How to operate PyGate+Gpy over IPv6 Only Networks?

[anikolaid]

Hi guys,

we are developing a LoRA Gateway application using Gpy+PyGate. The WiFi implementation works fine! However, the problems start when the LoRA Gateway has to operate over IPv6 only networks. After doing some experiments and reading many posts here I have ended up that a LoRA Gateway operating over IPv6 only networks is not feasible with the Pycom products. Please correct me if I'm wrong.

To be more specific:

@Gijs (Pycom Global Moderator) in that post: mentioned that:

The example is indeed for WiFi only. The LTE connection is very similar. You only have to remove the WiFi connection and add the LTE attaching and connecting. You can take a look at this example: https://docs.pycom.io/tutorials/networks/lte/. It is a bit more complicated to connect to LTE, which is why we left it out for now.

On the other hand, @nftylitak in that post mentioned that:

.....*They only major drawback is that in the current implementation of micropython / esp-idf / usocket there is no support to IPv6 sockets.*Meanwhile, many LTE CAT M1/NB1 networks operate with IPv6 only, thus making the Pycom device unusable

So this means that either, someone has to use the microATsocket code by nftylitak or the PyGate+Gpy will never operate with the IPv6 only operators (please note that in many European countries there are many IPv6 only operators).

Have anybody here managed to operate a PyGate+GPy with microATsocket for IPv6 only networks?

Thank you all for your time!

[anikolaid]

@nftylitak the only reason we need to work with NB-IoT and IPv6 is that we like the PyGate concept and implementation but our final product-gateway must be connected to the Internet via a cell network. The problem is that PyCom does not offer any product that provides 2G or 3G or even 4G connectivity. So, now we are forced to use Gpy and thus NB-IoT connectivity (as our local operator supports NB-IoT and IPv6 only).

Also, your suggestion regarding the use of external devices wouldn't work because our main purpose is to make some thousand units so we have to keep in mind the budget of the project ;)

Thank you again for your time and congratulations for your great job with the microATsocket code!

[nftylitak]

@anikolaid your questions seem logical to me and unfortunately i can not provide you with answers, though it puzzles me...what kind of data bundle would someone need to support LoRA backbone over NBIoT. Even though it is technically feasible as described in the posts that you referenced, the data consumption implied even by the heartbeats of the LoRA gateway towards the LoRA server would exceed your data bundle.

I am also wondering how come there are not many people requesting IPv6 support, as in our company this was a blocking point (which was bypassed through the microATsocket library).

To sum up I believe you need to take a different approach to achieve what you want. For instance, you could buy a WiFi router with LTE support. In that way you would use a USB LTE dongle that would support IPv6 as a backbone, connect it to the router and provide network access to the GPy through IPv4 over WiFi. In that way you could keep the LoRA gateway setup as is.

Regards.