S2-10630-Z1J52
Supplier number:
SIMCom presents an ultra compact and reliable wireless module SIM7230E which is based on
Qualcomm MDM9225 multiple-mode LTE platform.
SIM7230E is a complete multi-band LTE/HSPA+/HSPA/UMTS/EGDE/GPRS/GSM/GNSS MINI PCIE module designed with very powerful processors integrating application core: ARMv7 CortexTM A5(1GHz), dual Telecom core (Up to 500Mhz), Cortex-M3 core, allowing customers to benefit from small dimensions and cost-effective product solutions with low power consumption in high-speed Download and upload.
To develop applications and to test the mPCIe module separately the article 10069 Techship MiniPCIe Developer Kit incl. Technical support could be very helpful.
What Linux kernel modules and configs are commonly used for communicating with cellular modules over their USB interface?
Most cellular modules can be supported in Linux by using som of the in-kernel drivers. The physical data interface to the host Linux system is usually done over USB which enumerates a set of different endpoints/interfaces. A set of serial interfaces for Modem/PPP, AT commands, NMEA location data and chipset debug information are almost always available in all configurations.
In addition some type of network endpoint/interface are also available and exposed. This can vary between manufacturers and chipset vendors and can also commonly be configurable by using USB configuration mode switching or through vendor specific AT commands.
Recommended kernel configurations to enable are listed bellow. Many cellular modules base their Linux support on these modules and drivers. Once included in the kernel build, the USB interfaces will be detected and bound correctly out-of-the-box or after applying source code patches to the driver modules.
Configs for USB serial drivers:
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_GENERIC
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_WWAN
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_OPTION
CONFIG_USB_SERIAL_QUALCOMM
CONFIG_USB_ACM
Configs for Modem/PPP support:
CONFIG_PPP
CONFIG_PPP_BSDCOMP
CONFIG_PPP_DEFLATE
CONFIG_PPP_FILTER
CONFIG_PPP_MPPE
CONFIG_PPP_MULTILINK
CONFIG_PPPOE
CONFIG_PPP_ASYNC
CONFIG_PPP_SYNC_TTY
Configs for USB network drivers:
CONFIG_USB_USBNET
CONFIG_USB_NET_QMI_WWAN
CONFIG_USB_NET_CDCETHER
CONFIG_USB_NET_RNDIS_HOST
CONFIG_USB_NET_CDC_NCM
CONFIG_USB_NET_HUAWEI_CDC_NCM
CONFIG_USB_NET_CDC_MBIM
Please relate to the Techship product specific web pages for vendor specific Linux integration guides.
Below is a selection of kernel commits relating to cellular module support in Linux kernels:
qmi_wwan: Add support for Fibocom NL678 series
qmi_wwan: Added support for Telit LN940 series
qmi_wwan: Added support for Fibocom NL668 series
USB: serial: option: add support for GosunCn ME3630 RNDIS mode
USB: serial: option: add support for Simcom SIM7500/SIM7600 RNDIS mode
USB: serial: option: add Simcom SIM7500/SIM7600 (MBIM mode)
USB: serial: option: add Fibocom NL678 series
USB: serial: option: add Telit LN940 series
USB: serial: option: add Fibocom NL668 series
USB: serial: option: add GosunCn ZTE WeLink ME3630
qmi_wwan: apply SET_DTR quirk to the SIMCOM shared device ID
If you use any of the listed cellular modules, drivers and specified USB modes in the commits above, ensure that your kernel version already include the patch or apply it to your build.
How to collect initial diagnostics data and logs for Simcom cellular modules, needed when requesting Techship technical support?
In order to troubleshoot and solve a technical problem, we ask you to please provide information about your host system and logs from the related Simcom module when creating a technical support ticket.
Detailed problem description and in what situations it present or can be reproduced.
Describe the host system:
-Hardware (system board, peripherals...)
-Operating system and detailed versions (E.g. Windows, Linux release, kernel...)
-Drivers and driver versions
Identify the precise details of cellular module found on label:
-Model
-SKU/BOM or P/N code
(For RMA returns the IMEI number is mandatory)
If you are running on a Linux based system, please capture the terminal logs bellow:
uname -a
lsusb
lsusb -t
ifconfig -a
ls -l /dev/serial/by-id
ls -l /sys/bus/usb-serial/devices
dmesg
The logs from the cellular module firmware can be acquired by accessing the USB enumerated serial (COM) interfaces accepting AT commands. They can be named modem, AT, PC UI etc. (In Windows device manager, found under modem or serial interfaces). Send the following AT commands bellow to module and capture the output and include them when creating the the technical support ticket.
Test that you get a reply with command:
AT
Command echo enabled:
ATE1
Basic module info:
ATI
Detailed module version info:
AT+SIMCOMATI
Verbose error reporting:
AT+CMEE=2
Last error report:
AT+CEER
Firmware version:
AT+CGMR
AT+CSUB
IMEI Code:
AT+CGSN
USB endpoint configuration:
AT+CUSBPIDSWITCH?
List current configuration:
AT&V
Operational mode:
AT+CFUN?
Pin status:
AT+CPIN?
Request UE system info:
AT+CPSI?
Preferred network mode:
AT+CNMP?
Preferred band selection:
AT+CNBP?
Preferred acquisition order:
AT+CNAOP?
List network operator info:
AT+COPS?
Network registration status:
AT+CREG?
Network EPS registration status:
AT+CEREG?
Signal strength:
AT+CSQ
Packet domain attach status
AT+CGATT?
List APN details/PDP profiles:
AT+CGDCONT?
AT$QCPDPP?
PDP profiles attach status:
AT+CGACT?
Show PDP IP address:
AT+CGPADDR
AT+CGCONTRDP
RM network interface status:
AT$QCRMCALL?
The support ticket can be created after login at: https://techship.com/technical_support/
How to use NetworkManager and ModemManager in Linux to automatically establish a cellular data connection and configure IP details?
Using NetworkManager and ModemManager in Linux to automatically establish a connection and configure IP details
In this FAQ we will show how to set up NetworkManager to automatically configure, establish the cellular data connection in your system.
NetworkManager and ModemManager are open source tool for Linux to manage several types of networks and interfaces such as ethernet, wifi, etc. It can also manage cellular WWAN interfaces through the ModemManager tool.
It is hosted by the Freedesktop.org community and driven by Aleksander Morgado and other contributors. please visit https://wiki.gnome.org/Projects/NetworkManager and https://www.freedesktop.org/wiki/Software/ModemManager/ for latest information, source code, API reference manuals, debugging tips, contribution, mailing list etc.
ModemManager is capable of communicating over several types of device control channels such as QMI/RMNET, MBIM, MODEM / AT command etc. But support for vendor proprietary or out-of-kernel drivers are none or very limited. Such drivers are gobinet, simcom_wwan and other drivers provided by the vendors directly.
Many Linux distributions have NetworkManager and ModemManager pre-installed or they can typically easily be installed through the systems package manager.
In Ubuntu for example apt can install it for you by command if not already installed:
apt install network-manager
Check with commands below that you have both tools installed in system and their versions.
NetworkManager -V
ModemManager -V
ModemManager (and NetworkManager) are continuously developed for better compatibility with the cellular devices, therefore it is recommend to use a recent version of the tools and in case of problem situations, evaluate the latest versions from source and check the mailing list archives for possible discussions on the problem experienced.
Keep in mind that NetworkManager and ModemManager projects are not directly developed or driven by the cellular device vendors and the compatibility with the device you aim to use can be limited. Some vendors contribute with code to make their devices fully compatible, while others don't. Many cellular devices can be set to expose standardized types of USB network interface and control channel such as MBIM interface by USB-IF or the Qualcomm proprietary interface QMI that ModemManager will try to identify, and often manage to work successfully with but there are exceptions also.
Both NetworkManager and ModemManager have command line interfaces (nmcli and mmcli respectively) where you can interact with the management tools.
Relate to the following FAQ if you want more details for using ModemManager only to configure and control the cellular device but manually establish, maintain the connection and network interface IP address details.
How-to guide: control and set up a data connection in Linux using ModemManager as connection manager?
Have ModemManager list all the cellular device it has detected. Here we use the Alcatel IK41 series with MBIM interface in this example:
mmcli --list-modems
/org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0 [Alcatel] Mobilebroadband
General details and status of them modem can be listed with "--modem" option.
mmcli --modem=0
-----------------------------
General | dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/Modem/0
| device id: 998e478c5b14c75e16bffe6abaacabef22fb2f5b
-----------------------------
Hardware | manufacturer: Alcatel
| model: Mobilebroadband
| firmware revision: MPSS.JO.2.0.2.c1.7-00004-9607_
| carrier config: default
| h/w revision: 0
| supported: gsm-umts, lte
| current: gsm-umts, lte
| equipment id:
-----------------------------
System | device: /sys/devices/pci0000:00/0000:00:14.0/usb3/3-1
| drivers: option1, cdc_mbim
| plugin: Generic
| primary port: cdc-wdm0
| ports: cdc-wdm0 (mbim), ttyUSB0 (at), ttyUSB2 (at), wwan0 (net),
| ttyUSB1 (qcdm)
-----------------------------
Status | lock: sim-pin
| unlock retries: sim-pin (3)
| state: locked
| power state: on
| signal quality: 0% (cached)
-----------------------------
Modes | supported: allowed: 2g; preferred: none
| allowed: 3g; preferred: none
| allowed: 4g; preferred: none
| allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 3g
| allowed: 2g, 3g; preferred: 2g
| allowed: 2g, 4g; preferred: 4g
| allowed: 2g, 4g; preferred: 2g
| allowed: 3g, 4g; preferred: 3g
| allowed: 3g, 4g; preferred: 4g
| allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 4g
| allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 3g
| allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 2g
| current: allowed: 2g, 3g, 4g; preferred: 2g
-----------------------------
Bands | supported: egsm, dcs, pcs, g850, utran-1, utran-8, eutran-1, eutran-3,
| eutran-7, eutran-8, eutran-20, eutran-28
| current: egsm, dcs, pcs, g850, utran-1, utran-8, eutran-1, eutran-3,
| eutran-7, eutran-8, eutran-20, eutran-28
-----------------------------
IP | supported: ipv4, ipv6, ipv4v6
-----------------------------
SIM | dbus path: /org/freedesktop/ModemManager1/SIM/0
Check that the cellular device is managed by NetworkManager by not having state "unmanaged" listed for it.
nmcli device status
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
cdc-wdm0 gsm disconnected --
enp3s0 ethernet unmanaged --
lo loopback unmanaged --
Now you should create a connection profile in NetworkManager for your specific network carrier and SIM card with the "nmcli connection add" command:
For example:
nmcli connection add type gsm ifname '*' con-name '3-sweden' apn 'data.tre.se' connection.autoconnect yes gsm.pin 0000
- type is gsm for all typical cellular connections unless it is of cdma type.
- ifname is the control interface name, in this case cdc-wdm0, wildcard can be used also to have it autoselect.
- con-name is the profile name you want to give it.
- apn is provided by your network carrier and tells the modem what attach point it should use for the data connection.
- connection.autoconnect set to yes will make NetworkManager always try to auto connect and maintain this profile connection.
- gsm.pin lets you provide a pin code for the SIM card, that NetworkManager will try to use if PIN check is enabled for SIM card.
There are several additional commands and attributes available such as username and password settings for the APNs etc. Refer to the NetworkManager help and manual pages for full details on the commands.
If successful you should receive a reply similar to this one:
Connection '3-sweden' (cad6fcbf-2cb1-4796-b7e6-67b9f9635aef) successfully added.
You can check the status now by command:
nmcli device status
DEVICE TYPE STATE CONNECTION
cdc-wdm0 gsm connected 3-sweden
enp3s0 ethernet unmanaged --
lo loopback unmanaged --
Where connected should be listed as state if the connection establishment was successful.
If the connection is not successful or you want more details about the device and connection you can check commands:
You can list the current status with command:
nmcli radio
WIFI-HW WIFI WWAN-HW WWAN
enabled enabled enabled enabled
nmcli device show cdc-wdm
GENERAL.DEVICE: cdc-wdm0
GENERAL.TYPE: gsm
GENERAL.HWADDR: (unknown)
GENERAL.MTU: 1500
GENERAL.STATE: 100 (connected)
GENERAL.CONNECTION: 3-sweden
GENERAL.CON-PATH: /org/freedesktop/NetworkManager/ActiveConnection/18
IP4.ADDRESS[1]: 2.68.73.130/30
IP4.GATEWAY: 2.68.73.129
IP4.ROUTE[1]: dst = 2.68.73.128/30, nh = 0.0.0.0, mt = 700
IP4.ROUTE[2]: dst = 0.0.0.0/0, nh = 2.68.73.129, mt = 700
IP4.DNS[1]: 80.251.201.177
IP4.DNS[2]: 80.251.201.178
IP6.ADDRESS[1]: 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:1060:3dff:feac:e92f/64
IP6.ADDRESS[2]: 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:6474:7254:7b72:eb09/64
IP6.GATEWAY: 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:21e6:9049:6cfb:8ac3
IP6.ROUTE[1]: dst = ff00::/8, nh = ::, mt = 256, table=255
IP6.ROUTE[2]: dst = 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11::/64, nh = ::, mt = 700
IP6.ROUTE[3]: dst = ::/0, nh = fe80::21e6:9049:6cfb:8ac3, mt = 1024
IP6.ROUTE[4]: dst = 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11::/64, nh = ::, mt = 256
IP6.ROUTE[5]: dst = ::/0, nh = 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:21e6:9049:6cfb:8ac3, mt = 700
IP6.DNS[1]: 2a02:aa0::55
IP6.DNS[2]: 2a02:aa0::56
nmcli connection show
NAME UUID TYPE DEVICE
3-sweden e946017f-2e9c-477b-89ad-4c31e7331d65 gsm cdc-wdm0
Ifconfig should now show the related IP address details already set to the network interface by NetworkManager:
ifconfig
wwan0: flags=4291 mtu 1500
inet 2.68.73.130 netmask 255.255.255.252 broadcast 2.68.73.131
inet6 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:6474:7254:7b72:eb09 prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0
inet6 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:1060:3dff:feac:e92f prefixlen 64 scopeid 0x0
ether 12:60:3d:ac:e9:2f txqueuelen 1000 (Ethernet)
RX packets 186 bytes 10886 (10.8 KB)
RX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 frame 0
TX packets 5 bytes 480 (480.0 B)
TX errors 0 dropped 0 overruns 0 carrier 0 collisions 0
You can now for example test the connection over the network interface by sending ping requests.
Testing IPV4 connection:
ping -4 -I wwan0 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) from 2.68.73.130 wwan0: 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=118 time=55.8 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=118 time=45.4 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=118 time=42.9 ms
--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
3 packets transmitted, 3 received, 0% packet loss, time 2003ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 42.918/48.053/55.845/5.601 ms
Testing IPV6 connection: (if your cellular device, network subscription and APN supports it)
ping -6 -I wwan0 2600::
PING 2600::(2600::) from 2a02:aa1:1017:6d11:1060:3dff:feac:e92f wwan0: 56 data bytes
64 bytes from 2600::: icmp_seq=1 ttl=46 time=172 ms
64 bytes from 2600::: icmp_seq=2 ttl=46 time=171 ms
64 bytes from 2600::: icmp_seq=3 ttl=46 time=169 ms
64 bytes from 2600::: icmp_seq=4 ttl=46 time=168 ms
--- 2600:: ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3004ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 167.921/170.037/172.272/1.651 ms
The connection is successful and automatic reconnect is working when testing to unplug and plug in the device again.
For additional configurations, commands and available attributes, please relate to the manual pages for NetworkManager and ModemManager.
Troubleshooting logs:
NetworkManager and ModemManager write log messages to the Linux syslog file /var/log/syslog.
In case of problems with establishing a cellular data connection, please copy the logfile after the problem have appeared and include it in a Techship technical support ticket.
In some situations more detailed debug logs are needed, these can be acquired by changing the log levels for NetworkManager and ModemManager and run them manually.
To capture debug logs, please first disable and stop the normal services:
systemctl stop NetworkManager ModemManager
systemctl disable NetworkManager ModemManager
Run them manually in background with debug level set:
/usr/sbin/ModemManager --log-level=DEBUG &> /dev/null &
/usr/sbin/NetworkManager --log-level=DEBUG &
Reproduce the cellular data connection problem.
Once completed, kill the processes:
killall -TERM NetworkManager ModemManager
Copy the relate messages in syslog to a mm-nm-sys-debug.log logfile:
grep -E 'ModemManager|NetworkManager|systemd|dbus-daemon|dhclient' /var/log/syslog > mm-nm-sys-debug.log
Activate and start the services again:
systemctl enable NetworkManager ModemManager
systemctl start NetworkManager ModemManager
Include the mm-nm-sys-debug.log in a technical support ticket at Techship.com where you describe the issue in details and include other relevant information also such as kernel version, ModemManager and NetworkManager versions, dmesg log etc.
The SIMCom module SIM7230 mPCIe is showing as a disk unit. How can I make the module to be detected as a module instead?
The module SIM7230 is intended to be detected as a disk. There is no setting that needs to be made to make it work as a module as well. Just follow the integration guide and you'll be able to use SIM7230 as a module as well.
The idea is that SIMCom shall be able to place documents on the module as well. The modules I've tried have had the latest AT Command guide when shipped on the module.