m-center

The Home page is the main page of the program. From here it is possible to connect the m-center to an Evaluation Kit (EVK), start a modem trace, and display the module information. In the same page it is possible to configure the COM ports, the PIN usage, the module date and time, and the power saving.

The Home page includes the following sections:

• COM Port - It is possible to configure both the AT and Primary TraceLog COM port settings by clicking the "Set port" button. Configure the COM port only when m-center is not using the port (i.e. the "Connect" button has not yet been clicked). The port settings are saved when exiting m-center. The upper side of the window displays the current COM port and the Trace port settings. These buttons are available in the "COM Port" section:
  • Connect / Disconnect - When the user clicks the "Connect" button, m-center connects to the EVK's AT port. After the connection, the "Connect" button name changes to "Disconnect".
  • Initialization - When the user clicks the "Initialization" button, m-center initializes some settings on the module and, if the module is registered on the network, retrieves the module information displayed in the "Modem information" section and network information.
  • Get Info - When the user clicks this button, m-center retrieves the module and network information, but does not initialize any settings on the module connected.
    When the program initializes or "gets info", it checks for the presence of a SIM card. If the SIM card is not present or a PIN number is required, a pop-up box will be displayed.
• Trace operation - m-center is able to capture the trace diagnostic information which is sent by u-blox modules over a specific serial interface. Follow the next steps to configure the trace channel and operation.
  • Trace Port / Trace Socket - The Trace operation can be performed alternatively on the COM port or over an IP socket. Select the "Trace Port" or "Trace Socket" by selecting the proper check box. When the COM port is selected, the port settings can be changed clicking the "Set Port" button. When the Socket mode is selected, it is possible to change the IP address and port by clicking on the "Set IP/Port" button.
  • Start / Stop trace - Click on the "Start Trace" button to start a binary trace. A dialog box opens to ask for the trace filename to be used for storing the module binary trace. By default, the trace file is stored in the m center folder named "trace" with the name "mc-trace.bin". After the trace recording starts, the "Start Trace" button changes its name to "Stop Trace".
  • Trace protocol check - During the trace operation the consistency of the trace data is checked. As the trace data protocol is not the same for all modules, the module type must be identified through the AT port. If the AT port is not available, m-center will perform the trace operation accordingly to the "Trace default protocol" setting which can be defined in the Settings menu. Four different types of trace protocols can be selected: LEON / SARA-G, LISA-U / SARA-U, TOBY-L2 or TOBY-R/LARA-R.
  • Trace AT commands - m-center by default sends appropriate AT commands to the AT port to properly set the trace operation. The sending of these commands can be disabled (or enabled) using the "Trace AT commands" item in the Settings menu.
    During the trace operation the trace file size is shown together with the trace data transfer speed. The consistency of the trace data is checked and the file size of the trace log is continuously updated. If the data flow being analyzed does not match a known trace protocol, the message "Trace Log NOT VALID" will appear. A valid trace will issue the message "Trace Log Valid". If the file size fails to grow, or the trace data is not valid, consider disconnecting the trace port and trying another port.
  
  On TOBY-L1 and MPCI-L1 the trace check cannot be performed.
  On LEON-G / SARA-G the Trace operation can only be performed on the UART COM port.
  On LISA-U / SARA-U / TOBY-L2 / MPCI-L2 / TOBY-R / LARA-R series the Trace operation can be performed on both UART and USB ports.
  On TOBY-L2 and MPCI-L2 the Trace operation can be performed also on socket.
  
• Capture - As an alternative to the Trace operation a simple capture can be performed by clicking on the "Capture" button. In this case the data are saved to a file, without performing any trace setting and without checking the consistency of the data received.
• Modem information - After the AT port is connected and the "Initialization" or the "Get Info" operation is performed, this section displays the information about the connected module (manufacturer identification, device model, firmware version and the module's IMEI). The status bar also briefly displays the module information. At any time this information, as well as the network information shown in the top status bar, can be updated by clicking the Get Info button.
• SIM - This section allows the user to enter the PIN to the module, enable/disable the module SIM lock, as well as to change the PIN.
• Modem date and time - This section displays the current module's date and time. By clicking the button "Set current time", it is possible to set the PC system time in the module, and also to select the time zone.
  The changes only have effect if the SIM card is inserted into the module.
• Power saving - This section allows the user to enable/disable the power saving feature, including the power saving timeout.

Network page

This page displays the network information and lists the available network operators. From here it is possible to manage the packet switched data (PSD) profiles.

• Network Information - This section displays the operator name, the registration status, the operator selection mode, the RSSI, the radio capabilities (GPRS, UMTS, EDGE...) and the cell information (LAC, CI).
  Click the "Refresh Info" button to update the information.
• Network operators list - This section allows the user to view all the networks available on the module. This operation is not automatically performed. To get the operators list, click the "Get List" button. As this action can take some time, a pop-up dialog will appear during the network search. It is possible to abort the operation clicking on the "Abort" button.
  When the network list has been populated, it is possible to select an operator (if allowed) clicking on the "Select Op." button. The operator selection sets the selection mode to manual. It is possible to return to automatic search mode clicking the "Set auto mode" button. It is also possible to deregister the module from the network by pressing the "Deregister" button. Because all these actions can take some time, the wait dialog will appear, giving the user the possibility to abort the operation.
• PSD profiles - Click the "Refresh" button to see a list of all the configured GPRS profiles. Both internal and external profiles are shown. To edit or activate the GPRS profiles, select a profile on the table and click the "Edit" or "Activate" button. The dynamic IP address is shown after the profile activation. When a profile is activated, it is possible to deactivate it by clicking the "Deactivate" button.

Phonebook page

The Phonebook page provides a view of the SIM phonebook, and lists the most recently dialed (mobile originated) calls.
The m-center by default does not load the SIM phonebook and the last dialed calls list. To load the phonebook details, click the "Get List" button. After a few seconds the table is filled with the phonebook entries.

Editing the SIM phonebook

• "Add" - By clicking this button, a new item is added in the phonebook
• "Edit" - With this button the selected item can be modified
• "Delete" - By clicking this button, the selected phonebook entry can be deleted

Sending SMS to phonebook number

SMS Page

• Send text message - After the insertion of the message text and the destination phone number, click the "Send" button to send the message. To clear the "Text" in the textbox, click the "Clear" button.
• Message list and text - The table on the right, lists all the received text messages. To list all the received SMSes click the "Refresh" button. To read a message just click on it and the box below the table shows its content.
  To delete a message, select it in the list and click the "Delete" button.
  After clicking the "Reply" button, the "Destination phone number" box on the left of the window is automatically filled with the phone number of the received SMS.
• Short message service center - The message service center number allows users to send the text message. Even if it is usually automatically detected, because it is stored on the SIM card, the user can configure this number modifying it and clicking the "Set" button.
• SMS notification - SMS notification can be enabled or disabled by clicking the "Enable / Disable" button on lower right part of the window. If the SMS notification is enabled and the option "Automatic reading of RX SMS" is selected, a pop-up will appear when the module receives a message. The pop-up shows the SMS text.

File System page

When a module is connected with m-center, it is possible to perform various operations:

• Press the "Dir" button to get a listing of all files present in the module's memory
• Press the "Store File" button to copy a file from user's PC to the module's File System.
• Press the "Retrieve File" button to copy a file from module's File System to user's PC.
• Press the "Delete" button to delete a file from the module's memory.
• A tag can be defined in the "Tag" box at the top right side of the panel. The tag permits to work with application specific files. Not all modems support tags. If a tag is not supported, when performing a File System operation, an error message will be issued.

Positioning page

This page allows users to geographically locate the module through the CellLocate® feature, a u-blox GNSS receiver connected to the module, or both.

• Sensors - In the upper part of the page it is possible to select the sensor to be used for the localization. A u-blox GNSS receiver and/or the CellLocate® feature can be selected. Click on the corresponding "Test" button to verify the sensor availability.
  The test for GNSS checks the presence of the GNSS receiver. The test for the CellLocate® feature verifies a PSD context activation. (If no context is activated, it is possible to define a new one and activate it on the Network page). A pop up box displays the result of the availability test.
• Localization
  • The "Locate" button performs the module localization. A maximum timeout and the desired accuracy can be set in the boxes above the "Locate" button.
  • The "Scan type" pull-down menu allows users to select the normal or deep scan of the network. The "Scan type" setting is valid only for the CellLocate® feature.
  • After the localization procedure has run, the position data (geographic coordinates, speed and direction) are displayed. The Sensor information indicates the sensor used for localization. A "Last fix" result indicates that the module was not able to perform localization, and that the last known data was used.
  • To display the location on a map, use the position data in the system browser in OpenStreetMap or GoogleMaps web mapping service.

FOTA (Firmware Over The Air) is a procedure for updating the firmware on a connected electronic device, such as on mobile phones and tablet computers.

In m-center, the FOTA demo application upgrades the cellular module firmware by retrieving a "delta-file" from a FTP server and upgrading the firmware using this delta-file.

To start the FOTA application, click the "FOTA On" button in the upper left corner of the page. When the FOTA application starts, m-center checks if the module is registered on the network, and if a PSD context is active. If there is no registration or no context is active, the FOTA application exits. A PSD context can be activated in the Network page.

On the left side of the page there is a FOTA Log box, where all the FOTA operations are listed. To clean the FOTA log click the "Clear Log" button.

Retrieving a delta file from an FTP server

The SMS format is:
<Dwn SMS Tag>:<FTP server address>,<FTP server username>,<FTP server password>,<FTP server path>,<Delta file name>

Example:
FOTADWN:123.123.123.123,Lisa,mypassword,dload/fw,Delta_MSY_FW_91.02_to_91_01_F.upd

In this demo application concatenated SMSes are not supported.
The port number information can be optionally added in the<FTP server address> field using this syntax: <FTP address>:<FTP port> (e.g. 123.123.123.123:8080).

In the FTP Data section, the fields will be filled with the data received from the SMS. The User Nr box will contain the user number.

At the "Download SMS" reception, m-center connects to the FTP server and downloads the delta-file from there. After a successful firmware download, an acknowledgement SMS will be sent to the user that triggered the download.

The delta-file can be manually downloaded by clicking on the "Manual FTP download" button after having filled the FTP Data section with the FTP data and the filename fields.

Upgrading the firmware

The SMS format is:
<Upg SMS Tag>:<Delta file name>

Example:
FOTAUPG:Delta_MSY_FW_91.02_to_91_01_F.upd

In this SMS, the only data sent is the filename of the delta-file, which must be stored in the FS.

The firmware upgrade can be manually triggered by clicking on the "Manual FW upgrade" button after having filled the FTP Data section with the filename field.

During the FW upgrade process, the status bar at the lower left part of the window shows the upgrade progress indication.

After a successful upgrade, the module is rebooted. The m-center will ask for the PIN code if the PIN has been previously enabled. If an SMS triggered the upgrade, an acknowledgement SMS with the new firmware version is sent to the user.

Complete operation

The SMS format is:
<Dwn+Upg SMS Tag>:<FTP server address>,<FTP server username>,<FTP server password>,<FTP server path>,<Delta file name>

Example:
FOTAALL:123.123.123.123,Lisa,mypassword,dload/fw,Delta_MSY_FW_91.02_to_91_01_F.upd

After a successful upgrade and the module reboot, an acknowledgement SMS with the new firmware version is sent to the user.

This page allows users to run a PSAP (Public Safety Answering Point) simulator. It is a system that, in conjunction with a PSAP cellular modem, is capable of receiving a simulated eCall (emergency Call) and the MSD (Minimum Set of Data) transmitted within the eCall.

• To use the PSAP simulator, select the proper COM port in the PCM Audio Port control by clicking on "Set port" button and selecting one of the available COM ports. For the choice of the appropriate COM port, please consult the eCall application note. After this, click the "PSAP On" button.
• From this moment, the PSAP waits for an incoming voice call. At the incoming call detection, the call is soon answered and the PSAP tries to synchronize with the IVS (In-Vehicle System) and gets the MSD. If the synchronization is successful, the PSAP Log panel displays the eCall result and the MSD. The PSAP Trace panel shows the low level progress of the PSAP InBand modem.
• Click the "Data mode" button to re-trigger the MSD sending.
• Click the "Call End" button to disconnect the call.
• At the eCall reception, the IVS number box displays the IVS number (of the caller). The IVS number can be redialed by clicking the "Callback" button.

To open the AT terminal window, click on the "AT Terminal" button at the upper right of the m-center window. In this window it is possible to communicate directly with the module.

The terminal data panel displays all the communications between m-center and the module. All the data sent to the module are displayed in blue text, while the data received from the module are displayed in red text. To clear the contents of the terminal data panel, click the "Clear Terminal" button.

AT commands can manually be entered or chosen in the AT command list on the right side of the window.

Clicking the red close button in the upper right corner of the AT terminal window hides the terminal, although it remains active.

Terminal log

On the top left of the window there is a checkbox that enables/disables the AT terminal log. The log is by default enabled and saved in the m-center "log" folder using the filename "mc_at.log". To empty the log file, click the "Clear Log" button.

Click the "Save as..." button to choose another log filename and path.

Upon exit, m-center makes a copy of the log file in the "log" folder, adding a timestamp to the filename.

Hex mode

Hex mode can be selected with the checkbox in the upper side of the window.

In Hex mode, all the transmitted and received data are shown in both hex and text format. The AT terminal log also reflects this setting.

Entering commands

• Text (single line) - This is the default mode. The text entered in the textbox below the panel is sent to the module and a CR character is appended at the end of the input. The text is sent by clicking the "Send" button or simply by pressing the "Enter" key.
  The AT terminal stores the 20 last commands sent, which can be accessed with the arrow keys or through the drop-down list at the upper right of the window.
• Text (multi line) - This mode is selected through the "Multiline text" checkbox. In this mode, the user can send several lines to the module (including CR characters in the middle of input); the CR character will not be appended at the end of input. This mode can be used to send the +++ escape sequence to the module.
  Select the "Clear buffer on send" checkbox to clear the textbox after sending the data to the module.
• Hex sending - Click the "Send Hex" button to send hex data from the single line or multiline text box. The terminal filters all the text from the text box and only sends hexadecimal characters, with each byte represented by two hex digits. (E.g. from the string "12ga Ak BbCC", four bytes will be sent: 12 AA BB CC.)
• SMS sending - The AT parser automatically detects the SMS sending. After the AT+CMGS command, the message text can be entered in single or multiline mode. A Ctrl-Z is automatically added at the end of the text. Click the "Send" button to signal the end of the SMS. If the text is empty, an <ESC> character will be sent to the module, thus aborting the SMS.

AT command list

On the right side of the AT Terminal window there is a list of predefined AT commands. The commands are arranged into many groups, which can be selected in the drop-down list in upper right corner.

If a command in the list is clicked, it will be inserted in the input text box and a comment-box of the command will be displayed on the right of the command list.

If a command in the list is double-clicked, it will be sent to the module.

AT command list editing

• AT group editing
  To add a new AT Group, select the "---new group---" item in the drop-down list in upper right corner of the AT terminal window.
  Click the "Edit AT Groups" button in the lower right corner of the AT terminal window to open the "Edit AT Groups" dialog. Here it is possible to add, edit, cancel or move more groups.
• AT commands editing
  A new command can be directly added in an empty AT Group by clicking on the "---new command---" item in the right part of the AT terminal window.
  The commands can be further added, edited, cancelled or moved (within a group or between groups), using the "Edit AT commands" dialog. This dialog is opened via the "Edit AT Commands" button in the lower right corner of the AT Terminal window.
• AT command list file
  All the AT groups, commands and comments are stored in the m-center "par" folder, in the file "mc-atlist.par". This file can be edited separately using a simple text editor. If this file is removed, the default command list "mc-atlist.dat", located in m-center root folder, will be used.

Flow Control Lines

The controls of the com port flow control lines are placed at the bottom right of AT terminal window. There are six control lines: RTS, DTR, CTS, DSR, RI & DCD. When the COM port flow control is set to "hardware" the system takes the control of DTR and RTS lines, otherwise they can be set manually. For remaining lines only their status can be observed.

These flow control lines can be enabled or disabled from the setting menu using "Enable/Disable COM port lines" option. Once these lines are disabled it will remain as it is, regardless of the flow control setting from "Set Port".

AT Scripting

At the bottom of AT terminal window there is a panel from which it is possible to select an AT script from a drop down menu and run it. The AT scripts are text files in which every line corresponds to one AT command. It is also possible to define a global time-out in seconds. For every AT command, m-center will wait for a response before moving to the next command. Whenever a timer expires, the script will be aborted, and the remaining commands will not be sent to the modem. The iteration of script can be set in Loop Count. Range is from "0" to "1000". If loop count value is set to "0", the selected AT script will run for indefinite amount of time. Iteration number is displayed in "iteration" label.

• Create New AT Script
  The AT script files have ".atl" extension and are saved in "par\at_script" in the m-center folder. In order to create a new AT script file, open a file in notepad and save it with extension ".atl" at location "m-center\par\at_script". Add AT commands in small or capital letters and save it. Make sure each AT command is entered in separate line.
  
  for example:
  AT+COPS=?
  AT+CLCK="SC",2
  AT+CPIN?
  at+uhfp=1,0x0000,,,,,,,0,0,500,8192,7500,7500,8,100,100,100,60,60,60
  
  
• Add AT Commands in Existing Script
  In order to add new AT commands in existing scripts.
  Go to location "m-center\par\at_script" and open the target script in notepad. New AT command can be added anywhere in the script at new line. Make sure it is added in a new line(not to embed with any other AT command).
  
  for example: adding AT+UPSV? in the previous example
  AT+COPS=?
  AT+CLCK="SC",2
  AT+CPIN?
  at+uhfp=1,0x0000,,,,,,,0,0,500,8192,7500,7500,8,100,100,100,60,60,60
  AT+UPSV?
  
  OR
  
  AT+COPS=?
  AT+CLCK="SC",2
  AT+UPSV?
  AT+CPIN?
  at+uhfp=1,0x0000,,,,,,,0,0,500,8192,7500,7500,8,100,100,100,60,60,60