FAQs about the CTM-200

This describes activation use the command line via a local telnet session or console session via the CTM-200 serial interface.

Activation via the command line interface is supported only on Sierra Wireless CDMA/EVDO data devices with the TruInstall feature disabled. For all other devices, activate the device using a laptop. There are two methods, OTASP is a single command entry and the simplest. If OTASP does not work, follow the Manual Activation instructions.

The CTM-200 accepts DC power, voltage range from 5.5 to 36 Volts, a car typically outputs 12-14 Volts. An AC to DC adaptor can also be used to supply power from a 110 Volt AC system, Cypress sells an accessory wall adaptor.

The power cable has three wires:

• Red: +V DC supply (+5.5 to +36VDC)
• Black: 0V return (chassis ground)
• White: Standby (+V for operation, Off for standby)

A 5 Amp “slow-blow” fuse is recommended in the +V supply line. The white operate/standby wire can be connected to a switch, for example, the accessory position on a vehicle ignition switch. This is useful if you want the CTM-200 to shutdown when the vehicle ignition is switched off and will prevent the battery from being drained. To bypass any ignition sensing simply connect the white wire to the red wire.

A CTM-200 can be configured to send an email to an email address with report messages (such as device status or GPS coordinates) when the power on the device is switched off and back on.

Configuring the CTM-200:

cmd pupcond 1 1 (sets the pup (power up) condition 1 to be enabled, you can have up to 8 conditions.

cmd pupreport 1 555 (tells the CTM-200 to use report 555 as the report to use when pupcond 1 is triggered, report 555 can be any report from 1 to 999)

cmd reptype 555 0 6 (tells the CTM-200 to use email as the method of sending the power up report)

cmd repaddmes 555 82 (adds the NMEA $GPRMC message to the report number 555)

cmd emailsrv xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx (configures the CTM-200 to use email server, xxx.xxx.xxx.xxx. Note: you will need an email server that will allow you to route messages from the wireless data device)

cmd repemail 555 youremail@… (tells the CTM-200 to send the contents of report 555 to the specified email address)

cmd save (saves the above configuration)

In order for the modem and Ethernet devices connected to the CTM-200 to be remotely accessible from the Internet, the CTM-200's phone card must be assigned a public IP address by the wireless carrier network. Remote access to the CTM-200 from the Internet is not possible when the carrier assigns it with a private IP address unless you have access to the Private IP subnet.

Once you have verified that your CTM-200 has a public IP address, you will need to configure the CTM-200's port forwarding feature. Port Forwarding is used to route incoming packets from the wireless network to a device connected on the LAN. Incoming packets sent to the CTM-200’s wireless network IP address and port will be routed to the selected LAN device.

One may have an Ethernet-enabled data logger with its own Telnet server on TCP port 23 and Web server on TCP port 80. You can configure the CTM-200's port forwarding feature using the following steps:

Step 1. Configure the IP address settings of the Ethernet device
Set the Ethernet device either to:

• obtain an dynamic IP address from the CTM-200 via DHCP, OR
• use static IP address of 192.168.1.20 with default gateway 192.168.1.1.

Step 2. Connect a PC to the CTM-200 and configure the port forwarding
You can configure the CTM-200 using a PC via Telnet/serial port or via the Advanced page of the CTM-200's embedded Web server:

Telnet/serial port commands:

Web page configuration:

Remote access settings and port forwarding rules can also be configured from the CTM-200 web pages from Network | Firewall and Network | Port Fwd, respectively. A "Save Changes to Page", "Save configuration", and power cycle are required for these settings to take effect.

The CTM-200s IP address on the LAN is 192.168.1.1 (port labelled WAN) or 192.168.2.1 (port labelled LAN), by default. In the above example, the default remote configuration servers of the CTM-200 have been moved to arbitrary external ports, 2323 for Telnet and 8080 for Web. This ensures that the CTM-200 can still be remotely configured even though its Telnet and Web servers are no longer at the default ports for Telnet (TCP port 23) and Web (TCP port 80).

Step 3. Connect the Ethernet-enabled device to the CTM-200
You should now be able to remotely connect to the Ethernet-enabled device by using the CTM-200's IP address and either TCP port 23 for Telnet access or TCP port 80 for Web access.

If your CTM-200 is assigned a dynamic IP by the carrier, consider enabling the CTM-200's remote reporting feature or the CTM-200's dynamic DNS feature to ensure you always know the CTM-200's IP address even when changes.

The commands via SMS feature is supported only on CTM-200 devices that support SMS services. This feature is built into the firmware and no additional device configuration is required to enable commands via SMS.

CTM-200 commands may be issued via a SMS text message sent from a mobile phone or from a cell phone carrier’s web site for execution on the CTM-200 upon receiving the SMS message. One or more commands may be included in the body of a SMS text message up to a maximum message size of 166 characters. The destination of such a SMS message is the phone number of the device which may be obtained by entering cmd dir from a Telnet or serial port console session.

Message format for CTM-200 commands via SMS:
NNNN:<command> <parameters> … NNNN:<command> <parameters> … (up to 166 characters)

Where:
NNNN is the last 4 digits of the CTM-200's ESN
<command> is the command to be executed. cmd should not be included in <command> and commands do not have to be separated by a linefeed (<CR><LF>)
<parameters> are the parameters for each command

Example: If the last 4 digits of the CTM-200’s ESN are 1234

Two commands separated by a space in SMS message:

Three commands separated by <CR><LF> for each line of the SMS message:

Yes, by setting cmd iocond with the correct parameters, the CTM-200 can send a message, email or SMS when the device IP address changes. This can be useful in situations where the IP addresses are dynamic and change without notice. If you need to access the CTM-200 remotely, you will need to know the current IP address.

Example:

will send report # 4 whenever the IP address of the CTM-200 changes.

1. Define the IP address and port you want the GPS reports sent to:
cmd gpsremip 1 XXX.XXX.XXX.XXX where the IP address of the monitoring server.
cmd gpsremport 1 YYYY where the PORT is the listening port on the monitoring server.

2. Define the condition that a GPS report will be triggered:
cmd gpscond 1 1 30, there are many options, but this setting triggers a report to be generated every 30 seconds, see gpscond for a full description.

3. Define the report configuration:
cmd gpsrep 1 0 3, this will send the report over the wireless link, using UDP protocol.

4. Define the messages that will form the body of the report.
cmd gpsaddmes 1 3 80 82, adds 3 messages to the report, 3= modem ID, 80= NMEA $GPGGA, 82= NMEA $GPRMC

5. Save your configuration.
cmd save

The above configuration assumes, that the IP address and PORT of the monitoring server is known. Firewall settings may have to be changed on the monitoring server in order to allow data packets to be received. Above configuration uses report (1) of 8 available GPS reports. 33 different messages types are available for report, see CTM messages for the complete description.

Reports that are available remotely via the wireless link are also available locally via, the serial port interface and/or the local Ethernet connection.

cmd gpsrep 1 1 3 will configure the report to be sent to the local serial port AND wirelessly using UDP format.

cmd gpsrep 1 5 3 will configure the report to be sent to the local ethernet port in a TCP packet AND wirelessly using the UDP format.

Store and Forward (SNF) should be enabled in areas where there are gaps in cellular coverage. SNF will detect out of coverage conditions and store the report data in non-volatile memory until coverage resumes, at which point the stored data will be forwarded.

gpsrep 1 0 3 1 will store report # 1 data in memory if an out of coverage condition is detected.

cmd snfdelay 30 waits 30 seconds after the CTM-200 regains coverage before forwarding stored data packets.

Additional steps are required to configure the universal watchdog for detecting out-of-coverage conditions and trigger SNF for wireless data devices without diagnostic support. Please refer to the Store and Forward with Universal Watchdog.pdf application note for details.

In most cases when the CTM-200 is configured for automatic operation (cmd autoconnect 1), it will remain connected to the network, and if disconnected will reconnect automatically. In some cases, extra steps need to be taken to ensure network connectivity.

The netwd command will monitor incoming data packets and will reconnect if a user configurable interval expires without detecting network traffic. This command is typically used in conjunction with the ping command.

cmd netwd 10 6 looks for incoming traffic from the network at 10 second intervals. If no data traffic is detected for 6 consecutive intervals (6 x 10 = 60 sec), the command will disconnect and reconnect to the network. If a reconnect does not resolve the issue (approx 10 seconds reconnect time), the command will cycle the CTM-200 power completely (approx 50 seconds reconnect time) after an additional 6 intervals of no data.

ping 10 www.google.com ping the URL www.google.com every 10 seconds. This command generates incoming data packets that the netwd command is looking for.

cmd save saves above settings.

Note: configuring the CTM-200 for these commands will increase overall data transfer volume which could have an affect on the selected rate plan, and associated costs.