Thingy91X unsuable with lwm2m_client

[cellular_iot]

Hello Nordic Team,

we’re evaluating nRF91 for our next product platform (being strong in LoRaWAN since years) and hoped to quickly run some first field trials with the recommended lwm2m_client.  Unfortunately, after several weeks, we are facing multiple blockers:

• Thingy91 with nRF9160 seems to be outdated and not reccomendet for new products
• The original Demo App Thingy91 is still shipped with, is not available in Source anymore
• Thingy91X with nRF9150 software seems like an early prototype, not much is working currently

• Debugging in the recommended IDE (VSCode, nRF Connect SDK extension) still doesn’t work reliably after three weeks of effort.

• It appears that the lwm2m_client was not actually developed or tested with the Thingy91X.

• No sensor is working out of the box

• Merging sensor configs back from Thingy91 is a dead end as well - some sensors have been changed or are not supported (e.g. accelerometer), but the software has not been updated accordingly.

This is surprising, given the Thingy91X is being actively promoted as the new poster child for nRF91. The current state of software support (especially for LwM2M, which is highlighted in documentation and marketing) makes it nearly impossible to evaluate the platform for real-world use.

Is there any way to get lwm2m_client fully running with debugging, sensor values, and low power on Thingy91X in the short term?

• Are there any upcoming updates, workarounds, or early-access branches that properly support the new board and sensor configuration?

• What’s the recommended path for teams that want to start field trials (not just hardware bring-up) now with the Thingy91X and LwM2M?

We’d really appreciate a clear statement or guidance on how to proceed – and ideally, some pointers to working example code for the Thingy91X.

Many thanks in advance for your support and any quick fixes or timelines you can provide.

[cellular_iot]

We've seen, there is another sample using LWM2M which seems to be way more up to date with Thingy91X: nrfcloud_multi_service. As we are a renowmned manufacturer of standard compliant products, a nordic-specific cloud is no option for our customers.

Questions:

• is it possible to use nrfcloud_multi_service for any generic LWM2M cloud backend first and foremost Leshan?
• Which way would you guys expect to be the less expensive for our new product platform of LTE-M/NB-IoT based battery driven IoT devices - extending and optimizing lwm2m_client or nrfcloud_multi_service?
  
  

Thanks a lot!

Update: its Coap only, not LWM2M

[Achim Kraus]

Yes, the nrf/samples/cellular/lwm2m_client seems to come currently with a bad user experience and an gap in the docu. 

I tried it with NCS 2.9.1 and a Thingy:91X. It builds and after adding the credentials in leshan it also connects to the leshan. So far, so good.

Now I tried to add an observe for the temperature (that's what lwm2m is). In order to get that effective, it requires a registration update from the device to receive that observe request.
There the sample_description.rst stops (line 266) and leave the users where ever. I'm sure, if someone is patient enough, the next registration update will be triggered by time ... but that hint is also missing after line 266.

> Which way would you guys expect to be the less expensive for our new product platform of LTE-M/NB-IoT based battery driven IoT devices

I'm an other user, but for which reasons did you chose lwm2m?

Quite a lot of applications may be less expensive just using CoAP/DTLS 1.2 CID instead of LwM2M. That depends much more on the intended functionalities.

[Achim Kraus]

Sorry, but would it be possible for you to be a little more precise?

cellular_iot said:

Thingy91X with nRF9150 software seems like an early prototype, not much is working currently

In my experience (not using the lwm2m client), the migration of Thingy:91 apps to the Thingy:91X worked pretty well. Only when using NCS 2.6.4 the BMM350 sensor required some attention according the quiescent current. Newer NCS version have that fix already included.

The environment sensor worked "out-of-the-box" without changes in my app. (I don't use the others, so I don't know their state.)  

So I guess, some statements should be better:

"Thingy91X with nRF9151 lwm2m software seems like an early prototype, not much is working currently".

"No sensor is working out of the box with the lwm2m sample" 

"no power optimisation with the lwm2m sample"

"PMIC not supported by (newer) zephyr charger API and requires the sensor API to be used"

And yes, there is some space for improvements, but my "mileage" is very different from yours.

[cellular_iot]

And just to be clear - most things in life are about trust. The experience so far with nRF connect SDK and VScode integration together with Thingy91X has just damaged a big part of the trust we had in Nordic's nRF ecosystem.

[dejans]

Hi cellular_iot ,

Your mentioned points are very diverse and are not best suited for a single ticket. I suggest that you separate your points and potentially make several tickets with related questions, and provide more specific information about the issues you have.

Best regards,
Dejan

[dejans]

Hi,

I understand that it might not be easy when things are not going smoothly as expected, but we are here to try to assist you and address your specific issues. Providing more specific information regarding your issues would help us to better understand your problems and provide best possible support thus restoring damaged trust.

I have reached out to our developers internally to get their view on your points.

Please note that replies might get delayed due to vacations.

Best regards,
Dejan

[cellular_iot]

We did create multiple tickets for issues multiple times, after 4+ weeks we still cannot debug Thingy91X, a tiny demo app is not fitting into Thingy91's flash if lwm2m logging is enabled, Thingy91X current state of lwm2m_client firmware is far from beeing ready to run some field tests because there are no sensors, no PMIC, no low power. Its just an early development stage which with a lot of open issues.