PyCom alternatives?
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@Don-iot Me too!
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@robert-hh and @Don-iot we are now talking with suppliers (Espressif and Sequans) and currently our plan is:
- ESP32-S3
- Sequans Monarch 2 (NB-IoT and LTE-M), next generation modem
We have been thinking to drop the multicolor LED and change it to an USB-C connection as we think that the multicolor LED is less important than easy programming. What is your opinion?
We are preparing to create a small website in preparation of the campaign to get as much feedback as possible. Thanks for the 'Nucom' name, we will add it to the list of possibilities.
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@Don-iot Will do, thanks for the feedback!
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@Daan-Pape I’ve never used any of the LTE-modem-equipped Pycom boards, but my understanding is that the relationship with Sequans was not really the most successful ever. Lots of bugs in the firmware, sporadic updates with very little information about the changes, very little public documentation of the AT command set…
It’s difficult to say whose fault (Pycom or Sequans) it was, but it does not inspire a lot of trust.
Aren’t there other providers of LTE modems with a better track record when it comes to documentation and updates?
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@Daan-Pape We have some Gpy based products out there, too.
Who actually produced the Gpy boards? I don't think they were made completely in the Pycom office. These things are usually produced by an asian contractor.So if anyone can dig out the contact information we could order identical Gpys directly there. Even if we include a small licence fee for Pycom that would still be easier than switching to an alternate product - at least for a while.
Setting up a licence agreement with Pycom for an already abandoned product should be a convenient and attractive deal for Pycom. What do you think?
By the way - since the product remains completely unchanged that makes the FCC/CE business unbeatable easy.
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@Elizar You could ask the administrator installed for Pycom. The address is at the Pycom web site.
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@jcaron I completely agree. One of the most annoying problems was, that the GPy sometimes thought, that the data connectivity through the modem was still given, while it was not in fact. In my current project, these events happen only a few times per year, but it is still annoying (Imagine having a fleet and you have to manually power cycle individual GPys....). Only a complete power cycle can fix it in my experience. For more information see this thread @Daan-Pape: https://forum.pycom.io/topic/6831/how-to-handle-a-lte-connectivity-loss?_=1667571587470
Basically with the P-Ch-Mosfet I was able to fix the issue through another device. For normal resets of the GPy (because of Guru meditation errors), I use an Arduino board in my project.
In regards how unstable the whole LTE-M feature thing worked with the GPy and Sequans modem, I have the same concerns. I need 2 additional pieces (Arduino board and P-CH-Mosfet) to make the LTE-M feature of the GPy work stable in the field. With these 2 additions, I've transmitted more than 95 % of my data to my database successfully in the field for 10 months. I was sending data every 5 minutes.
Maybe lte-modems of U-Blox would be an alternative? I don't know personally.
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@Don-iot I also would like a ping. :)
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@SciWax we are aware of the problems with the current LTE implementation and in our design, which we hope to have ready soon, we have done some significant changes to fix the issues:
- We will use the Monarch 2 platform, which holds some significant improvements.
- We will add the possibility to hardware reset the modem using a spare GPIO pin.
- The software will actively check the LTE connection
This should fix all known issues.
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@Elizar our idea is to make a 100% compatible board but with improvements with lessons learned from the current GPy. Also we want to produce in Europe (Belgium and Netherlands) as we have our facilities here.
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@jcaron @Daan-Pape I think that Monarch 2 is an option, it supports NB2, and that is crucial for next generation of mobile networks.
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Hi all,
Just to let you know that we released the sneak peak of what we are doing on our socials: https://twitter.com/DPTechnics/status/1592873546036162568?s=20&t=qR8ZVm-3DsLylPHPmH3lQg
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@Daan-Pape Our company has a fleet of hundreds GPY units transmitting from fields for some years and of course we need a replacement and your proposal seems very good. But we think it's not needed to follow exactly the pinout and functionality of GPY - it was far from perfect. The new module should (flawlessly if possible) enclose all the modern possibilities of radio networks like software selection of NB or LTE-M, possible GPRS fallback, remote restart from network side, SMS control of field units, battery backed RTC, better ADC than ESP32 includes etc.
We would be glad to contribute to new module development as we have some years of NB and LTE-M GPY experience with extensive sensor data. -
Hi all,
It took some weeks longer than expected due to component lead times but I'm so glad to release Walter today. We have taken as much advice as we could and are convinced about the way we took. Get to know Walter on https://www.quickspot.io/
Happy New Year!
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@Tiit thanks for the feedback. We have kept physical pin compatibility but implemented the rest completely different. We have a physical modem reset, a switchable 3.3V output, the IO pins are 100% configurable and not shared with internal peripherals, ... Find out all about Walter on https://www.quickspot.io/
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@Daan-Pape for JavaScript support low.js may be an alternative to Espruino.
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@jcaron thanks for the tip, I didn't know it yet and I'm going to look into it with our team.
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@Daan-Pape -Great to see the progress! I'm curious why the SIM has to be on the underside of the product; it is the only thing one needs to remove once the module is mounted on a board. If you solder the module in place, the SIM is impossible to get out. Personally it is the first thing from a Pycom module I would not have cloned.
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@Don-iot it is a size issue. When we would place the SIM card on top the module should be almost 20mm longer. This would break our goal to be GPy compatible as not all designs would be able to fit such a long module. Also it would interfere with RF from the antennas.
You are right about it being very hard to replace the SIM card when the module is soldered. I'm open for suggestions on how to solve that. The only option that we were looking into was an eSIM SIM card.
Kind regards,
Daan -
@Daan-Pape -I understand. We may be interested in the module you are developing if we will not move in another direction. Can we have a commercial discussion outside this forum to understand your timeline?
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