Wiznet makers

📡 LPC_W5500_TCPStream — Lightweight TCP Streaming on NXP LPC54114

We discovered an intriguing open-source project on GitHub called LPC_W5500_TCPStream, built by Mohammadreza Hosseini. This project shows how to build a real-time streaming TCP server using the WIZnet W5500 Ethernet controller on an NXP LPC54114 microcontroller. GitHub

What the project does

• Implements a standalone TCP server (IPv4) using W5500’s hardware TCP/IP stack, allowing data to be continuously streamed between the microcontroller and a connected client.
• Detects client connections and disconnections automatically, and resets the socket when needed to ensure ongoing reliability.
• Supports static IP configuration, echo mode (returning received data back to the client), and link status monitoring via PHY checks.
• Designed for stable SPI communication (up to 80 MHz) between LPC54114 and W5500.
• Its architecture is modular enough that it could be adapted to other MCU platforms with minimal changes. 

Hardware / Wiring Setup

• The W5500 module connects to the LPC54114 via SPI (FLEXCOMM6). 
• A “LINKLED” output (on P0_2) is used to indicate link or socket events. 
• Standard 3.3 V and GND connections, along with the SPI lines, form the core of the interface. 

Usage Flow / How It Works

• Build & Flash the firmware onto the LPC54114 using MCUXpresso IDE or GCC toolchain. 
• Connect the W5500 to your Ethernet network.
• On your PC or client side, open a TCP client (e.g. netcat, a Python socket script) to the device’s IP and port. 
• When the connection opens, the device starts streaming live data; any data sent by the client is echoed back. 
• If the connection drops, the server logic resets the socket and waits for a new client. 
• Example output logs include messages like:

[TCP server] Hello #a  
[TCP server] Received: Sent data  
[TCP server] Hello #b   

Strengths & Considerations

Strengths:

• Uses the hardware TCP stack of W5500 to offload complexity from the microcontroller.
• Reliable, continuous streaming with built-in reconnection handling.
• Good reference for embedded makers wanting to build streaming or telemetry systems over Ethernet.
• MIT-licensed, so it can be adapted, extended, and integrated into other projects with attribution. 

Considerations / limitations:

• The project currently supports only one client at a time (one socket). Multiplayer/multi-client support is listed as a future improvement. 
• It doesn’t include more advanced network features (e.g. UDP broadcast, DTLS, SSL) out of the box.
• Performance in real-world systems may require optimizing SPI timing, buffer sizes, error handling, and memory constraints.
• Adapting to other MCU architectures may require tweaks in driver or hardware abstraction layers.

🔗 Project link: LPC_W5500_TCPStream on GitHub
👤 Created by: Mohammadreza Hosseini

⚠️ Disclaimer: This project is publicly released under the MIT License. We are featuring it to inform and inspire makers in the community. All credit belongs to Mohammadreza Hosseini, and we do not claim ownership of the code or design.