Important update regarding LTE modem updates

[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.

[tuftec]

@peterv thanks. That might help a little.

[tuftec]

@xykon thanks.
Please give this a high priority.
It appears that there are quite a number of customers experiencing similar levels of frustration and difficulty in getting NB-IoT to work with any network.

Peter.

[danielm]

Just fyi, I am able to successfully connect to NB-IoT network of Slovak Telekom (Ericsson eNodeB, band 20) using Sequans firmware 37781 running on FiPy.

[robert-hh]

@danielm What is your command sequence?

[danielm]

@robert-hh
I will post the sequence tomorrow. I left both FiPy and my notebook in the office.

[robert-hh]

@tuftec said in Important update regarding LTE modem updates:

I do not see any transmissions in the band 8 uplink frequency area

Same for me at Band 20. No RF send activity at all.AT least a cell is acquired in Band 20 (commands 'AT!="showphy"' and 'AT+CSQ')

[JoseDLopez]

Hello,

I just updated to 37781 NB-IoT firmware my GPy. But i just realized that it will only works with Ericsson or Huawei Nodes.

Here in Chile we only have available one NB-IoT working node and it is Nokia, should it work?

Best regards,

[danielm]

@robert-hh
This is the sequence which works for me (method is part of class):

def test1(self):
	self.lte = LTE()
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT+CFUN=0')
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="clearscanconfig"')
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="addscanfreq band=20 dl-earfcn=6190"')
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT!="zsp0:npc 1"')
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","nbiot.telekom.sk"')
	self.lte.send_at_cmd('AT+CFUN=1')

	pycom.rgbled(0xff0000)
	
	while not self.lte.isattached():
		print('Attaching…')
		time.sleep(0.25)

	pycom.rgbled(0x0000ff)

	self.lte.connect()
	while not self.lte.isconnected():
		print('Connecting…')
		time.sleep(0.25)

	pycom.rgbled(0x008000)

[tuftec]

@danielm thanks for that.
I gather you are not using the latest firmware revisions?
The zsp0:npc 1 command does not seem to work anymore.

I have tried something similar, but modified for my local carrier (Vodafone) and just can not get it to attach.
Nothing seems to get transmitted in the band that I need to select (band 8).

Peter.

[robert-hh]

@danielm Thanks. But, as @tuftec said above, at least the zsp0::npc command does not exist in the new firmware. I could try with the old firmware, which is now available again.

[danielm]

Pycom FW release on my FiPy is 1.18.1.r1. I used built-in script to upgrade Sequans modem via UART to NB1 firmware version 37781.

>>> node.lte.send_at_cmd("AT+CGMR")
'\r\nUE6.0.0.0\r\n\r\nOK\r\n'

Is there any command for more detailed version information?

[peterv]

@danielm AT!="showver"

[robert-hh]

@danielm
AT+CLAC
returns a list of all supported AT commands,
AT!="help"
returns a list of all Sequans specific commands. These are quite a few, like 400. Since the help list is longer than the buffer, you can get sections of it with:

AT!="help startIdx=nn qty=nn" e.g.
AT!="help startIdx=1 qty = 20" for the first 20 commands.
AT!="help help" shows how to use help

Interesting is the commands which returns the internal file tree, which is structured like a linux file tree. So maybe the device runs an embedded linux.

[danielm]

@peterv @robert-hh
Thanks, will try that tomorrow and verify current Sequans modem firmware version.

Any ideas how to achieve reasonable power consumption without eDRX and PSM?
I was thinking to put ESP32 to light sleep for 5-10s after sending AT+CFUN=1 and then check if the modem is attached and connected.