NimbeLink Skywire NL-SW-LTE-GELS3 User manual

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
Enabling CDC-ETHER Connection
for Skywire
®
CAT1
NimbeLink Corp
Updated: August 2018
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PN 30111 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 1

Table of Contents
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Table of Contents 2
1. Introduction 3
1.1 Orderable Part Numbers 3
1.2 Overview 3
1.3 A Note on CDC_ETHER 3
1.4 Testing 3
2. BeagleBone Black Setup 4
2.1 Overview 4
2.2 BeagleBone Black Setup 4
2.2 Modem Setup 5
2.3 Verify and Test The Connection 6
3. Troubleshooting 8
3.1 No connection in Section 2.3 8
3.2 Connection Stops After a Short Time 9
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 2

1. Introduction
1.1 Orderable Part Numbers
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Orderable Device
Descripon
Carrier
Network
Type
NL-SW-LTE-GELS3
Skywire CAT1 LTE Firmware 4.3.1.0
Verizon
LTE
NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-B
Skywire CAT1 LTE Firmware 4.3.2.0
Verizon
LTE
NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-C
Skywire CAT1 LTE Firmware 4.3.3.0-29979
Verizon
LTE
NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-D
Skywire CAT1 LTE Firmware 4.3.3.0-36343
Verizon
LTE
NL-AB-BBBC
Skywire BeagleBone Black Cape
Any
Any
1.2 Overview
The Skywire® CAT1 LTE modem supports CDC_ETHER, an Ethernet over USB
protocol that allows for an easy data connection. This application note provides a
working example of setting up the CDC_ETHER connection on a BeagleBone Black.
1.3 A Note on CDC_ETHER
For CDC_ETHER to work, the Linux kernel needs to have support for the CDC_ETHER
USB device class built in. If it does, then when the modem is connected via USB, an
ethernet device will simply appear (usually as “usb0”, “usb1”, etc.). If it does not appear,
then chances are the Linux kernel version you have does not support CDC_ETHER.
1.4 Testing
This procedure was tested on the following OSs and hardware:
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Hardware
BeagleBone Black Rev. 3
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Operating Systems Supported
Debian 8.3 (Kernel 4.1.15-ti-rt-r43)
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Operating Systems found as NOT Supported by default
Debian 7.x (Kernel 3.8.x)
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 3

2. BeagleBone Black Setup
2.1 Overview
Setting up the CDC_ETHER connection on the BeagleBone Black allows for automatic           
setup and connection, providing an easy way to get a internet data connection to your              
BeagleBone Black.
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2.2 BeagleBone Black Setup
Start your BeagleBone Black and log in as root .
Edit the following file with your favorite text editor. This example uses nano :
# nano /etc/network/interfaces
There will be setup for having the USB port share internet with your workstation, and
unless it has been edited, will read as follows:
# Ethernet/RNDIS gadget (g_ether)
# Used by: /opt/scripts/boot/autoconfigure_usb0.sh
iface usb0 inet static
address 192.168.7.2
netmask 255.255.255.252
network 192.168.7.0
gateway 192.168.7.1
By default, this enables sharing internet access over the USB port from a PC. Comment
out the lines that set up this connection to prevent conflict with the CDC_ETHER
connection:
# Ethernet/RNDIS gadget (g_ether)
# Used by: /opt/scripts/boot/autoconfigure_usb0.sh
#iface usb0 inet static
# address 192.168.7.2
# netmask 255.255.255.252
# network 192.168.7.0
# gateway 192.168.7.1
Save and close the file, and reboot the BeagleBone Black:
# reboot
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 4

2.2 Modem Setup
You will need to set your APN in the modem. To do this, connect to the modem using a
terminal program such as screen , minicom , or picocom . This example uses
picocom , and the modem will show up as /dev/ttyACM0 :
# picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyACM0
Once connected, issue the following command:
AT+CGDCONT=3,”IPV4V6”,”[your apn]”
replacing [your apn] with the APN of your SIM. For instance, if you setup your
modem with a Public Static IP address, you would enter:
AT+CGDCONT=3,”IPV4V6”,”mw01.vzwinternet”
Depending on the firmware of the modem you are using, you may need to issue an AT
command to enable CDC_ETHER functionality.
To check the firmware of your modem, connect to it using a terminal program such as
screen , minicom , or picocom . This example uses picocom , and the modem will
show up as /dev/ttyACM0 :
# picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyACM0
Once connected, issue the following command to check the firmware version:
ATI
If you have version 4.3.1.0c, exit your terminal program, shutdown the Beaglebone
Black, and power cycle the modem and Beaglebone Black, making sure to remove both
USB and DC power. Reboot, and then continue to step 2.3. If you have version 4.3.2.0,
issue the command:
ATI1
If your version listed on the line A-REVISION is 4.3.2.0-22272 , exit your terminal
program, shutdown the Beaglebone Black, and power cycle the modem and
Beaglebone Black, making sure to remove both USB and DC power. Reboot, and then
continue to step 2.3.
If your version listed on the line A-REVISION is 4.3.2.0-25132 or greater, or
4.3.3.0-29632 or greater, the CDC_ETHER connection does not start on power up.
In order for it to start by default, issue the following command:
AT+SQNAUTOINTERNET=1
Exit your terminal program, shutdown the Beaglebone Black, and power cycle the
modem and Beaglebone Black, making sure to remove both USB and DC power.
Reboot, and then continue to step 2.3. 
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 5

2.3 Verify and Test The Connection
Once the BeagleBone Black has rebooted, log in. The CDC_ETHER connection will
automatically come up as usb1 :
# ifconfig
eth0 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 68:9e:19:8f:eb:0d 
UP BROADCAST MULTICAST DYNAMIC MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:0 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:0 (0.0 B) TX bytes:0 (0.0 B)
Interrupt:177
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lo Link encap:Local Loopback 
inet addr:127.0.0.1 Mask:255.0.0.0
inet6 addr: ::1/128 Scope:Host
UP LOOPBACK RUNNING MTU:65536 Metric:1
RX packets:180 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:180 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:0
RX bytes:14888 (14.5 KiB) TX bytes:14888 (14.5 KiB)
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usb1 Link encap:Ethernet HWaddr 02:10:81:64:82:60 
inet addr:192.168.15.144 Bcast:192.168.15.255 Mask:255.255.255.0
inet6 addr: 2600:1014:b058:dacd:10:81ff:fe64:8260/64 Scope:Global
inet6 addr: fe80::10:81ff:fe64:8260/64 Scope:Link
UP BROADCAST RUNNING MULTICAST DYNAMIC MTU:1500 Metric:1
RX packets:145 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 frame:0
TX packets:204 errors:0 dropped:0 overruns:0 carrier:0
collisions:0 txqueuelen:1000
RX bytes:15402 (15.0 KiB) TX bytes:26119 (25.5 KiB)
You can now test the connection:
# ping google.com
PING google.com (63.84.3.23) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=1 ttl=52 time=45.0 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=2 ttl=52 time=51.0 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=3 ttl=52 time=62.3 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=4 ttl=52 time=54.9 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=5 ttl=52 time=307 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=6 ttl=52 time=55.3 ms
64 bytes from 63.84.3.23: icmp_seq=7 ttl=52 time=59.8 ms
^C
--- google.com ping statistics ---
7 packets transmitted, 7 received, 0% packet loss, time 20066ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 45.068/90.920/307.869/88.724 ms
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 6

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Your CDC_ETHER connection is now setup.
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 7

3. Troubleshooting
3.1 No connection in Section 2.3
Firmware version: 25132 and newer
If you do not get an internet connection with your testing in Section 2.3, user your
terminal program to connect to the Skywire and issue the following command:
AT^SICA?
If the response looks similar to below:
^SICA: 1,1
^SICA: 2,0
^SICA: 3,1
^SICA: 4,0
^SICA: 8,0
Specifically, if the third line read:
^SICA: 3,0
Then the modem was not able to connect to the network correctly. The most common
reason for this is the APN is not correct. Verify that your APN is correct and re-enter it. If
you signed up for service at go.nimbelink.com, the default APN is:
NIMBLINK.GW12.VZWENTP
If you specifically requested a Public Dynamic IP address, the default APN is:
VZWINTERNET
If you specifically requested a Public Static IP address, the default APN is:
MW01.VZWSTATIC
However, this APN differs by region.
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If the above options do not work and you signed up for service through NimbeLink,
please contact us at:
[email protected]
to get your APN information. Please include your SIM ID and IMEI of your Skywire .
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If you signed up for service directly through Verizon or through another partner, please
contact Verizon or that partner to get your APN information. 
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 8

3.2 Connection Stops After a Short Time
If your connection is failing consistently after a few minutes after starting, check if you
have ModemManager installed on your system. If you do, there is a bug in
ModemManager that closes the connection. Disabling or removing ModemManager
fixes the issue.
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To disable ModemManager, issue:
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# killall -STOP ModemManager
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Note: This will need to be issued each time you reboot your system.
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To uninstall ModemManger, use your distribution's package manager. For example, on
Debian and Ubuntu, issue:
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# apt-get remove ModemManager
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This bug has been identified on Ubuntu 16.04 and its derivatives, and the steps outlined
in this section have verified fixing the issue.
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PN 30122 rev 7 © NimbeLink Corp. 2018. All rights reserved. 9