Sentrius™ MG100 Gateway with LTE-M/NB-IoT and Bluetooth 5

Yes, battery level can be read on P0.02_AIN0 via the ADC machine class in Python.

https://lairdcp.github.io/canvas_python_docs/machine.html#machine.ADC

 There is also a python sample provided that measures and returns the battery voltage level.

 https://github.com/LairdCP/canvas_python_samples/blob/main/apps/mg100/adc/main.py

To reliably transfer files, your python app cannot be in a loop or printing any messages. Follow the steps provided below to ensure reliable file transfers.

1. Open the UART and issue Ctrl+C.
2. You should now have a REPL prompt.
3. Open the UART with Xbit VS Code.
4. Rename main.py to something else and reboot.
5. Now you can transfer files.
6. Important Note: To have a reliable file transfer experience, reduce the print messages in your python app, the file transfer is over this UART so cross talk must be eliminated.

If you would like verbose output from the modem, change the bool on this function to "true":

https://github.com/LairdCP/canvas_python_samples/blob/1091ec7286a1aa5de521c62f0c5cba00cb74cb42/modules/networking/net_helper.py#L74

The APN is set in your main.py script.  The script linked below is the minimum modem configuration:

https://github.com/LairdCP/canvas_python_samples/blob/main/networking/modem/modem_minimal.py

This function call is for setting the APN:

https://lairdcp.github.io/canvas_python_docs/canvas_net.html#canvas_net.Modem.set_apn

Many functions of mcumgr will not work with WSL or GitBash.  Serial communication isn't fully vetted with these terminal emulators.  When using Windows, it's best to use mcumgr in the "command prompt" app.  

Below is a link to the manifest:

Manifest

The low power sample manifest can be used to evaluate low_power modes of the Pinnacle 100:

Sample Manifest.

The attribute "mqtt_watchdog" should be set to a value appropriate to your use case. If no MQTT activity is detected for that value, then the device will reset. A value of 0 disables the watchdog feature.

The firmware is licensed that it must run on Ezurio (formerly Laird Connectivity) hardware.

Follow this link for more details:  License

There is a way to configure the MG100 Canvas Gateway Firmware in series via an executable script, this process is covered into the following link section “Executable scripts”, please have a look and let me know if it helps :  Gateway Firmware User Guide | Ezurio - GitHub Documentation (lairdcp.github.io)

Canvas Gateway&Sensor firmware is a mature and fully supported platform by Ezurio. Even if you don't intend to use any Device Management features, we would suggest to use the Canvas Firmware as the starting point of your development as it contains few telemetry capabilities (MQTT and BLE Ads) allowing easy deployment and management of compatible wireless sensor networks with a few simple configuration steps. Products compatible with Canvas Firmware are BT610, Pinnacle 100 and MG100. 

Canvas Firmware natively uses two distinct protocols for operation :

- MQTT for telemetry data

- LwM2M for Device Management services

Since Canvas Gateway Firmware v1.2.0 it is indeed possible to disable all Device Management LwM2M operations if you don't use them as part of your IoT application.

Root CA and public device cert keys:

/lfs1/tel/trust/ca.crt

/lfs1/tel/trust/cert.crt

Private/public key:

/lfs1/enc/tel/key/private.key

/lfs1/enc/tel/key/public.key

The TLS handshake is handled by the stack in the nrf52820, not the HL7800.

To update the modem firmware, follow the steps in this document:

Updating HL7800 Firmware Via UART

Firmware can be downloaded directly from Sierra Wireless.

https://source.sierrawireless.com/resources/airprime/software/hl7800-firmware/hl78xx-firmware/

After you select the updated firmware version, download the XMODEM package. Firmware updates are diff updates. The XMODEM package has the diff files used to load into the MG100 and update the HL7800. You need to know what version you are currently running and then you can select the file that goes from the current firmware to the new one.

If you would like to clean your Zephyr build use the "-p" switch for pristine, or when all else fails delete the build directory.  

If you would like to launch "menuconfig" for your Zephyr build, add "-t menuconfig" to the end of your build command.  

For example:

west build -p -b mg100 -d ble_gateway_dm_firmware/build/mg100 ble_gateway_dm_firmware -- -DAPP_TYPE=mqtt -t menuconfig

For more information:

Interactive Kconfig interfaces — Zephyr Project Documentation

LTE Cat 6 is a high-speed mobile data technology mainly used in consumer devices for fast internet connectivity. Unfortunately, MG100 Gateway does not support LTE Cat 6. Instead, MG100 supports LTE-M and NB-IoT. LTE-M/NB-IoT are low-power, wide-area network technologies optimized for IoT and M2M applications that require long battery life and extended coverage.

In Hosted AT firmware, "AT+CPOF" will shut down the HL7800 completely. To power it back up, you need to reset it.

[00:00:04.699,249] modem_hl7800: Error code: 3

[00:00:04.699,340] modem_hl7800: AT+GNSSSTOP result: -5

Those are expected errors. It’s trying to turn off the GPS even though its already off. There is nothing to worry about.

As of 4Q-2023, we do not have any examples of sending SMS and the HL7800 driver in Zephyr does not have any SMS support. Though, it could be added on your own effort.  To see what it takes to add a new API, refer to https://github.com/zephyrproject-rtos/zephyr/blob/main/include/zephyr/drivers/modem/hl7800.h.

GPS or PoLTE is best option for that: https://lairdcp.github.io/guides/ble-gateway-firmware/1.3/docs/location.html.

You can scan for cell towers: https://lairdcp.github.io/guides/ble-gateway-firmware/1.3/docs/site_survey.html.

Below are power low power modes listed from least power efficient to most power efficient:

1. eDRX with sleep mode.
   
2. eDRX with lite hibernate.
3. eDRX with hibernate.
4. PSM with sleep mode.
5. PSM with lite hibernate.
6. PSM with hibernate.
7. Modem off (completely turn the modem off between sending data).

The Canvas Gateway firmware allows the battery on the MG100 to be monitored over LwM2M. The user can know if the battery is charging or is charged, if the device is currently running off the battery or USB power, and the voltage of the battery. This is all available via LwM2M object 3.

This is all done with this zephyr module: https://github.com/CanvasDM/power_module/blob/main/src/lcz_power.c

And is implemented here:

https://github.com/CanvasDM/ble_gateway_device_manager_module/blob/main/src/lcz_ble_gw_dm_task.c#L267

If you would like to see the Modem's signal strength it can be viewed using the "attr get lte_rsrp" command.

These instructions are intended for Linux or Macintosh OS. They may work using WSL, Cigwin, or other bash style terminals in Windows although this is untested. 

It may be desired to communicate with a device attached to the USB-SWD without terminal emulation, I.E. Picocom, Screen, Putty.  This can be useful for writing bash scripts, or if you're using Zephyr's "west flash" and would like a quick way to check your output. 

1. Verify you have the program "stty" available using the command "which stty", if this does not return a value you will need to install it.  Fortunately "stty" generally comes standard with Linux and MacOS.  
2. Identify your serial device.  This can be done using the command "dmesg -w" then connecting the USB-SWD.  You will see output like this (In Linux).

3. (Optional) Assign the device name to a variable, for example "DEVICE=/dev/ttyACM0".
4. Configure "stty" to talk with the device "stty -F $DEVICE 115200 -echo -echoe -echok"
5. To see output from the device execute "cat $DEVICE &".  This will send serial communication from the device to Linux's standard output.  The "&" is to run this program in the background.
6. Now press the reset button on the USB-SWD, you should see the output from your device.  In this example the Zephyr "Hello World" example has been flashed to a BT510. 

7. (Optional) if you would like to send commands back to the device you can use "echo" or add an argument to your shell, "foo() { echo -n -e "$1\r" > $DEVICE; }".  Now commands can be issued directly from the command line, for example "foo "my_command"" will send the string "my_command" to the device. 

Both Pinnacle and MG100 both are programmable using Zephyr RTOS. Zephyr is essentially a kernel but compare to other RTOS it has got other software running on its code, like drivers for sensors, logs output and even a shell subsystem.

Besides providing a quick proof of concept, our out-of-box demo software are a good starting point for your own IoT cloud application.
The out-of-box software comes directly with output UART logs that provides immediate information on what is going on in the background.

Within a UART log window open via e.g a terminal software like Putty, it is possible to access a shell command line interface by simply pushing "Tab" on your keyboard as follows :

This allows to quickly show or set up multiple different parameters and can be useful for development purposes.

The max MTU is 1500 bytes but the network operator can set a lower value, it also depends on the Internet Protocol Version (IPV4,IPV6), and the protocol itself (UDP/TCP). If max MTU size is 1500 bytes then :

• IPV4, default value = 1020 bytes
  For UDP: 8 – 1472 bytes max
  For TCP:  8 – 1460 bytes max
• IPV6, default value = 1020 bytes
  For UDP: 8 – 1452 bytes max
  For TCP: 8 – 1440 bytes max

If user application send more than the MTU limitation, the module will display those data with several URCS (Unsolicited Result Codes).

The MG100 is indeed suitable for working with Azure IoT Edge or HUB. However, we don't have anything in term of documentation nor example code that customers can leverage for now.

Error 922 can happen if you try closing a socket that was already closed by the server.
Error 923 can happen if trying to send data on a socket that is already closed.

These are very common and expected errors than can happened during normal functioning. Our out of the box software are designed to properly clean up and ignore them.

Customers can use following command to increase the log level of the HL7800 driver at runtime to get more info:

attr set 201 3   <- HL7800 info log level
attr set 201 4  <- HL7800 debug log level

Sometimes you can get a series of network state 0 and 2; in that case it means the modem cannot find any network to join:

• Network state 0 (Not Registered) means the modem is idle.
• Network state 2 (Searching) means the modem is searching for a network.

When a modem finds and joins a network, it issues network state such as 1(Registered, Home Network) or 5 (Registered, Roaming).

A network state 3 (Registration Denied) means either the network selected is incorrect for the IoT SIM Card, or the SIM is inactive/disabled.

You are free to leave the APN (Access Point Name) blank, but we advise to set it up when possible as it's always safest to do so. It's also usually recommended by IoT SIM provider.

Entering an APN often helps to quickly reach proper network frequencies bands. To know exactly what APN you need to enter, please contact your SIM provider.

Entering an APN can be done through either the Pinnacle phone application or via UART with command attr set 196 "apn"

The MG100 has no IP rating.

Some customers may have a need for the MG100 main board to be mounted in an IP6x rated enclosure. In this case, Ezurio has compiled two commercial off-the-shelf (COTS) design recommendations that meet IP6x requirements using readily available components here : Application Note - MG100 IP6x COTS Housing Recommendation

On the Pinnacle 100 MQTT is implemented in the Zephyr IP stack. The MQTT protocol managed by IP stack in Zephyr running on the nRF52840. The MQTT layer uses sockets in order to send and receive data. The HL7800 driver in Zephyr does all the work to expose socket APIs to be used by a user app or other software layers.

This approach provides a lot of flexibility. The Pinnacle 100 supports anything that the Zephyr IP stack supports.

Laird customers get instant access to Memfault's device observability platform for up to 100 devices free forever. To get started with Memfault for remote debugging, continuous monitoring, and OTA firmware updates, sign up here.

• Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide
• With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird connected device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

You can use Memfault to remotely monitor the health of their devices and debug issues in both the Pinnacle 100 and MG100 Gateway designs. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever.

• Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
• With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

For analyzing overall performance patterns in your fleet, metrics can easily be collected using our Memfault integration with the Pinnacle 100 and Sentrius MG100. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever. 

• Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
• With additional integration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

Everything needed to get started with our Out of the Box Demos for the Pinnacle 100 cellular modem and the MG100 cellular gateway can be found on GitHub

A demo video for the Pinnacle 100 is also linked on the Product page for additional reference.

You do not need to build the OOB Demo on your own, if you have need to upgrade your OOB Demo version on your Pinnacle 100 modem or MG100 gateway, please use our official releases found here: https://github.com/LairdCP/Pinnacle-100-Firmware/releases.

Found at this link are several firmware file types depending on how you plan to upgrade, *.hex is for SWD while *.bin is used for BLE, UART, and HTTP over LTE. Additionally, 480-00052 is for the Pinnacle 100 and 480-00070 is for the MG100.

See the Firmware Updates section for how to upgrade over the different interfaces, BLE/UART/HTTP over LTE

To upgrade over SWD, use the JLINK USB port on the Pinnacle 100 DVK board, for the MG100 see the MG100 Hardware Guide section 5.4.4 to learn how to connect a J-Link debugger to the board for the upgrade using nRF Connect or Nordic Command Line Tools.

On Windows 10 when building firmware such as oob_demo firmware I am getting the following error: ninja: error: FindFirstFileExA(c/:/oob_demo/oob_demo/src): The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect can you help me to correct this?

The ninja: error: FindFirstFileExA(c/:/oob_demo/oob_demo/src): The filename, directory name, or volume label syntax is incorrect, may be thrown if you have previously set up a Zephyr environment. This indicates ninja needs to be upgraded. If west update did not update ninja to the latest version enter choco upgrade ninja --force in cmd.exe as administrator to force the upgrade:

C:\Windows\system32>choco upgrade ninja --force

No, the Pinnacle 100 and the MG100 are LTE Cat-M1 or NB-IoT modems which require their own SIM card and are not compatible with the network your mobile phone uses. Customers need to source IoT SIMs specifically for LTE Cat-M1 or NB-IoT networks through the carriers directly or through an MVNO. 

We suggest using Visual Studio Code, please see the following for more information: https://github.com/LairdCP/Pinnacle_100_oob_demo/blob/master/docs/development.md

• We suggest using Memfault for an out-of-the-box fault debugging and device observability solution. Memfault integrates seamlessly with Zephyr on the Pinnacle 100 and Sentrius MG100. Laird customers get instant access to Memfault for up to 100 devices free forever.
  • Sign up here and follow the steps on the Pinnacle 100 Modem Memfault Integration Guide to get started with Memfault.
  • With additional integration and configuration, Memfault can also be used with any Laird embedded device, contact your FAE or Memfault for more information.

All Ezurio Nordic-based Bluetooth modules, which include the BL65x series and BL5340 modules, can be flashed with any SEGGER J-Link device which supports working with Cortex-M based devices. Here is a sample list of J-Links which will work with the Nordic based modules as of the time this FAQ was written:

SEGGER J-Link Probes and Flashers for Nordic based products: 

J-Link PRO 
J-Link ULTRA+ 
J-Link PLUS 
J-Link BASE 
J-Link EDU (Student Only Use)
J-Link for Cortex-M 
Flasher PRO
Flasher ARM 
Flasher Portable

*Note: All Ezurio Bluetooth IoT products based on Nordic's nRF52 series can also be programed with these J-Link devices, such as the BT510, BT610 and the MG100.

The Pinnacle 100 doesn’t support Server mode. You need a static IP address. Most cell networks will not give a public static IP address to the device, so you have no way to access it from the internet.