nRF9160 DK AWS IoT cloud setup

[Meriba]

We are using the nRF9160 DK with the Asset tracker example, which is working in combination with the nRF Cloud.

Now we want to use our own AWS account in combination with the nRF9160 DK. Therefore we changed the CONFIG_NRF_CLOUD_HOST_NAME to our host name. But the device will not connect. Are there any other changes necessary? In your example, the certificate test of AWS IoT is disabled, correct?

Do you have a documentation how the device should be configured to connect to the AWS server?
Where are all the settings stored, who are listed in the generated autoconfig.h file? For example changing the NRF Cloud Host Name?

Thank you for any suggestions.

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

As Eric Gross mentions, the easiest approach is to take the MQTT library and use that directly to add your own sever and specific topics.

There's currently a open PR to add a simple mqtt template sample to NCS here:

https://github.com/NordicPlayground/fw-nrfconnect-nrf/pull/385

The easiest way to fetch this is to add ".diff" or ".patch" to the URL, like this:

https://github.com/NordicPlayground/fw-nrfconnect-nrf/pull/385.diff 

Quick howto assuming you have wget (wget for windows is also available) installed:
$ cd /path/to/ncs/nrf

$ wget https://github.com/NordicPlayground/fw-nrfconnect-nrf/pull/385.diff

$ git apply 385.diff

Now the sample should be present in samples/nrf9160/mqtt_simple/

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Meriba]

Thank you all for your suggestions.

The solution with the mqtt_simple is fine, it works also in combination with my MQTT broker.

But it happens some time, that it will not be able to connect to the LTE network, or in the Terminal i see "IPv4 Address found 0x93614854" but after this noting happens, instead of connecting to the MQTT client. Or the device will no longer receive subscribed topics from the server.

Does any one also have such kind of issues with this simple template sample?

[Meriba]

Hi Håkon

Thank you for the information. I understand how the mqtt_simple example works.

It is working but not really stable. Sometimes it will not be able to connect to the MQTT broker, other times it will not receive message on a subscribe topic although according to the serial port output it has connected to the broker and subscribing to the topic:

The MQTT simple sample started

LTE Link Connecting ...

LTE Link Connected!

IPv4 Address found 0x93614854

[mqtt_evt_handler:150] MQTT client connected!

Subscribing to: my/subscribe/topic len 18

I also have other MQTT clients connected to the broker, they all works stable and receive the subscribe topics.

Kind regards
Meriba

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

If you are seeing unstable behavior, its important that you post logs regarding the behavior that you are seeing, so that we can look into why this is occurring.

Do you have the latest modem? It can be found here:

https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Kits/nRF9160-DK/Download#infotabs

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Meriba]

Hi Håkon

I have never updated the modem firmware. Unfortunately I was not able to follow the instructions in the README.rst. How can I install the *.whl package with pyton 3 exactly?

Kind regards
Meriba

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi Meriba,

 

You can install a wheel package like this:

pip3 install path\to\nrf9160_mdm_*.whl

Afterwards you can update the modem by opening a cmd.exe in the path where the modem files are and write: nrf9160_mdm_dfu --update

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Meriba]

Hi Håkon

Thank you, the modem firmware update was successful now.

But with the new modem firmware "0.6.8-30.alpha" all of the example projects have problems while connecting to the LTE network.

For example the asset_tracker will restart after every LTE LC config....

Here is the serial log:

Secure Boot: prepare to jump to Non-Secure image

***** Booting Zephyr OS v1.13.99-ncs2 *****

Application started

LTE LC config ...

***** Booting Zephyr OS v1.13.99-ncs2 *****

Secure Boot: configure flash

Secure Boot: SPU: set region 0 as Secure

Kind regards
Meriba

[Håkon Alseth]

Hi,

 

It sounds like the application is faulting or similar.

Could you compile your project with "CONFIG_DEBUG=y" set in your prj.conf to get additional debug output?

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Meriba]

Hi Håkon

This is the output of the asset_tracker example with the "CONFIG_DEBUG=y" settings:

***** Booting Zephyr OS v1.13.99-ncs2 *****

Application started

Error of type ERROR_BSD_RECOVERABLE: 3

Kind regards
Meriba

[Håkon Alseth]

Are you in debug mode when seeing this? If yes, then the errata #11 might be the reason:

https://www.nordicsemi.com/-/media/DocLib/Other/Errata/nRF9160EngineeringAErratav11pdf.pdf?la=en

Could you try the workaround to see if the issue improves?

 

Kind regards,

Håkon

[Meriba]

Hi Håkon

Yes this workaround was helpful in my case.

Now the nRF9160 works with the MQTT broker, but after 90s inactivity time, it will disconnect from the broker. Could you tell me please, where I can configure this?

Kind regards
Meriba