I have just made a data multiplexer with an Arduino MEGA to use on a sailboat. The data is plain ASCII text. The multiplexer works allright and even makes some protocol conversions.
Now my problem is to broadcast these data through Wifi onboard. I've bought a Robotdyn MEGA 2560 module with an integrated ESP8266 for this purpose. After perusing pages and pages of documentation , github libraries and a lot of forum conversations, I have come to the surprising conclusion that this is far less simple than it seems.
To sum up , the project is to :
Create a peer-to-peer or ad-hoc network from the device itself ( other equipments like a PC should connect to this network)
Transmit the data through the serial link to the ESP8266 and from then in the air in a more or less transparent way ( surely through UDP protocol rather than TCP) since the data hold their own checksums.
I understand that the ESP8266 is not exactly an AP, nor a simple station, neither exactly a server nor exactly a client : what is it then ?
Do you know a solution at least with AT COMMANDS ?
Create a peer-to-peer or ad-hoc network from the device itself ( other equipments like a PC should connect to this network)
Transmit the data through the serial link to the ESP8266 and from then in the air in a more or less transparent way ( surely through UDP protocol rather than TCP) since the data hold their own checksums.
I understand that the ESP8266 is not exactly an AP, nor a simple station, neither exactly a server nor exactly a client : what is it then ?
Do you know a solution at least with AT COMMANDS ?
An ESP8266 can be an AP and run a web server. Or just a plain TCP or UDP server.
There is an ESP8266 transparent UART bridge project that may be what you want. It requires loading firmware which will overwrite the AT command firmware. The esp-link can operate as an AP and runs a web interface for configuration. It also listens on TCP ports 23 and 2323. TCP clients receive data received from UART RX pin.
Thank you very much for your answer. I think that unfortunately esp-link does not fit exactly for my project since "For proper operation the end state that esp-link needs to arrive at is to have it join your pre-existing wifi network as a pure station ". My project is precisely to install a pre-existing wifi network on board a sailing ship to which we can connect with any PC and receive raw text transparently.
My friend is the creator of a fabulous routing system (https://www.simsail.net/) and it would be awkward to ask him to create a wifi network for every user , though ....