Enable Modem Trace on Custom Hardware with nRF9160

[Devon W]

I am working on specialized PCB's for my job, and we are trying to capture modem traces for our devices. Via JTag, I have serial access to pins P0.05 (TX) and P0.06 (RX) of the nRF9160. The JTag and any other connectors are NOT the issue. It is my understanding that CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB)TRACE enables UART1 automatically, so I don't set the state to "okay".

After uploading a custom SLM to my device, I open Cellular Monitor and begin a modem trace.
I can see the Green Check Mark next to the text "Trace".
However, the only packets I ever see are startup packets. These show up every time I press Connected Devices > Reset Board in VS Code.

I am not sure what I am doing wrong, and would appreciate some assistance with configuring the project. I will include my configs below:

VERSIONS:
NCS: 2.4.2
MFW: 1.3.6

###################################################################################################################################
nrf9160dk_nrf9160_ns.overlay:

/*

 * Copyright (c) 2021 Nordic Semiconductor ASA

 *

 * SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Nordic-5-Clause

 */

/ {

  chosen {

    nordic,modem-trace-uart = &uart1;

  };

};

/ {

  chosen {

    ncs,slm-uart = &uart0;

  };

};

&uart0 {

  status = "okay";

  hw-flow-control;

  pinctrl-0 = <&uart0_default_alt>;

  pinctrl-1 = <&uart0_sleep_alt>;

  pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";

};

&pinctrl {

  uart0_default_alt: uart0_default_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 29)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 28)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RTS, 0, 2)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_CTS, 0, 3)>;

    };

  };

  uart0_sleep_alt: uart0_sleep_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 29)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 28)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RTS, 0, 2)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_CTS, 0, 3)>;

      low-power-enable;

    };

  };

};

&uart1 {

  current-speed = <1000000>;

  pinctrl-0 = <&uart1_alt>;

  pinctrl-1 = <&uart1_sleep_alt>;

  pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";

};

&pinctrl {

  uart1_alt: uart1_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 5)>,

      <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 6)>;

    };

  };

  uart1_sleep_alt: uart1_sleep_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 5)>,

      <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 6)>;

      low-power-enable;

    };

  };

};

&uart2 {

  compatible = "nordic,nrf-uarte";

  current-speed = <115200>;

  status = "disabled";

  hw-flow-control;

  pinctrl-0 = <&uart2_default_alt>;

  pinctrl-1 = <&uart2_sleep_alt>;

  pinctrl-names = "default", "sleep";

};

&i2c2 {

  status = "disabled";

};

&pinctrl {

  uart2_default_alt: uart2_default_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 11)>;

      bias-pull-up;

    };

    group2 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 10)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RTS, 0, 12)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_CTS, 0, 13)>;

    };

  };

  uart2_sleep_alt: uart2_sleep_alt {

    group1 {

      psels = <NRF_PSEL(UART_TX, 0, 10)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RX, 0, 11)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_RTS, 0, 12)>,

        <NRF_PSEL(UART_CTS, 0, 13)>;

      low-power-enable;

    };

  };

};

&interface_to_nrf52840 {

    gpio-map = <0 0 &gpio0 17 0>,

               <1 0 &gpio0 18 0>,

               <2 0 &gpio0 19 0>,

               <3 0 &gpio0 21 0>,

               <4 0 &gpio0 22 0>,

               <5 0 &gpio0 23 0>;

};

&pwm0 {

  status = "disabled";

};

/delete-node/ &{/pin-controller/spi3_default/group1/};

/delete-node/ &{/pin-controller/spi3_sleep/group1/};

///delete-node/ &{/leds/};

###################################################################################################################################

prj.conf:

#

# Copyright (c) 2020 Nordic Semiconductor ASA

#

# SPDX-License-Identifier: LicenseRef-Nordic-5-Clause

#

# General config

# Added by DWHITE for modem trace

CONFIG_AT_HOST_LIBRARY=y

CONFIG_UART_INTERRUPT_DRIVEN=y

CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB_TRACE=y

CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB_TRACE_BACKEND_UART=y

CONFIG_UART_ASYNC_API=y

CONFIG_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_LOG=y

CONFIG_LOG_DEFAULT_LEVEL=3

CONFIG_STACK_SENTINEL=y

CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC=y

CONFIG_NEWLIB_LIBC_FLOAT_PRINTF=y

CONFIG_RING_BUFFER=y

# Segger RTT

CONFIG_USE_SEGGER_RTT=n

CONFIG_RTT_CONSOLE=n

CONFIG_UART_CONSOLE=y

CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_RTT=n

CONFIG_LOG_BACKEND_UART=y

# Network

CONFIG_NETWORKING=y

CONFIG_NET_SOCKETS=y

CONFIG_NET_NATIVE=n

# Modem library

CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB=y

# Align the max FD entry to NRF_MODEM_MAX_SOCKET_COUNT(8)

CONFIG_POSIX_MAX_FDS=8

# Enable below for modem trace

CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB_TRACE=y

# Handle modem fault

CONFIG_NRF_MODEM_LIB_ON_FAULT_APPLICATION_SPECIFIC=y

# Use GPIO

CONFIG_GPIO=y

CONFIG_GPIO_NRFX=y

# UART interface

CONFIG_SERIAL=y

CONFIG_UART_ASYNC_API=y

CONFIG_NRFX_TIMER2=y

# Stacks and heaps

CONFIG_MAIN_STACK_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_HEAP_MEM_POOL_SIZE=16384

CONFIG_SYSTEM_WORKQUEUE_STACK_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_AT_MONITOR_HEAP_SIZE=4096

# Device power management

CONFIG_PM_DEVICE=y

# FOTA

CONFIG_HTTP_PARSER_URL=y

CONFIG_FOTA_DOWNLOAD=y

CONFIG_FOTA_DOWNLOAD_PROGRESS_EVT=y

CONFIG_DFU_TARGET=y

CONFIG_DOWNLOAD_CLIENT=y

CONFIG_DOWNLOAD_CLIENT_STACK_SIZE=4096

CONFIG_BOOTLOADER_MCUBOOT=y

CONFIG_IMG_MANAGER=y

# FLASH

CONFIG_FLASH=y

CONFIG_FLASH_PAGE_LAYOUT=y

CONFIG_FLASH_MAP=y

CONFIG_STREAM_FLASH=y

CONFIG_MPU_ALLOW_FLASH_WRITE=y

CONFIG_IMG_ERASE_PROGRESSIVELY=y

# Settings

CONFIG_SETTINGS=y

CONFIG_SETTINGS_FCB=y

CONFIG_FCB=y

# nRF Cloud

#CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_IPV6=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_MQTT=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_FOTA=n

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_AGPS=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_AGPS_FILTERED=n

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_PGPS=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_LOCATION=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_GPS_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

CONFIG_DATE_TIME=y

CONFIG_MODEM_INFO=y

CONFIG_MODEM_INFO_ADD_DATE_TIME=n

CONFIG_AT_MONITOR=y

CONFIG_MODEM_JWT=y

CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_CLIENT_ID_SRC_INTERNAL_UUID=y

#

# SLM-specific configurations

#

CONFIG_SLM_CUSTOMIZED=n

CONFIG_SLM_LOG_LEVEL_INF=y

CONFIG_SLM_EXTERNAL_XTAL=n

CONFIG_SLM_START_SLEEP=n

CONFIG_SLM_DATAMODE_URC=n

# nRF Cloud based location services

CONFIG_SLM_AGPS=n

CONFIG_SLM_PGPS=n

CONFIG_SLM_LOCATION=n

# Serial DFU support

CONFIG_SLM_NRF52_DFU=n

CONFIG_SLM_NRF52_DFU_LEGACY=n

# Added by ## #####

CONFIG_SLM_WAKEUP_PIN=0

CONFIG_SLM_INDICATE_PIN=1

# Carrier Setup from ###

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER=y

#CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_CUSTOM_URI="#################"

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_IS_BOOTSTRAP_SERVER=y

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_VERIZON=y

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_ATT=n

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_LG_UPLUS=n

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_T_MOBILE=n

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_GENERIC=n

CONFIG_LWM2M_CARRIER_SOFTBANK=n

Edit: included modem FW version and NCS version, updated Baud rate to match correct build

[Devon W]

Continuing this issue in a private ticket. I will post updates here in the near future.