This is the highlights of the new features released from May to November 2015 on the AirVantage Platform.
We recommend the use of MQTT Broker in the following use cases:
The MQTT Broker supports all the features specified in the MQTT standard version 3.1:
All MQTT Broker features are available for these 2 types of topic:
In all cases, devices must be registered on AirVantage to publish data or subscribe to topics.
Find out more from the MQTT documentation .
A new format is now supported by AirVantage to send time series data effectively. It is based on standards: JSON Binary (CBOR) format, Encode delta value and Compress binary stream with zlib (optional). This format can save a significant amount of communication cost and improve the reliability through the reduction in over-the-air transmissions. Moreover, the format can easily be implemented on any constrained devices.
Take a look at the documentation for more information.
Error logs are published to a predefined topic namely errors
to facilitate troubleshooting. Developers and operation staff.
Developer is notified when a message contains an invalid payload in both JSON and time series format. Here’s an example:
{IMEI or SN}/errors/json:
{IMEI or SN}/messages/json
{12346013564 : { "temperature" : 42 } }
invalid character '1' looking for beginning of object key string
Have a look to the documentation for more information.
We highly recommend users to define a unique password for each of their devices, to limit the risk of exposing all devices to unauthorized access. User can now include the individual MQTT passwords when importing a list of new systems into AirVantage with a bulk system import in the Register and the Inventory activity.
GATEWAY[IMEI],GATEWAY[SERIAL NUMBER],NAME,LABELS,MQTT[password]
100000000002013,AB0000004002013,My Optional Name,optional_label,1Pwd4MAPP!
It is also possible to update the MQTT password manually using the Inventory activity.
If you are interested in Sierra’s HL series modules, these new tutorials are for you:
Getting started with HL module on Raspberry PI or Linux-based system
Connecting HL module-based Arduino application to AirVantage
These 2 tutorials detail how to initialize MQTT communication between the HL module and AirVantage from the host processor.
In the first tutorial, we will use the HL module as a pure modem and use the Linux IP stack to setup the MQTT connection. In the second tutorial, the Arduino will require the use of AT commands to send MQTT messages.
These tutorials work for both HL6 and HL8 modules.
For a complete getting started guide to connect an HL module to AirVantage, click here.
This feature allows the AirVantage account administrators to monitor:
My Account
to access the Usages and Sub-accounts dashboards.The Usages dashboard provides an overview of the size and the data consumption of all the systems in your AirVantage account:
This dashboard provides the following information to manage:
For more information, please refer to the documentation .
Several new functionalities have been released to simplify the firmware upgrade operations.
The new Upgrade Status widget gives you a quick view on whether your fleet is up-to-date with the latest firmware. The systems will be split into gateway and module types, and for each type, you will see a summary icon aside. Here are the icons and the related status:
In case an upgrade is suggested, an upgrade button will be provided to kick start the upgrade to the latest firmware version.
The “Upgrade Status” widget is available on the start page. Use the button on top to add this widget to your dashboard.
You can also apply Firmware Upgrade to one or more devices from the Monitor/ Systems page. By default, you will be proposed to upgrade the selected devices to the latest firmware version. You can also choose to select another destination firmware version from our online repository.
From now on, you can select the type of binary to be sent to the module during a firmware upgrade operation. 3 choices are available:
By default, AirVantage selects the Delta+Reverse binary, as the binary size is the smallest and it limits the risk of disrupting the module’s operations. If it is not available, the second choice will be the Delta binary. And the Full binary will be used if the other two are not available.
In some cases, the most appropriate binary is not Delta+Reverse. For example, when the module’s resources cannot support such a “big” binary. In this case, the user should manually select a smaller one.
The following Sierra Wireless modules are ready to be managed in AirVantage: