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Cellular Connectivity Support for Industrial Edge Devices (Cellular Integration)

1. Overview

This document introduces Cellular network interface support for Industrial Edge Devices and is intended for Device Builders integrating this feature into their devices. It explains the supported scope, required capabilities and device prerequisites, and the relevant IEDK/IEM compatibility requirements for cellular onboarding.

2. Scope

USB onboarding only

  • Cellular configuration is currently supported only through USB onboarding. (IEDK v1.28.0)
  • Cellular configuration is available only during device creation via IE Management. (IEM Pro v1.15.16 or later)
  • Regular onboarding methods will be considered in future enhancements.

3. Requirements

Device Type

  • In IEM, add a new device type description for devices that support cellular connectivity.
  • This requires selecting both Networking and GSM Connectivity device capabilities when creating the new device type in the Device Type Generator.

Capability

  • Use capabilities.json (from IEDK v1.28.0 onward), which includes the capabilities required for cellular connectivity:
    • The network capability now exposes two new RPCs, CreateConnection and RemoveConnection, to create and remove a cellular connection using the onboarding JSON configuration (see: host.networkservice)
    • A new capability for cellular network support has also been added (see: host.gsmconnectivity)

IE Device

  • An edge device that supports a cellular module (e.g. IOT2050SM).
  • IEDK v1.28.0 or later must be used, as it includes runtime and reference service updates required for cellular support.

4. Technical Details

Current Scope and Requirements

  • From IEDK v1.28.0 onward, cellular module configuration is supported; specifically, the IE runtime container, network and onboard device-kit services included in this IEDK version provide this functionality.
  • In IEDK v1.28.0, USB onboarding is the only supported method for cellular module configuration.
  • Only one cellular module is supported per device.
  • A SIM card is considered compatible only if its service provider configures the IPv4 field in the corresponding cellular connection profile.
  • The underlying OS must have both NetworkManager and ModemManager installed, because the network device-kit service depends on both to configure a cellular module.
  • A precondition for cellular module configuration is that ModemManager has successfully transitioned the module to the activated state.

Industrial Edge Management Compatibility

Cellular onboarding requires IEDK v1.28.0 or later and IEM Pro v1.15.16 or later. Any combination where either component is below these minimum versions is not compatible.