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• Thingy91 with nRF9160 seems to be outdated and not reccomendet for new products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.

[dejans]

Hi,

The lwm2m_client sample should build and run successfully on Thingy91X. However, power usage is not optimized.

cellular_iot said:

But now, after running into issues with some pretty basic things — like just running and debugging the cellular IoT demo app on the latest and greatest demo hardware — we’re starting to feel a bit concerned.

Can you provide more information about the issues you ran into? 

Best regards,
Dejan

[cellular_iot]

please see my oroginal post:

• Thingy91 with nRF9160 seems to be outdated and not reccomendet for new products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 lwm2m_client seems like a 2 day effort, an early prototype, not much is working currently - as a new developer of the nRF connect ecosystem this means like 4 weeks of additional full time work getting the Thingy91X into a state similiar to Thingy91.

• 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, the PMIC etc. have been changed or are not supported (e.g. accelerometer), but the software has not been updated accordingly.

• And just learned - no power optimisation
  
• Nordics own PMIC has no production ready Zephyr support as a charger IC - only some random voltage sensors
• List gets longer and longer

[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