nRF9160 Network support in India and Alternate environment to test the same.

[Shashikant]

Dear Nordic Team,

We are developing a custom board with nRF9160 with application of tracting device.

I am new user to this module and designing our device with target of country India.

As mentioned in the datasheet device supports LTE CAT M1 and NB1/NB2 and this networks are not available as of now in India as per my information. Correct me if i am wrong.

Can you please suggest how can i test my custom device in my office premise so that i can get the GPS Data with some other alternative network and send over our server.

Bit confused about the 4G, 4G LTE, LTE Cat M and LTE CatM1. It would be helpful if you can clear my doubts about same.

Please share your suggestions and feedback.

Thank you

[MJD093]

To get started, see the nRF9160 Development Kit page under 'Getting Started' https://www.nordicsemi.com/Software-and-Tools/Development-Kits/nRF9160-DK/GetStarted#infotabs

Download the nRF Connect Desktop Application https://www.nordicsemi.com/?sc_itemid=%7BB935528E-8BFA-42D9-8BB5-83E2A5E1FF5C%7D

In the nRF Connect App, download the 'Getting Started Assistant' app and follow all the steps to set-up the software development kit on your PC.

Once all that is done, the Nordic git repos have many sample programs, including GPS only samples that do not require an active network. I am currently in the same situaion where there is no network at my location and have made great progress in our application regardless of this factor.

GPS does not require a network to be acquired and the nRF9160 is only capable of attaching to the networks LTE-M1 and LTE-NB1.

4G and 4G LTE are the same thing. They are the full LTE network that everyday smart phones connect to. LTE Cat M and Cat-M1 are again the same thing. They are a lower power LTE style network that use a seperate part of the LTE network. M1 is more for mobile IoT devices and whilst has lower power usage than normal LTE, it has restrictions for this bonus. You should probably read into what the network you plan to use will be and how it works before entering development for it.

[Shashikant]

Dear MJ,

Thanks for your response.

I want to send the location data to our andriod application using our MQTT based Server so that we can track the location of device.

Is it possible to connect to cloud without simcard? Any alternate solution for the same?

Awaiting your kind response. 

[MJD093]

Not with the cellular network no. The LTE network requires an active SIM card to provide the basis for the security keys to access the network. Without a SIM card you can't access a network.

However, there are no networks for you to connect to as you said in your original post, so you can't exactly use the nRF9160 to connect to a network. Therefore, the nRF9160 can't connect to the internet. It is possible to use the on-board nRF52840 to send BLE messages to your android phone and it could send the information to the internet. However, this requires direct coding for the nRF52 series of chips as a transport modem and not the nRF9160.