nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Håkon Alseth — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 13:48:35 GMT

The former answers in this thread is still valid. No changes towards how to interact with the modem.

I'd recommend that you create new cases in general instead of asking questions in older threads.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Leandro Lanzieri — Mon, 07 Oct 2019 11:16:08 GMT

Has there been any changes regarding this? Is there any API to interact with the LTE modem directly? Do you have any suggestions on which would be the best way to integrate this with an existing IP stack?

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Håkon Alseth — Tue, 05 Feb 2019 10:25:12 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="exobrain"]Typically these layers take over hardware features that the OS needs to control, or their runtime behavior has either not been compatible with the OS, or has not been documented enough to be able to work around. So far, the BLE and 802.15.4 radios have been documented well enough at the hardware level to implement our own drivers.[/quote]

The bsdlib is a "thin layer" between the application and the modem, especially when comparing it to our softdevices. Documentation for the bsdlib will follow. in terms of requirements, it uses flash, RAM, and two interrupts (see here: https://github.com/NordicPlayground/fw-nrfconnect-nrf/blob/master/lib/bsdlib/bsd_os.c). More info on the requirements will follow once we reach a non-alpha state on our NCS software solution.

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Amit — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:53:56 GMT

(I don't speak for Branden, but we collaborate on the same project together, so I'm chiming in too)

> Is there a reason why you do not want to use bsdlib in your application?

We're interested in portin Tock OS to the nRF91 (the nRF52 series is already one of the two main platforms for the OS). Supporting modems through an abstraction layer has historically been a problem.

Typically these layers take over hardware features that the OS needs to control, or their runtime behavior has either not been compatible with the OS, or has not been documented enough to be able to work around. So far, the BLE and 802.15.4 radios have been documented well enough at the hardware level to implement our own drivers.

(Anecdotally, I know both Branden and I have used the nRF SDKs independently and they are very nice to use, so we're not complaining!)

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Håkon Alseth — Mon, 04 Feb 2019 14:15:25 GMT

Hi,

[quote user="brghena"]Does that mean that eventually the hardware API for the modem will be released publicly?[/quote]

The BSDlib will be the API to use to communicate with the modem on an AT and IP level. I have not heard anything about opening up for doing this directly, unfortunately.

Is there a reason why you do not want to use bsdlib in your application?

Kind regards,

Håkon

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Branden Ghena — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 19:34:34 GMT

Thanks so much for the quick reply! Does that mean that eventually the hardware API for the modem will be released publicly?

I agree that building on top of the provided archive file and using the socket API could be a workable solution for non-C languages.

RE: nRF9160 Modem Hardware API Documentation

Håkon Alseth — Fri, 01 Feb 2019 13:45:20 GMT

Hi,

The API documentation is not yet finalized, unfortunately, but the header file nrf_socket.h has some information about return codes and similar.

The interface to the modem is provided by the bsdlib, which exposes a berkey socket API, which is widely used in many programming languages, and you should be able to find generic information about the different functions in for instance linux by writing "man getaddrinfo" or any other function you would like to know how works.

Kind regards,

Håkon