Introducing the DM-Link Wired Provisioning Tool

DM-Link is Digital Matter’s wired provisioning and debugging tool designed to simplify and accelerate device onboarding, provisioning, and troubleshooting for our partners. 

Paired with our Provisioning App, DM-Link is a vital tool in debugging connection errors and can be utilized to manually configure APN details, assist with remote troubleshooting, configure parameters, update firmware, and more. 

Why do we need it?

We design our devices to operate in the best configuration possible “out of the box,” to make provisioning and deploying units as quick and easy as possible. 

Our devices cater for over-the-air using our Device Management Platform. Once a device is connected it can update firmware, network parameters, operational parameters, upload debug logs and more. 

There are however occasions when our partners need to configure devices to get on air due to special network or SIM settings, or in the case of non-cellular devices to update firmware or network keys, and this needs to be done via the DM-Link tool. 

DM-Link for Cellular Devices

Troubleshooting Connection Errors on LTE-M and NB-IoT Networks 

DM-Link is a vital tool in debugging connection errors in our LTE-M and NB-IoT asset tracking devices.

To simplify connecting to a network, all 4G/5G Digital Matter devices feature AutoNet. When a recognized SIM card is inserted, the device will automatically select the correct band details from a list that is pre-loaded into our firmware. In our experience most SIM cards / network combinations work to allow the device to get on air “out of the box” whereafter specific use case and network settings can be updated via Device Manager.

In some instances, however, the SIM card or default APN may not be recognized.

On 2G and 3G networks, we could utilize SMS to set the APN and connect to the network by texting the SIM card from any mobile device. However, most LTE-M and NB-IoT networks require the device to be on the data network before SMS will work, and if the device is having trouble connecting, we can’t get any diagnostic data.

By connecting a DM-Link to the device, we can troubleshoot why the device is not connecting to the network and manually configure the correct APN, bands, and network settings if necessary. 

Granting direct access to network configuration settings via DM-Link also allows our partners to select from a wider range of SIM card providers depending on their use case and region, or for higher security applications where a private APN is required. 

DM-Link for LoRaWAN Devices

On LoRaWAN devices, DM-Link is used to configure the region and JoinEUI to connect to a network. A DM-Link can also be used to configure device parameters prior to deployment, and update firmware and Almanac data where applicable.

Once the device is connected to the network, we can configure some device parameters via downlink, however, we recommend pre-configuring device settings before the device is deployed. Although updating firmware over-the-air on LoRaWAN devices is technically possible, it is not always practical on battery-powered devices.