RoadTest: AVNET Monarch LTE-M Development Kit -- EU
Author: skruglewicz
Creation date:
Evaluation Type: Development Boards & Tools
Did you receive all parts the manufacturer stated would be included in the package?: True
What other parts do you consider comparable to this product?: Avnet Azure Sphere Development Kit Arduino Nano 33 IoT Although not a complete LTE solution.
What were the biggest problems encountered?: 1. Signing up for a Verizon ThinkSpace account. The process was not very straight forward. I had to get and use 2 passcodes from Email and Phone to continue. was not really mentioned but implied on the signup form. The modem kept disconnecting, but like a cell phone I probably had not enough bars in my work area. 2. There was a steep learning curve for the evaluation of the kit. No problems were encountered. I did learn a tremendous amount about the Kit. 3. THINGSPACE Monthly Change... very cumbersome to cancel... You will need to report it through the Support Message Portal. You CANNOT TALK WITH A SUPPORT PERSON.
Detailed Review:
The Ultimate goal of this product, as I see it, is to Develop prototype software for the Sequans Monarch Go LTE Modem. The kit can be used to implement prototype Applications that benefit from LTE wireless broadband communication. The development kit provides a platform to Develop, Test and QA embedded software before it is released to Production. The kit is comprised of hardware components from 3 hardware companies (Avnet, Sequens, NXP) and 1 Telecom company (Verizon).
Updated [ July19 2021]
If you are planning to use the kit in Europe, you should read this review AVNET Monarch LTE-M Development Kit -- EU - Review created by Jan Cumps
He has done a great job testing the Modem using SIM cards available from European services.
Updated [June 19 2021] Verizon Thingspace service PROBLEM ... BEWARE
It has been a few months since I finished my review and I was still getting billed monthly for the service. I decided to deactivate my device so I would not keep getting charged. I figured I would reactivate it in the future for my next project using LTE. I imaged, it would be as easy as going to the Portal that I described in this review and deactivating my Device, since that was the place I connected and paid for my device to begin with. I followed the deactivating link on the device and the status would not change from ACTIVE. I checked the LOG and It stated it failed, but didn't explain why?
So, It didn't work as planned! Essentially, I ended up Removing my account altogether and received an email stating that my Credit Card has been deleted for my account. Which is good but I had deleted my account? was my account still active? was I going to be billed? all these questions and more I relayed to Customer Support through the online support messaging system, since you can't talk to people it seems anymore.
Any way, I received an email stating that I would be helped and It could take 24 hours. I did receive another email in about 2 DAYS, stating that my account was credited and I had a zero balance on my account. They never answered my other question about why the portal didn't work for me. A little frustrating to say the least. And I won't know if I'll be billed on my Credit Card for another Monthly subscription to the service. I'll need to wait for my next Credit Card statement in a month to see if I was charged again. It's not a lot of cash ($1.61/month) but if your not using it for a while then it can ADD UP.
Any way, the take away here is that Signing up for a monthly service plan is very cumbersome to pause the service and get POSITIVE reinforcement that it is in fact paused and you will not get a monthly charge for something your not using. Verizon needs to put more time and resources into making this billing Portal work properly, giving a reason for failure and supplying better support on the usage of the portal.
This review focuses on the development of embedded software, rather then the Hardware. The only hardware focus is on attaching sensors to the kit. My goal is to focus my review on the software process of the implementation of LTE IoT Applications using the kit.
This is my first RoadTest and I am thankful to element14 for the opportunity to review this piece of tech. I do not have an electronics background, but I am interested in IoT. My background is more on the software side, with a Bachelors of Science Degree in Computer Science from Boston University. I Graduated from BU in 1980 and had been working as a Software Engineer since then until I retired in 2018. I've been presently experimenting with IoT and I've used a few Development kits. I'm not keen on soldering (my dexterity is not as good as it use to be !) So, Development Kits allow me to experiment without soldering.
This Review is challenging me to learn a new MCU embedded software development environment as well as a new technology namely LTE. Also using a new LTE service and API in the Verizon ThingSpace service. I will be conducting experiments, using the kit to run it through is paces. I'll be using examples from the the element14 Monarch Go page and a set of workshops presented by the Avnet Engineers, I'll make comments and notes on each experiment that I do in this review. Since I'm following experiments that are on the community I will not be including content from them, but rather giving a link and commenting on my results. I'll also try to conduct some experiments with some sensors, that I have lying around using the kit and knowledge that I acquired from experimenting with the kit.
This card was also in the box, but it was not in the video.....
Follow the workshop for an excellent overview of the Development kit
The Monarch Go Workshop: Part 1: Deep Dive into the Monarch LTE-M Development Kit
The event is over but View the Event Recording here.
Component List | Diagram | Layer Block Diagram |
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I found this page very helpful in Understanding the use of this component
Monarch Go Workshop: Part 2: Introduction to Azure IoT Central Out of Box Example
Here is a picture of the demo running on my Windows 10 Workstation, The kit is between the 2 monitors.
the Demo project it's important to perform the following task. I missed this and spent a considerable amount of time trying to Debug the demo.
1) Go to https://thingspace.verizon.com/iot-marketplace/ where you will need to complete these steps:
a) Select a connectivity plan (choose one of the six listed monthly plans)
b) Sign-up for a Developer Connectivity Account and pay for selected plan with a credit card
c) Activate your Verizon-certified Monarch LTE-M device
2) Use the ICCID and IMEI details from the label on your Monarch Go modem when activating this device in your ThingSpace account
https://www.element14.com/community/external-link.jspa?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.mikroe.com%2Frelay-click
The MikroE Microbus Shuttle attached to the Arduino Shield | The MikroE Relay Click attached to the Shuttle | A Lamp plugged in to relay 2 on the click (Green wire ) and the Main Power |
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The Pin Routing Tool workspace will appear (Refer Below)
and code will be generated in 2 files in your project in the /board directory
pin_mux.c and pin_mux.h
You don't need to modify these files the tool generates the code for you. Note the code additions in
pin_mux.c
const uint32_t Relay1 = (/* Pin is configured as PIO1_1 */ IOCON_PIO_FUNC0 | /* Selects pull-up function */ IOCON_PIO_MODE_PULLUP | /* Standard mode, output slew rate control is enabled */ IOCON_PIO_SLEW_STANDARD | /* Input function is not inverted */ IOCON_PIO_INV_DI | /* Enables digital function */ IOCON_PIO_DIGITAL_EN | /* Open drain is disabled */ IOCON_PIO_OPENDRAIN_DI); /* PORT1 PIN1 (coords: 59) is configured as PIO1_1 */ IOCON_PinMuxSet(IOCON, BOARD_Relay1_PORT, BOARD_Relay1_PIN, Relay1); }
pin_mux.h
/* Symbols to be used with GPIO driver */ #define BOARD_Relay1_GPIO GPIO /*!<@brief GPIO peripheral base pointer */ #define BOARD_Relay1_GPIO_PIN_MASK (1U << 1U) /*!<@brief GPIO pin mask */ #define BOARD_Relay1_PORT 1U /*!<@brief PORT peripheral base pointer */ #define BOARD_Relay1_PIN 1U /*!<@brief PORT pin number */ #define BOARD_Relay1_PIN_MASK (1U << 1U) /*!<@brief PORT pin mask */
You will need to modify the blinky main file by adding defines as follows.
led_blinky.c
/*******************************************************************************
* Definitions
******************************************************************************/
//Add the following
#ifndef BOARD_Relay1_GPIO
#define BOARD_Relay1_GPIO GPIO
#endif
#define BOARD_Relay1_PORT 1U
#ifndef BOARD_Relay1_PIN
#define BOARD_Relay1_PIN 1U
#endif
//change the existing LED variables to point to Port and Pin respectively.
#define BOARD_LED_PORT BOARD_Relay1_PORT //BOARD_LED_BLUE_GPIO_PORT
#define BOARD_LED_PIN BOARD_Relay1_PIN //BOARD_LED_BLUE_GPIO_PIN
Note where these defined variables are used in main()
Now Connect the lamp to the Click on relay 2. I use a Christmas Extension with the switch removed. The other end of the extension plugs into Main Power and I can plug anything in this end to be switched.
That's it debug the code. and hopefully see the lamp turn ON and OFF
The modified Blinky Example clicking the connected lamp On and Off
It is very important to perform the following to you code, so that Azure IoT can identify your device. If you get this wrong, no data will appear in your IoT Central dashboard.
1) In your MCU application, navigate to msft_Azure_IoT\demo section then open the
msft_Azure_IoT_clientcredential.h header file
2) Edit line #22, adding the Azure DPS provisioning service as the MQTT Broker Endpoint
"global.azure-devices-provisioning.net"
3) In your Azure IoT Central application, select your real device,
then click on Connect to open the Device Connection dialog.
4) Copy the Scope ID (ID Scope) and Device ID values to the header file
#define clientcredentialAZURE_MQTT_BROKER_ENDPOINT "global.azure-devices-provisioning.net"
#define clientcredentialAZURE_IOT_SCOPE_ID ""
#define clientcredentialAZURE_IOT_DEVICE_ID ""
5) This application also includes some code to support the simpler Shared Access Signature (SAS) authentication. This requires SAS Primary Key for connecting your real device also needs to be added. While still in this Device Connection window, click on Shared Access Signature (SAS) then copy to the clipboard the Primary key that is displayed…
6) Back in MCUXpresso, under the msft_Azure_IoT\demo section that you accessed before, open msft_Azure_IoT_clientcredential_keys.h and edit line 14, adding the SAS Primary Key that you have just copied from the Azure IoT Central application
#define keyDEVICE_SAS_PRIMARY_KEY ""
8) Save after checking the edits you made in msft_Azure_IoT_clientcredential_keys.h
It is critically important that the active build configuration be set correctly! before the build.
In the MCUExpresso "Project Explorer",Right-click on the project name and set this as shown below…
Use this pin diagram to connect the RelayClick/MirobusShuttle to the kit.
Follow the schematics starting at:
I'm using the MikroE RELAY Click with the pins as described as:
You will need to modify the pin configurations to enable the PWM & CS pins
You will need to identify which NXP LPC55S69 pin this is connected to. Utilizing the schematics below. I'll walk you through this process
First define the 2 relay pins on the Click:
Corresponding to the 2x8 header the the Microbus Shuttle plugs into (refer to the diagram below)
then determine the pinout going from the Shield to the EVK (Taken from Arduino Shield schematic)
GRAPHIC COUTESY OF elment14 member jafoste4
Determine where these pins go on the LPC55S69 chip (Taken from EVK Schematic)
GRAPHIC COUTESY OF elment14 member jafoste4
As you can see the
REFERENCES | ||||||||||||
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Monarch GOA place in the community where you can get Tech specs reference designs Tech Documents Recent Content answered by jafoste4 an Advent Engineer. | Monarch Go | |||||||||||
Using the Kit with Azure Demo | Introduction to Azure IoT Central Out of Box Example | |||||||||||
Monarch Go Workshops
Follow along with engineers from Avnet as they give you a hands on experience using the Monarch LTE-M Development Kit, |
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NXP LPC55S69-EVK Development Environment Setup | ||||||||||||
Technical Documents | Monarch LTE-M Development Kit Product Brief Product Brief - Monarch Go LTE-M Development Kit
LPCXpresso55S69/LPCXpresso55S28 Development Board User Manual (REV 1.5 ) LPCXpresso55S69/LPCXpresso55S28 Development Board User Manual PDF 6.3 MB 15 May 2020 UM11158 [ English ] Hardware Guides AES-SQN-MNRCHGO-SHLD1-G Hardware User’s Guide Getting Started Guide Quick Start Card - Monarch LTE-M Development Kit Azure IoT Central Getting Started Guide Schematics Monarch Go Arduino Shield Schematic Monarch Go Arduino Shield Product Brief Product Brief - Arduino Shield Hardware Guides AES-SQN-MNRCHGO-SHLD1-G Hardware User Guide Getting Started Guide Quick Start Card - Monarch Go Arduino Shield Azure IoT Central Getting Started Guide Schematics Monarch Go Arduino Shield Schematic
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Top Comments
Nice review.
I appreciate the honest reviews that include the problems found. Congratulations!
Nice road test report.
DAB
Thanks Stephen. This is a great piece of work.
Randall Scasny