Important update regarding LTE modem updates

[IOAg]

@tuftec I did not see any announcement for the patch. Is that safe to install? Have changed been loaded in github?.
Thanks.
Philippe

[robert-hh]

@ioag The patch was published yesterday, and the github repository was updated. The new version is 1.18.1.r1.
As a statistical irrelevant info: I have build the image from the repository and updated two FiPy's.

[IOAg]

@robert-hh I did succeed in upgrading a couple of fipys. Thanks for your help.

[tuftec]

I also managed to update ok. But this is my first attempt to get NB-IoT working.
I get a message back from the modem indicating that it does not understand the zsp0:npc command.

Anyone else seen this? What does it mean?

Peter.

[dan]

@arneme Huawei eNodeB is supported, but the network operators could have specific protocol requirements.

[dan]

We have released an update (v1.18.1.r1) with updated scripts for modem upgrade. You can find the forum post here with more info.

For the bricked modems, we are still working on the process. We'll make a post here on the forum when it's published.

[apallo]

@tuftec yep, same thing- Command zsp0::npc unknown

[peterv]

@dan Could we get someone to update https://docs.pycom.io/tutorials/lte/nb-iot? As noted by others, the AT!="zsp0:npc 1" command seems to fail now, yet it's still in the documentation. Do we need to replace it with something else?

[tuftec]

Does anyone know what this command actually does? Is it necessary? Where do I find a full reference to all the available commands? I do not like developing product based on assumptions.
These LTE issues have been dragging on for a long time now. Relying on spasmodic responses to forum posts is a very inefficient way for customers to impliment fixes and diminishes confidence in the product quality. Is there a better way to communicate with the Pycom Support team than through this forum.

Peter.

[Xykon]

For the issue with Command zsp0::npc unknown

Please try and replace the following two lines:

lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="addscanfreq band=20 dl-earfcn=6300"')
lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="zsp0:npc 1"')

with these:

lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="addscanband band=20"')
lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="disablelog 1"')

I'm still trying to verify this on my end so any comment on this is welcome.

Additionally I will re-release the old NB1-35351 version as soon as possible.

[Xykon]

@xykon NB-1 version 35351 is now available at https://software.pycom.io/downloads/sequans2.html

The updater.elf file is identical in every firmware package.

[tuftec]

@xykon Thanks for the response.
However I am still confused.

I am working with Vodafone in Australia.
They currently use band 8
So can I now use the following:
lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="addscanband band=8"')
lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="disablelog 1"')

Your specifications indicate that band 8 is supported.

I have been advised by Vodafone that I should not need to actually set the band or channel
"The device should automatically pick the correct band and channel if it is compatible and you generally should not be setting these."

What is the significance of NB1-35351? I have installed NB1-37781. Is this now incorrect?

Having access to some proper documentation would make this process a lot easier.

Please provide clear instructions on how to get this product working with NB-IOT.

Peter.

[danielm]

@Xykon
Are there any Release notes available for NB-1 version 35351?

[tuftec]

@Xykon I have tried the changed commands as you have suggested and still nothing.

I do not see any transmissions in the band 8 uplink frequency area (880 - 915MHz) when using my RF spectrum analyser.

Please provide full details of the AT command sequence required to get this going.

Peter.

[arneme]

@xykon Could you document (or provide a link to) the complete AT command set supported by the Sequans modem?

[robert-hh]

@arneme It's in the documentation, e.g. at https://docs.pycom.io/datasheets/development/fipy
Edit: Whether it's complete, I'm not sure. For instance the command AT+CPSMS? is issued to the modem but not documented. The sequans specific commands ("AT!....") seem to be missing too.

[peterv]

AT!="help" does seem to give a lot of the Sequans-specific commands too (and AT!="help foo" to get information on a specific command).

[arneme]

@robert-hh Thanks, let us hope that it is complete and would be great if the AT!= commands were also documented.

[arneme]

@dan Could you verify that the new NB-IoT firmware is supposed to work with Huawei eNodeB channel 20 guard band deployment? We have not succeeded to connect the FiPy to our network yet while for example the UBlox N210 has no problem at all.

[Xykon]

The reason I have re-released NB-IoT firmware 35351 is for users who had previously success with this version to up/downgrade to it.

As for your other questions I have forwarded them to Sequans. I am also testing various versions of the NB-IoT firmware with both our Amarisoft LTE emulator and the Vodafone network in the Netherlands and we will provide extended trace information from these tests to Sequans for analysis.

Unfortunately at the moment we are very much reliant on Sequans to provide firmware, software and documentation for these modems. We're now in the process of setting up our own test systems where we can do at least limited connectivity tests using standard setups.

I have received one newer NB-IoT firmware 38575 which I will release later tonight that according to Sequans contains a number of bug fixes. I haven't managed to successfully connect to our Amarisoft NB-IoT emulator yet with either version but I'm preparing some traces for Sequans and I'm also checking if this is possibly related to our MicroPython firmware as well.

I'm hoping to have some news on this very soon.