Cellular Monitor 2.0 Does Not Support A Separate Serial Port

For a device like the nRF9160 Feather, you need a second USB to UART device for listening to the modem traces. When I go to select the Terminal Serial Port under Advanced Options, it only gives me one option (the external FTDI adapter). As far as I understand, they can't be mapped to the same interface.

Running on Linux. Will try on Mac to double check it's not a platform specific issue.

Parents
  • On Mac I'm able to select the separate ports but get errors:

    11:10:14.681	Attempted to retrieve trace databases for an unrecognized device {"id":1,"serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","serialPorts":[{"comName":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":0,"vendorId":"10C4"},{"comName":"/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":1,"vendorId":"10C4"}],"traits":{"boardController":false,"broken":false,"jlink":false,"mcuBoot":false,"modem":false,"nordicDfu":false,"nordicUsb":false,"seggerUsb":false,"serialPorts":true,"usb":true},"usb":{"device":{"address":43,"busNumber":0,"configList":{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":2}],"interfaceLists":[{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":4,"bInterfaceClass":255,"bInterfaceProtocol":0,"bInterfaceSubClass":0}],"endpointLists":[{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":5},{"bDescriptorType":5}],"length":2}]}],"length":1},"descriptor":{"bDescriptorType":1,"bcdDevice":256,"idProduct":60000,"idVendor":4292}},"manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","product":"CP2102N USB to UART Bridge Controller","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8"},"serialport":{"comName":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":0,"vendorId":"10C4"},"favorite":false,"nickname":""}
    11:10:14.681	Attempted to retrieve trace databases for an unrecognized device {"id":1,"serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","serialPorts":[{"comName":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":0,"vendorId":"10C4"},{"comName":"/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":1,"vendorId":"10C4"}],"traits":{"boardController":false,"broken":false,"jlink":false,"mcuBoot":false,"modem":false,"nordicDfu":false,"nordicUsb":false,"seggerUsb":false,"serialPorts":true,"usb":true},"usb":{"device":{"address":43,"busNumber":0,"configList":{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":2}],"interfaceLists":[{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":4,"bInterfaceClass":255,"bInterfaceProtocol":0,"bInterfaceSubClass":0}],"endpointLists":[{"descriptors":[{"bDescriptorType":5},{"bDescriptorType":5}],"length":2}]}],"length":1},"descriptor":{"bDescriptorType":1,"bcdDevice":256,"idProduct":60000,"idVendor":4292}},"manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","product":"CP2102N USB to UART Bridge Controller","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8"},"serialport":{"comName":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","manufacturer":"Silicon Labs","path":"/dev/tty.usbserial-14510","productId":"EA60","serialNumber":"78b596379247ec1189dadbde461fcfc8","vcom":0,"vendorId":"10C4"},"favorite":false,"nickname":""}
    11:10:22.855	Failed to connect to port: /dev/tty.SLAB_USBtoUART. Make sure the port is not already taken, if you are not sure, try to power cycle the device and try to connect again.
    11:10:22.855	Terminal Serial Port: Port could not be opened. Verify it is not used by some other applications

    Despite what it says, I'm not using the port anywhere else. Seems like it may bind/connect to the the interface to the "Modem trace serial port" despite changing the setting. 

    If I try to use the other interface, then I don't get an option in the "Terminal Serial Port" to use the SiLabs part:

    So it may not be platform dependent. 

  • Hi,

    Could you provide more information about your setup? Which devices/boards do you use? What is your goal when using Cellular Monitor?

    Best regards,
    Dejan

  • Hi Dejan!

    Since the LTE Link Monitor is deprecated, I was looking to see if the nRF9160 Feather was well supported in the new Cellular Monitor 2.0.

    I made a video on it yesterday for my Zephyr 101 series: https://www.youtube.com/live/-kCWayG7P-k

    Essentially, I'm assumed since you can assign a terminal (AT Console) port, that the application can "drive" the board through the AT interface as the LTE Link Monitor did. (i.e. send automated AT commands to set AT+CFUN=1, notifications on, etc) I can't quite recommend customers to use the Cellular Monitor other than for modem traces since it does not have parity with LTE Link Monitor.

    I think maybe the author of the Cellular Monitor app assumed that connecting devices would enumerate as two separate USB/UART interfaces. Unfortunately the nRF9160 Feather and Thing Plus nRF9160, as an example, do not.

    Hopefully that gives you an idea of where I'm coming from.

  • Hi,

    "Release Notes for Cellular Monitor" and "How to use Cellular Monitor" mention as supported devices nRF9160-dk and Thingy91. 

    Jared said:
    I think maybe the author of the Cellular Monitor app assumed that connecting devices would enumerate as two separate USB/UART interfaces.

    Yes, this seems to be the case.

    Best regards,
    Dejan


  • I just ran into this myself.  I can setup my monitor client firmware(Rust) to send traces at 1M or be used as an AT command driver at 115,200 baud but not both.  Disappointed  Using the Conexio Stratus dev kit. 

    Do the supported devices really have two separate uart bridges?

  • Hi dkhayes117,

    dkhayes117 said:
    Do the supported devices really have two separate uart bridges?

    What do you refer to as supported devices?

    Best regards,
    Dejan

Reply Children
Related