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The following table shows the changes done with every NB | EASY version:

Software Installation

Basic software requirements

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• The required UART driver has been distributed as part of the Linux kernel since v4.4.132.

• Check whether the required kernel module is loaded: lsmod | grep option.

• Check whether you have read/write access to the USB-UART bridge: ls -la /dev/ttyUSB*.

• Download the NB | EASY jar-file from the Software & Drivers for Vodafone LPWA Products.

• Start the program via the command line: java -jar Vodafone-NB-EASY-x.x.x.jar.

Device Selection

After starting the application, the Device Selection tab is shown first. Here the to be controlled NB device can be selected.

1. The Refresh button starts a new search of connected NB devices via COM port5. An ongoing search is indicated by a moving progress bar below the button.

2. After the search is finished all available device are displayed. By clicking on the NB|DEV KIT, it will be selected for usage. After that the Quick Start tab is shown.

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Figure 1:Device selection tab

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The top area of the application shows the selected device and its current state.

1. Device name and its parameters

   1. Name of selected NB device and its hardware revision

   2. Firmware version installed on the NB device

   3. EASY interface version used by the NB device EASY interface

   4. IMEI: International mobile equipment identity.

2. Modem Status: shows the current status of the device.

3. Attach to network: triggers an Attach or Detach of the device depending on the modem status

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Figure 3 : Device State description

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The modem status indicates the following states:

Figure 4: Modem status description

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In the detached state, the device is not able to transmit data to the NB-IoT network. First, an attach procedure needs to be triggered, including the following steps:

1. Select the NB-IoT network in the drop down menu.

2. Click on the Attach to network button to start the attachment procedure to the selected NB-IoT network

Note: Be aware that the inserted SIM card must correspond to the selected network, otherwise the attach procedure will fail.

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In the attached state the device is now able to transmit data via the NB-IoT network.

1. Button to start a transmission to the cloud of the entered text ( 2 in figure 6) as well as the current cell information.

2. Text field to enter example text to be transmitted when button (1 in figure 6) is pressed.

3. Button to start a cell information update.

4. List which shows all received cell information of the last successful cell information update (see Displayed parameters in figure 8 below).

5. Button to open IoT Manager website to view all successfully transmitted values as described in figure 7.

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Figure 6 : Attached state description

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Figure 7 : IoT Manager web site

Tab 1: Displayed network parameters

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Once switched to the AT commands , the device cannot switch back to the EASY mode to do it , you need to unplug the device and restart the connection .

1. Switch between "AT" and "Easy" mode.

2. Message send by the device or the host.

3. Button to empty the list view (2 in figure 9)

4. The complete communication log history is recorded and can be saved in a text file.

5. List of AT commands

6. Select a single AT command to be sent to the device. The message string will be copied to message text field (8 in figure 9 ) .

7. Button to start sending of the AT command (8 in figure 9) to the device.

8. Message text field. The message to be sent to the device can be edited further.

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Figure 9 : Control center

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The tool uses live data from the NB-IoT network to calculate the expected battery lifetime, energy consumption and datarate.

1. Button to start the NB-IoT performance calculation.
   The application sends real test data to the Cloud via NB-IoT to be able to record the needed time and energy consumption in the current NB-IoT cell.

2. Button to get more information about the performance calculation and its assumptions in more detail. Performance Tab

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Figure 13 : NB-IoT performance

Abbreviations

Tab 2 : Abbreviations