Network Web Server (lwIP)

Example source: examples/device/net_lwip_webserver

A USB virtual network adapter that runs a small lwIP stack on the device, serving DHCP, DNS, and a web page over USB.

What it does

  • Brings up a USB network interface. Depending on the target MCU the build is either CDC-NCM (the default for most MCUs) or a dual RNDIS + CDC-ECM device that offers two configurations and lets the host pick its preferred one (Windows uses RNDIS, macOS uses CDC-ECM, Linux works with either). The NCM build also ships a BOS / Microsoft OS 2.0 descriptor so Windows auto-loads its NCM driver.

  • The device takes IP address 192.168.7.1 and runs a DHCP server (handing out 192.168.7.2–192.168.7.4), a DNS server (resolves tiny.usb), and an HTTP server.

  • Pressing the board button toggles the network link state (up/down) to simulate an Ethernet cable being unplugged/plugged.

  • On higher-RAM MCUs it also starts an iperf TCP server for throughput testing.

  • Blinks the board LED to indicate USB state (not mounted / mounted / suspended).

Requirements

  • Depends on the lwIP TCP/IP stack, fetched as a dependency (e.g. python3 tools/get_deps.py).

USB Descriptors

Interface

Class driver

0–1

Network (CDC-NCM, or CDC-ECM/RNDIS)

Configuration

Notable tusb_config.h settings:

// Network driver selection: NCM is the default; USE_ECM defaults to 0 but is
// forced to 1 on some MCUs (LPC15xx/40xx/51uxx/54, SAMD21/SAML2x, STM32F0/F1).
#define CFG_TUD_ECM_RNDIS     USE_ECM            // 0 by default -> ECM/RNDIS off
#define CFG_TUD_NCM           (1 - CFG_TUD_ECM_RNDIS)  // 1 by default -> NCM on

// NCM tuning (see ncm.h for performance notes)
#define CFG_TUD_NCM_IN_NTB_MAX_SIZE  2048
#define CFG_TUD_NCM_OUT_NTB_MAX_SIZE 4096        // 2048 on low-RAM MCUs
#define CFG_TUD_NCM_OUT_NTB_N        1
#define CFG_TUD_NCM_IN_NTB_N         1

Building

CMake:

mkdir build && cd build
cmake -DBOARD=raspberry_pi_pico ..
cmake --build .

Make:

make BOARD=raspberry_pi_pico all

Try it

A new USB network interface appears on the host. It is normally assigned an address in 192.168.7.x by the device’s DHCP server (otherwise give the host NIC a static 192.168.7.x address), then browse to http://192.168.7.1 to load the served web page.