Before we jump into the tutorial, let us check all the items required for this is available with us and prepare our hardware.
Hardware Prerequisites
Most of these are the parts you will receive when you order the Cellular Modem Kit with Telit modules. The goes as follows:
- Raspberry Pi (Model 3B+ and 4 are recommended)
- Sixfab 3G/4G & LTE Base HAT
- Telit LE910C1 mini PCIe LTE CAT1 Module or Telit LE910C4 mini PCIe LTE CAT4 Module or Telit ME910C1-WW mini PCIe LTE CATM Module
- LTE Full Band PCB Antenna
- LTE – GNSS Dual u.FL Antenna
- 40 pin header
- Right Angle Micro USB Cable
- Sixfab SIM or other SIM
Hardware Setup
Make sure the right antenna is connected to the right port. Attach LTE full band PCB antenna/LTE connector of the LTE-GNSS dual antenna to the main Antenna interface/diversity antenna interface & GPS Antenna portion goes to the GNSS antenna interface.
Telit LE910C1 Antenna Interface
Telit ME910C1 Antenna Interface
Checking Driver
Then open up a terminal and run the commands below. Expected outputs are as follow:
🌐 Internet Connection
There are many methods of establishing an internet connection to the HAT. These are:
1. Sixfab Core(Recommended for Sixfab SIMs)
Sixfab Core is a solution for maximum LTE connection uptime and hustle-free remote access to a deployed device.
docs.sixfab.comFeatures
- Single Click Modem Installation
- Low Latency Remote Terminal Access
- Remote Network Diagnostics
- Preventive Maintenance
- Network Settings
Visit our site to register and use on Sixfab Core
2. ECM (Ethernet Control Model)
ECM (Ethernet Control Model) is the easiest method in order to provide an internet connection to your single-board computer such as Raspberry Pi.
3. PPP (Point to Point Protocol)
PPP is a data layer communication protocol that is established through the serial port of the modem. These Serial port communication could be either the UART(/dev/ttyS0) or the serial exposed to USB(/dev/ttyUSB3). This serial is also used for both modem commands (AT commands) and responses. This connection is established by dial-up (ATD*99#).
PPP is easy to establish, widely used protocol, and flexible with the devices. PPP may show a drop of the connection while using the AT command set for other functionality of modem.
The LTE radio protocol has native support of TCP/IP and IPv6, so there is no need to actually wrap TCP/IP into PPP over the radio interface. The PPP protocol is just used between the computer and the modem to make the connection look like a legacy dial-up modem-based network connection.
4. QMI(Qualcomm MSM Interface)
To get rid of the legacy cruft, newer ways to present USB-connected LTE modems like QMI and MBIM have been developed.
Quectel modules offer QMI(Qualcomm MSM Interface) which is established as a real network interface, such as ethernet(typically shows as wwan0). The QMI is also counted among the non-AT protocols which are communicated over /dev/cdc-wdm0 port.
In order to establish a connection, proper qmi/gobinet proxy should be installed, which again depends on the chipset of the module/modem and the kernel of Linux, gets a bit complicated. The QMI offers a more accessible and faster connection compared to the PPP protocol.
We recommend QMI, if you are looking for a faster connection, and for a longer duration.
If you need to establish an internet connection for a short period of time and the date to be transferred is not high, you may stick to PPP.
Click on the appropriate tutorial from the tutorials section to set up the internet connection or discover other tutorials.
Updated 2 months ago