

Share files between Jetson and other machines on the local network.

# Install Samba
sudo apt install samba

# Create a share
cat <<EOF | sudo tee -a /etc/samba/smb.conf
[jetson-data]
   path = /data
   browseable = yes
   read only = no
   guest ok = no
EOF

sudo smbpasswd -a $(whoami)
sudo systemctl restart smbd

Access from other machines: \\<jetson-ip>\jetson-data

7. Web server (Linux)¶

Run a lightweight web server on the Jetson for device management, configuration UI, or API endpoints.

nginx (reverse proxy / static files)¶

sudo apt install nginx
sudo systemctl start nginx
# Access at http://<jetson-ip>/

Python Flask (REST API)¶

from flask import Flask, jsonify
app = Flask(__name__)

@app.route('/api/status')
def status():
    return jsonify({
        'device': 'JetsonEdge',
        'temperature': read_temperature(),
        'uptime': read_uptime()
    })

app.run(host='0.0.0.0', port=8080)

Use cases¶

Use case	Technology
Device config portal	Flask/FastAPI + HTML form
REST API for sensors	Flask/FastAPI returning JSON
OTA trigger endpoint	nginx + webhook
Camera stream	GStreamer RTSP or MJPEG over HTTP

8. Projects¶

Headless Wi-Fi setup: Build a provisioning flow where the Jetson starts as a Wi-Fi AP, serves a web page for entering Wi-Fi credentials, then switches to client mode.
BLE sensor gateway: Read BLE sensor data (temperature, humidity) and publish to MQTT over Ethernet.
VPN fleet: Set up WireGuard between 3 Jetson devices and a cloud server. Verify SSH access to all devices from the server.
Device management API: Build a Flask REST API that exposes device status (temperature, disk, uptime, firmware version) and accepts OTA trigger commands.

9. Resources¶

Resource	Description
NetworkManager CLI	`nmcli` documentation for connection management
WireGuard (wireguard.com)	Modern VPN protocol, kernel-integrated
hostapd	Wi-Fi access point daemon documentation
BlueZ	Official Linux Bluetooth stack
bleak	Cross-platform BLE library for Python
nginx	Lightweight web server / reverse proxy