Rig Wi-Fi and Hotspot

A rig needs a network so your phone, tablet or computer can reach it. Ethernet works with no setup. This page covers Wi-Fi: how the rig gets on it, the hotspot a Raspberry Pi rig starts when it cannot find a network, and moving the rig to another network from the app.

How a rig gets on Wi-Fi

• A rig flashed with ARIS Rig OS joins the Wi-Fi network you enter in Raspberry Pi Imager’s settings when you write the card (see Install ARIS on Your Rig).
• A rig you installed yourself keeps the network it already used.
• A NINA rig uses the Wi-Fi Windows is set up for.

To use a new network later, see change the rig’s network below.

Tip

Give a newly flashed rig its first start on Wi-Fi or Ethernet, not on its hotspot alone. Its hotspot password is shown only in the app, and the app has to reach the rig to show it.

The rig’s hotspot

When a Raspberry Pi rig has no network connection, neither Wi-Fi nor Ethernet, it starts its own Wi-Fi hotspot, so you can always reach it:

• at start-up, when it has no network after 75 seconds;
• while running, when it has lost its network for 2½ minutes.

The hotspot is named ARIS- and the rig’s name without its aris- prefix: a rig named aris-pi-ai broadcasts ARIS-pi-ai. A rig that kept a stock name, such as aris-rig, adds four characters of its own, for example ARIS-rig-4F2A, so two new rigs side by side do not share a name.

Save the hotspot password now

Each rig has its own hotspot password. To see it, open Settings → Connection, tap Rig Wi-Fi under the rig you are connected to, and look under This rig’s hotspot. Tap the eye to show it, or the copy button to copy it.

Caution

Write the password down while the rig is on your network. The app can show it only while it reaches the rig another way: once the rig is on its hotspot alone, you need the password to reach it at all.

A rig you installed yourself with the setup script also prints the hotspot name and password when the install finishes.

Use the hotspot

1. Join the rig’s hotspot from your phone, tablet or computer. In the iPhone, iPad and Android apps, you can do this in Rig Wi-Fi: enter the hotspot name and password under Join rig hotspot from this device and tap Join rig hotspot. In a browser, join it in your device’s Wi-Fi settings.

2. Open what you need:

   • http://10.42.0.1:8080 for the full ARIS app (use your port if you changed it).
   • http://10.42.0.1 for a setup page that puts the rig on a Wi-Fi network: pick the Network (or type it under Other network name), enter the Password, tick Hidden network if it does not broadcast its name, and tap Join network. Your device may open this page by itself when it joins the hotspot.

At a dark site with no Wi-Fi of its own, you can stay on the hotspot and image: the rig serves the whole app.

The rig stays on its hotspot until you join it to a network, stop the hotspot in Rig Wi-Fi, or restart the rig. After a restart it tries its saved networks again.

Note

A Jetson rig does not start a hotspot, and its Rig Wi-Fi can save networks for it to join but cannot switch its network. A NINA rig uses Windows’ own Mobile Hotspot, only when you start it from Rig Wi-Fi; on its hotspot it answers at 192.168.137.1 by default.

Change the rig’s network

Open Settings → Connection and tap Rig Wi-Fi under the rig you are connected to. It works only from the rig’s own network or its hotspot, never through remote access, and needs no internet.

The top of the sheet shows the rig’s network now: its name, signal and address, and whether the rig has internet.

Join a network

1. Under Join a network, tap the network. Tap Rescan if it is not listed.

2. Enter its password and tap Join. The rig leaves its current network to try the new one.

3. Put your device on the same network. The sheet looks for the rig there and says Reconnected — rig is on and the network’s name when it finds it.

If the join fails, the rig goes back where it was, to its old network or its hotspot, and Rig Wi-Fi shows why the join failed. A network you had already saved is never removed by a failed join.

While the rig is on its hotspot it cannot scan for networks, so the list shows its last scan.

Save networks in advance

Under Saved networks are the networks the rig joins on its own, whenever one of them is in range when the rig starts or loses its network. Add your dark-site Wi-Fi or your phone’s hotspot before you travel:

1. Tap Add in advance.

2. Enter the Network name (SSID) and the Password (leave it empty for an open network).

3. Tap Save to rig.

To remove a saved network, tap its Forget button.

Tip

Using an iPhone’s Personal Hotspot? Turn on Maximize Compatibility so the hotspot uses 2.4 GHz, and keep the Personal Hotspot screen open while the rig connects: iPhone hotspots sleep when idle.

Start or stop the rig’s hotspot

Under Rig hotspot, tap Start hotspot to switch the hotspot on without waiting for the rig to start it, for example at a site with no Wi-Fi. A Raspberry Pi rig has one Wi-Fi radio, so it leaves its current Wi-Fi network for the hotspot; join the hotspot from your device to keep control. Stop hotspot switches it off, and the rig tries its saved networks.