Loss of wlan0 and potentially wwan0

[groupo]

I have two Sentinel drones (SKU MRB-D0006-4-V1.2-C11-M24-T9-K3) and have this issue on both of them. Prior to inserting a SIM card and running voxl-configure-modem, I was able to access both of their softAPs. I was able able to put one of the drones on my own network, and switch back and forth between station and softAP mode (admittedly, I had not tried this on the other drone). My first drone's wifi stopped working after SIM insertion and configuring the modem, so I switched to the second drone and placed a SIM card in to try and connect to my network. This second drone's wifi stopped working too. I noticed that the wifi adapter does not even turn on anymore (no blue light). Voxl-wifi does not error out but I stepped thru the scripts enough to see wlan0 is undefined (assumingly because the adapter is not even on) and voxl-configure-modem gets stuck waiting for wwan0 to come up. I am not sure if the wwan0 bit has anything to do with the adapter.

I saw some other posts on here with the wrong parts being shipped, but I do not believe that is my issue as it did work at one point. I followed the SIM insertion instructions I saw in a video from ModalAI, and was careful not to mess with any wiring. I am not sure if the wifi stopped upon insertion of the SIM, or after running vox;l-configure-modem, but I believe it is one of those two things that did it. I have since removed the SIM card, but the adapter still does not come online.

I have thought about reflashing the device, perhaps I 'bricked' my wifi as some of the other posts I have seen stated. I came to the forums first before reflashing, as suggested.

Below is voxl-version:

voxl2:/$ voxl-version

system-image: 1.7.6-M0054-14.1a-perf
kernel: #1 SMP PREEMPT Wed Mar 20 19:48:52 UTC 2024 4.19.125

hw platform: M0054
mach.var: 1.0

voxl-suite: 1.2.0

Packages:
Repo: http://voxl-packages.modalai.com/ ./dists/qrb5165/sdk-1.2/binary-arm64/
Last Updated: 2023-03-02 12:58:54
WARNING: repo file has changed since last update,
packages may have originated from a different repo
List:
kernel-module-voxl-fsync-mod-4.19.125 1.0-r0
kernel-module-voxl-gpio-mod-4.19.125 1.0-r0
kernel-module-voxl-platform-mod-4.19.125 1.0-r0
libfc-sensor 1.0.5
libmodal-cv 0.4.0
libmodal-exposure 0.1.0
libmodal-journal 0.2.2
libmodal-json 0.4.3
libmodal-pipe 2.10.0
libqrb5165-io 0.4.5
libvoxl-cci-direct 0.2.1
libvoxl-cutils 0.1.1
modalai-slpi 1.1.12
mv-voxl 0.1-r0
qrb5165-bind 0.1-r0
qrb5165-dfs-server 0.2.0
qrb5165-imu-server 1.0.1
qrb5165-rangefinder-server 0.1.1
qrb5165-slpi-test-sig 01-r0
qrb5165-system-tweaks 0.2.6
qrb5165-tflite 2.8.0-2
voxl-bind-spektrum 0.1.1
voxl-camera-calibration 0.5.4
voxl-camera-server 1.9.1
voxl-ceres-solver 2:1.14.0-10
voxl-configurator 0.5.6
voxl-cpu-monitor 0.4.8
voxl-docker-support 1.3.1
voxl-elrs 0.1.3
voxl-esc 1.4.0
voxl-feature-tracker 0.3.2
voxl-flow-server 0.3.3
voxl-fsync-mod 1.0-r0
voxl-gphoto2-server 0.0.10
voxl-gpio-mod 1.0-r0
voxl-jpeg-turbo 2.1.3-5
voxl-lepton-server 1.2.0
voxl-libgphoto2 0.0.4
voxl-libuvc 1.0.7
voxl-logger 0.4.0
voxl-mavcam-manager 0.5.3
voxl-mavlink 0.1.1
voxl-mavlink-server 1.4.0
voxl-modem 1.0.9
voxl-mongoose 7.7.0-1
voxl-mpa-to-ros 0.3.7
voxl-mpa-tools 1.1.5
voxl-neopixel-manager 0.0.3
voxl-open-vins 0.4.4
voxl-open-vins-server 0.2.18
voxl-opencv 4.5.5-2
voxl-platform-mod 1.0-r0
voxl-portal 0.6.5
voxl-px4 1.14.0-2.0.68
voxl-px4-imu-server 0.1.2
voxl-px4-params 0.3.8
voxl-qvio-server 1.0.2
voxl-remote-id 0.0.9
voxl-streamer 0.7.4
voxl-suite 1.2.0
voxl-tag-detector 0.0.4
voxl-tflite-server 0.3.2
voxl-utils 1.3.9
voxl-uvc-server 0.1.6
voxl-vision-hub 1.7.4
voxl2-system-image 1.7.6-r0
voxl2-wlan 1.0-r0

[groupo]

An update after some additional testing:

I turned on one of the drones without the SIM this AM to find the WIFI adapter was coming online and working, just like the pre-SIM behavior. I tried taking the SIM out of the other drone, but that WIFI adapter still will not turn on. I poweroff -f the drone with working WIFI, put the sim in, and reboot. the WIFI adapter no longer turns on, and wlan0/wwan0 are both non-existent with the same behavior I discussed last week.

further testing, I ran configure-modem on the SIMless drone, which had no impact on the wifi. It seems that putting the SIM card in is what is causing this behavior

[tom]

@groupo Can't say I've seen anything like that before. Can you confirm that the M0090 add-on board is fully seated onto the VOXL 2 with both connectors fully inserted

[groupo]

@tom This may be my issue, I still had the standoffs unscrewed so I could take the SIM card out easier. Which two connectors are you referring to? Will rescrew the standoffs in the meantime

[tom]

@groupo The two board to board connectors, J2, and J4 as seen here: https://docs.modalai.com/5G-Modem-datasheet/#j2-voxl-2-board-to-board

I would also ensure that the modem card is fully seated in the M0090 add-on as well

[groupo]

I tightened the standoffs back down and the wifi adapter came back on! Also, wwan0 is up for the modem now too. thanks @tom

[tom]

@groupo great to hear!

[groupo]

@tom I have a lot of modem-related trouble shooting I would like to do before coming here for actual help, but while I am going thru that, I'd like to broach our use case and see if you have any initial reservations about it. We are running a private LTE network. I know the APN and am calling voxl-config-modem accordingly, but am running into some qmi errors. While I am digging thru some of voxl-modem and voxl-modem-start to see if I can get a handle of what is going on, do you know if this use case is supported?

[tom]

@groupo The private network would have to be compatible with the flavor of modem hardware you're using but that is something other customers have done in the past so I don't see any issues with that plan

[tom]

@groupo Are you using a Quectel or Sierra modem?

[groupo]

@tom we are using the sierra, I noted in another post that it is the 9291 and I see only an option for the 9191, but one of the other devs (Alex?) had said that the 9191 option would be fine

[groupo]

@tom I also will note, modem-flavor-wise, it is B3 LTE network (though, we are in America) which is supported in the datasheets

[tom]

@groupo Yeah that option in voxl-configure-modem is correct, I should update it in the future to make it more clear.

This is what gets run on boot with that option: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-modem/-/blob/master/scripts/voxl-modem-start?ref_type=heads#L122

For that modem, voxl-modem just acts as a wrapper for qmicli: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-modem/-/blob/master/scripts/voxl-modem-start?ref_type=heads#L147

and udhcpc: https://gitlab.com/voxl-public/voxl-sdk/utilities/voxl-modem/-/blob/master/scripts/voxl-modem-start?ref_type=heads#L160

Feel free to modify the script as needed to fit your application