Connecting to WLAN

This step shows how to establish a WLAN connection with an access point under TwinCAT/BSD. In addition, you will learn how to search for WLAN networks and determine the SSID.

WLAN is encrypted with WPA2, and the IP address is automatically assigned by a DHCP server.

Requirements:

Beckhoff WLAN sticks: CU8210-D001-0101 or CU8210-D001-0102
SSID and password of an existing WLAN.

Proceed as follows:

1. Enter the sysctl net.wlan.devices command in the console to obtain the device name. With a Beckhoff WLAN stick, for example, rtwn0 is given as the device name.

2. Open the rc.conf file with doas ee /etc/rc.conf and add the following lines:

# wireless
wlans_rtwn0="wlan0"    #wlan0 is now your network interface
create_args_wlan0="country DE"
ifconfig_wlan0="up scan WPA DHCP"

3. The following lines must be added if dhcpcd is used (standard from version 13.2.0.6 / 89449).

# wireless
wlans_rtwn0="wlan0"    #wlan0 is now your network interface
create_args_wlan0="country DE"
ifconfig_wlan0="up scan WPA"

4. If DHCP is not active or desired, a fixed IP address is defined with the following entry.

# wireless
wlans_rtwn0="wlan0"    #wlan0 is now your network interface
create_args_wlan0="country DE"
ifconfig_wlan0="WPA inet 192.168.0.100 netmask 255.255.255.0 up scan"

5. Restart the network service with doas service netif restart to apply the settings in the rc.conf file.

6. Search for new WLAN networks using doas ifconfig wlan0 up scan. The doas ifconfig wlan0 list scan command displays networks that are already known.

7. Save the access data for a WLAN network with the doas ee /etc/wpa_supplicant.conf command by adding the following lines to the wpa_supplicant.conf file.

network={
    ssid="myssid"    #for myssid specify the name of the network
    psk="mypsk"      #for mypsk enter password of network
}

8. Enter doas service netif restart to restart the network service.

The WLAN connection is established. Use ifconfig to display the network status of the WLAN interface.
For further information, see: https://www.freebsd.org/doc/handbook/network-wireless.html