GPy and LTE

[jmahesh]

@jmarcelino I have purchased Gpy with Pytrack. Based in India.
I have tried the basic lte connection code, but unable get connect. Do you have any solutions to connect.

[jmarcelino]

Hi @jmahesh

Note the modem supports LTE Cat M1 and NB-IoT only, not regular LTE.

I think Vodafone India among others are planning a NB-IoT rollout but I have no other concrete information.

We will of course aim to support NB-IoT on the GPy in India when it’s deployed by the operators.

[Redferne]

We got the GPy yesterday (yeay!), upgraded it to:

GPy-1.12.0.b1.tar.gz
MicroPython v1.8.6-849-fcbbfe3 on 2018-01-03; GPy with ESP32 

Inserted a pin unlocked SIM from our own in-house test network and issued the commands:

from network import LTE
lte = LTE()
lte.connect() 

...and got no response at all. So the first question was of course if the SIM was detected? Or any network detected? How can we check this?

In the LTE object, what is referred to by ID? An instance of the LTE object? What other parameters are available?

class network.LTE(id=0, ...)

In the init function, is there a predefined list of CIDs? Which are they? How can we define our own CID for our in-house network, such as MCC/MNC/APN/User/Pass

LTE.init(cid=3)

This method is used to set up the LTE subsystem and to specify a CID (Connection ID) for the connection The arguments are:
cid is a Connection ID. This is carrier specific, for Verizon use cid=3. For others like Telstra it should be cid=1.

[jmarcelino]

Hi @redferne

Those are good questions, thank you.

The current LTE module only supports CID=1 and APN=“internet”. This works in test environments where you have some control of the parameters - for example using the Amarisoft LTE eNodeB emulator. Since we’re still waiting for network certification, in the limited countries that have deployed LTE-M already, releasing this seemed a good compromise.

Clearly we’ll need more flexibility going forward and we’re preparing a new releasec that should offer everything you require.

Current plan is to have that by Monday ( Jan 15th) though it may not be a full public release until a couple of days after.

Since you seem to have the right setup and need it ASAP please get in touch - jmarcelino@pycom.io - and I’ll send you a pre-release build.

Please also let me know which LTE Band you intend to test it on and your operating system (so I send the right firmware tool)

Thanks again

[ninoita]

Hi @jmarcelino, have You information about the deployment of new lte protocols in Italy? In particular, what is the current status for lte Cat m1 in Italy?
Thanks

[jmarcelino]

@ninoita
As far as I know TIM and Vodafone Italia are well into NB-IoT deployments, perhaps TIM has more coverage at the moment but that can change very quickly - for most networks it's a software upgrade.

For us it's probably easier to support Vodafone Italia as we work Vodafone as a group but we're of course open to work with everyone.

As with most European locations (there are exceptions) at the moment Cat M1 is still not deployed outside the labs. But I'm hearing a lot more interest in it fuelled by some really mass market products that will change that landscape.

[ninoita]

@jmarcelino thank you for your reply. If I understood correctly, currently in italy I could use gpy with a sim (Vodafone or Tim) to enable nb-iot but such solution does not allow me to set up an iot application with sensors in movement (cat nb1 does not support handover) or sensors with client mqtt. Do you confirm?

What parameters should I use for lte connection using a vodafone italy?

Thank you

[jmarcelino]

@ninoita
NB-IoT doesn't do handover because it simply reconnects to the next base station. But that's fine for connectionless UDP. It does mean you cannot do MQTT (unless it's MQTT-SN) without some sort of gateway in the middle.

[ninoita]

@jmarcelino ok, it's clear. I already have a GPy and a Vodafone SIM. When can I try my Gpy using NB-IoT? Pycom documentation is only available for CAT M1 now.

[tkerdonc]

Just received my GPys and started trying them with my amarisoft testbed.
@jmarcelino I saw you mentioned Amarisoft in an earlier post, can you confirm that GPys work with their default enb-catm1.cfg configuration ?
APN and CID are indeed in the default versions you mentioned (1 and "internet"), however, the gpy does not stay connected to the infrastructure.

On the device side, I have not uploaded any code but enter the following commands manually :
lte = LTE()
lte.init()
lte.connect()

After that third one, Amarisoft's logs inform me that the device is joining the network, but this is immediately followed by a Detach Request from the GPy, ending in a lte.isconnected() = False after the call to connect() returns.

When using these sim cards with regular phones, we usually needed to put them in roaming mode, since the amarisoft information is not stored on them, could that be an issue here ?

Looking forward to hearing your thoughts.

[jmarcelino]

@ninoita
Which country / operator are you planning to use?

[ninoita]

@jmarcelino Operator=Vodafone, Country=Italy

[jmarcelino]

@tkerdonc

We use Amarisoft with Anritsu MT8820C style test cards successfully.
With other cards I'm not sure, maybe you need to tweak the Amarisoft configuration.

Are they LTE compatible cards? (Mileage algorithm)

[jmarcelino]

@jmarcelino
Vodafone Italy only supports a handful of trial locations now - full nationwide coverage will only be available in 2019 - please contact them to understand when/if they support your location. I'm almost sure you'll also need to sign up for the trial and get a different SIM card.

We should be ready to support Vodafone Italy's NB-IoT network in late March.

[livius]

@tkerdonc
What if you remove the line

lte.init()

[joselfesteves]

Hey guys,

Good morning all. First, start to say that I'm a newbie in this Pycom world.
I just recently purchased a Pycom board with a GPy. I've managed to make it work with WiFi, but LTE is showing nothing. Even looks that it doesn't try to connect.
I'm connecting the board int he Netherlands, to MVNO Truphone that uses KPN network, complaint to the LoRa standard.
I'm seeing that @jmarcelino already commented that APN is only 'internet', at this moment. I need to use the APN: truphone.com.
Can someone give some guidance? At this moment, I just need the device to register on the network.
Thank you in advance,
José

[jmarcelino]

Hi @joselfesteves,

The GPy has an LTE-M modem which supports LTE Cat M1 and (soon) NB-IoT. KPN and Truphone will not work with this regardless of APN settings.

KPN LoRa is a completely different wireless system, to use it you need the LoPy, Lopy4 or FiPy in LoRaWAN mode.

You will be able to use the GPy with Vodafone NL's NB-IoT service and later T-Mobile - both are running NB-IoT trials (not a full, commercial, service yet). We will have more details of these services when we finish testing with them - aiming for February with Vodafone and T-Mobile late March.

[joselfesteves]

@jmarcelino Thanks for your prompt answer.

I've purchased the GPy since KPN was planning to launch, and they did, LTE-M in the end 2017. Just read they launched LTE-M on Den Hague and Rotterdam specific locations. On my current location, I'm not covered at all by RAN from these areas.

My question will be if I drive by there for testing if Ill manage to check if registration is possible using the SIM that I have. using the default commands.

[jmarcelino]

@joselfesteves
You'll be able to check for the presence of (some) networks soon with some changes I'm working on (arbitrary AT commands) but almost 100% sure you will not be able to use KPN yet. It's a test network, I have no details about it and they are not sharing any further information.

Also refer to their forum post on the topic:

https://zakelijkforum.kpn.com/m2m-forum-57/lte-cat-m1-verbindingen-10048

Thanks.

[R.W]

@jmarcelino

I've been following this thread as we are planning to use GPy in some real world deployments. Can we know which chipset is used for NB IoT modem? Any idea about NB IoT in Singapore ( especially M1 as they are the only ones so far providing NB IoT in Singapore ). Thanks. And appreciate the good work.