Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

NelsonGoncalves — Tue, 23 Nov 2021 07:32:19 GMT

Well, updating to the latest firmware on the modem and the latest NCS SDK fixed my issues. So probably it was a bug, maybe it was in the NCS part that interacts with the modem firmware.

Given that now my setup is working as we expect, and that the root cause was likely one or more bugs that seem to be fixed, this ticket can be closed.

Hakon, thanks for your time and patience.

Best regards,

Nelson Gonçalves

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

Hakon — Thu, 18 Nov 2021 14:16:55 GMT

[quote user="NelsonGoncalves"]So, to refine my question a little: are there other known similar issues to this one ? [/quote]

I don't think so. In fact, it's very strange that the transition from NCS 1.5 to 1.7 made a difference, since the LTE connection reestablishment is handled entirely by the modem. If there was a bug, it would've been in the modem firmware in any case.

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

NelsonGoncalves — Mon, 15 Nov 2021 15:56:20 GMT

I mean that there is no automatic reconnection after the network kicks the modem out.

I suspect this was a bug that got fixed between NCS v1.50 (it was present) and NCS v1.7.0 (not present anymore) , because once I use the latter SDK version to build and run my test application I did not experience these issues anymore.

So, to refine my question a little: are there other known similar issues to this one ?

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

Hakon — Thu, 11 Nov 2021 17:44:07 GMT

[quote user="NelsonGoncalves"]Is this considered normal behaviour ? Or is it related to one or more bugs that Nordic is currently fixing ?[/quote]

Do you mean getting kicked from the network is not normal, or not reconnecting after is not normal? You should get reconnected automatically I believe, or at least an attempt to reconnect, so that would be a bug if it doesn't.

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

NelsonGoncalves — Tue, 09 Nov 2021 07:28:57 GMT

Hello Hakon,

I obviously understand that the network operation is outside the control of Nordic. And that no matter how good the quality control is at Nordic, bugs can still be present.

For us, "always on" means that the device runs a server which can be reached at any time by a remote client. In our particular case, this implies that the device is always registered on the network, has a valid IP and has a listening TCP socket always open and always reachable.

So far this has been possible with the telecom networks that we have used (mostly in Europe, but also elsewhere) and using LTE CAT-M modems from other manufacturers.

What took us by surprise, in the case of the nRF9160, was this issue: the modem is kicked out of the network after about 50 minutes and does not re-connect automatically.

Our first impression is that our application will need to redo the network setup and registration procedure at least once per hour, and thus will be offline for a couple of minutes every hour.

Is this considered normal behaviour ? Or is it related to one or more bugs that Nordic is currently fixing ?

Best regards,

Nelson Gonçalves

RE: Can the nRF9106 be used as an always on server ?

Hakon — Thu, 28 Oct 2021 14:23:20 GMT

Hello,

[quote user=""]My question is: can the nRF9160 be used as an always on server ?[/quote]

Nordic can't guarantee that this will work flawlessly. You need to make sure that your operator won't disconnect you from the tower, or anything else that is outside of Nordics control. I guess it depends on your definition of "always on server". At least it isn't possible in the literal sense.