Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 11:21:28 GMT

Hi!

Thanks! It can be closed. I supposed it will close automatically if I Verify the answer.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Zeedel — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:55:13 GMT

Hi Heidi,

Thanks for picking this up. Please feel free to close the ticket.

Thanks.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Wed, 13 Jan 2021 10:47:20 GMT

Hi!

Is there anything else I can do for you or should I close this ticket?

Best regards,

Heidi

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Zeedel — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 11:21:36 GMT

Thanks AndreiBaciu,

I took the o2 path, but am in a patchy spot. Our nearest mast malfunctions every now and then and was hoping for a back up plan.

Last I recall is that Vodafone was only affordably available through Arkessa, which was still not suitable for those needing 1 or 2 sims, and was hoping the situation had changed.

Ta.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Fri, 27 Nov 2020 06:22:49 GMT

Hi Zeedel

I mainly deal with development, from what I know, my boss got few demo SIMs from Vodafone. Also in London you can get a O2 normal SIM and it will work with NB-IoT.

I don't have more details, sorry!

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Zeedel — Thu, 26 Nov 2020 21:07:48 GMT

Hi AndreiBaciu,

Would you be able to share how you got ahold of a Vodafone NB-IoT SIM for use in London? Any details on data plans e.t.c. would be great.

Ta.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Wed, 04 Nov 2020 11:01:13 GMT

It seems that Vodafone NB-IoT coverage wasn't to good in central London. But since past two weeks it started to work, for sure they made improvements on the network.

Thank you for help!

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 13:49:26 GMT

[quote user="AndreiBaciu"]Is there a way to keep the same flash layout for 1.3.0. or I should remove pm_static when I develop with 1.3.0 then add it back to build for FOTA file. [/quote]

Do the latter. Remove the file when developing and add it back when you want to build for the FOTA file.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Thu, 10 Sep 2020 12:55:38 GMT

Hi,

I want to update OTA, but I also need to develop the app on 1.3.0 and be able to flash the board from Segger using the programmer and it doesn't work with the new layout.

I tried to update OTA and it seems to work, but as long as pm_static file is in the project, I can't work on the development. Is there a way to keep the same flash layout for 1.3.0. or I should remove pm_static when I develop with 1.3.0 then add it back to build for FOTA file. It means, I should target separately the devices on the field that were flashed with 1.2.0 layout and I can't flash with the same layout the new devices as long as pm_static works only for app_update.hex.

I think that after I add pm_static it builds without bootloader.

This is what I receive after flashing with pm_static in the folder. If i remove it ,restart the project and flash, it works.

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.3.0-rc1-ncs1  ***
[00:00:00.002,838] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Starting bootloader[1B][0m
[00:00:00.008,514] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Primary image: magic=good, swap_type=0x2, copy_done=0x1, image_ok=0x1[1B][0m
[00:00:00.017,761] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Boot source: none[1B][0m
[00:00:00.022,827] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Swap type: none[1B][0m
[00:00:00.221,893] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Bootloader chainload address offset: 0xc000[1B][0m
[00:00:00.229,003] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Jumping to the first image slot[1B][0m
[00:00:00.235,107] [1B][1;31m<err> mcuboot: Protect mcuboot flash failed, cancel startup.[1B][0m

Thank you!

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 15:05:17 GMT

Hi, I'm a little confused.

You said you were updating the firmware OTA, but you are using the Programmer application and flashing directly to the board?

What happens when you try to update via FOTA?

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Wed, 09 Sep 2020 14:31:26 GMT

Hi! I didn't removed the file that's why programmer looked so strange and I supposed it is the problem. But anyway when I flash with version 1.3.0 after I add the file you specified to the project i receive this on the terminal.

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.1.99-ncs1  ***
[00:00:00.002,593] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Starting bootloader[1B][0m
[00:00:00.008,300] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Primary image: magic=unset, swap_type=0x1, copy_done=0x3, image_ok=0x1[1B][0m
[00:00:00.017,578] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Boot source: none[1B][0m
[00:00:00.022,521] [1B][1;33m<wrn> mcuboot: Failed reading image headers; Image=0[1B][0m
[00:00:00.029,357] [1B][1;31m<err> mcuboot: Unable to find bootable image[1B][0m

And this is how it looks on the programer when i add merged.hex file.

This is also the second flash:

*** Booting Zephyr OS build v2.1.99-ncs1  ***
[00:00:00.002,593] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Starting bootloader[1B][0m
[00:00:00.008,300] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Primary image: magic=unset, swap_type=0x1, copy_done=0x3, image_ok=0x1[1B][0m
[00:00:00.017,578] [1B][0m<inf> mcuboot: Boot source: none[1B][0m
[00:00:00.022,552] [1B][1;33m<wrn> mcuboot: Failed reading image headers; Image=0[1B][0m
[00:00:00.029,388] [1B][1;31m<err> mcuboot: Unable to find bootable image[1B][0m

Or I should not flash the firmware after I add the file and it is only for FOTA?

If i delete pm_static I get a undeclared macro even if before adding this file everything worked.

I might do something wrong, but I really hope I can switch to 1.3.0 and be able to do FOTA on the older devices.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 14:32:21 GMT

Hm, why are there multiple HEX files in the "File memory layout"? Did you make sure to remove the HEX file already in that space before adding the new one?

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:29:43 GMT

Hi!

Yes, I've done it, but when I build after this, the code starts overlapping when I want to flash. You can see the merged.hex in the picture below.

I didn't done west update, I just used Toolchain Manager to open v1.3.0 sdk and I opened the project again after I had the pm_static.yam into my project.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 13:12:29 GMT

Hi, updating your FW from 1.2.0 to 1.3.0 via FOTA should be possible.

So, in your original FW from v.1.2.0, in the build folder, you need to extract partitions.yml. Then check out v.1.3.0 and run west update, and then take the "partitions.yml" file and place it in the application root folder and rename it "pm_static.yml". Then build and you can use the .bin file to perform a FOTA update to the device.

Did you do this?

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Tue, 08 Sep 2020 10:05:25 GMT

Hi! After I saw the improvements on network side if I use the last modem and SDK v1.3.0, I worked to make some changes for our code to work with the new SDK, but I was disappointed to see that I can't update the firmware FOTA if the current firmware used SDK 1.2.0.
I can't benefit by the improvements from the newer SDK because I can't update the firmware remotely.

Is there something I miss? Can I use the radio improvements from the new SDK in 1.2.0? Or there is a way to update FOTA between the versions of the SDK?

I can't test the improvements on the devices that matters, the ones in the field. From my tests even if we still have no Vodafone signal in London's office, we might have significant improvements in other places with SDK 1.3.0

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 13:13:21 GMT

Hi!

I updated modem to v1.2.1 and I used SDK v1.3.0, and it seems that it is way faster in finding the available networks. It finds O2 very fast in London, but still we have no Vodafone network.

This update is good, but didn't solved our problem.

Thank you!

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 11:17:06 GMT

Hi!

We use 1.2.0, but i will check with 1.3.0

Thank you!

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Wed, 02 Sep 2020 11:14:22 GMT

Hi again, Andrei!

So, we have had another customer with the same issue as you (NB-IoT coverage in London) and they just reported that they were able to solve it by upgrading nRF Connect SDK from tag v1.0.0 to tag v.1.3.0.

Which NCS version are you using in your development?

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Tue, 18 Aug 2020 09:24:56 GMT

Hi again! So it looks like the device isn't able to find a cell at all. We've looked at all the logs without having anything conclusive to report.

We're planning on doing some internal testing in London for this issue.

Could you provide this geographical coordinates of the problematic stop you mentioned in your original post:

"once we had -65 dBm near a building, but when we cross the corner it disconnected and never connected again in that spot, like the building absorbed all the signal from the cellular tower."

As well as some of the other areas where you have tested the device with no luck.

Edit: what's the reason you are focusing mainly on NB-IoT? If it's for power consumption reasons, you could try out our online power profiler for LTE.

Let me know if you would like me to make this case private before you share any information.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 12:12:18 GMT

Thank you, we will take a look.

FYI, we do not recommend enabling DEEPSEARCH as the search takes 8 times longer, increases power consumption and should not be necessary in London.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Thu, 13 Aug 2020 10:51:58 GMT

Hi,

I finally got remote access to a PC in London's office where we have connected a nRF9160DK with a Vodafone SIM inside.

I Updated modem to v1.2.0 and our code that is set on NB-IoT.

Here you can find the log and the trace for a little more than 10 minutes. I started log and tracing before I flashed because I don't have physical access to reset the board.

And I should update the log with the results of AT+CFUN? which will be in another log file, the one made at 10:41.

devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../2020_2D00_08_2D00_13T10_5F00_12_5F00_46.742Z_2D00_log.txt devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../2020_2D00_08_2D00_13T10_5F00_41_5F00_08.556Z_2D00_log.txt devzone.nordicsemi.com/.../trace_2D00_2020_2D00_08_2D00_13T10_2D00_16_2D00_47.816Z.bin

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Wed, 12 Aug 2020 07:21:44 GMT

Hi again, could you please take a longer trace. The cell search is still ongoing in the trace you attached.

Please start the trace right after the device is switched on and then switch the device off when you have taken a long enough trace.

The trace doesn't give us any information about the parameters for the search because it starts from the middle of searching and stops before the end of the search. Please take a trace that lasts for ten minutes.

Best regards,

Heidi

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 13:57:10 GMT

Okay, thank you! I've forwarded this the trace to the modem team and you'll hear back from me as soon as they find anything or if they request more information.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

AndreiBaciu — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 12:48:51 GMT

Hi, we usually use 1.2.0, but Vodafone asked us to go to 1.1.0 because they tested nRF9160 only with this firmware. I can't check now because I'm not in UK and we should ask someone to test the MFW version. But very probably it is 1.1.0.

Also vodafone UK told us that London is very well covered by NB-IoT.

RE: Bad NB-IoT signal strength in UK

Heidi — Tue, 11 Aug 2020 12:17:33 GMT

Hi, thanks for the trace. Which MFW was used with this trace? 1.2.0?

I see you've been in contact with Vodafone UK. They have confirmed that they definitely have NB-IoT coverage in London?