Cellular Communication

The main goal for this is to have a hive sending data in areas not covered with network cable to house or outside WiFi range. There is also a problem with sites without AC power. This is also covered in the section for Solar Panel.

My setup for this is:

• Raspberry Pi
• HAT board
• Weighing cells
• 2 x DHT22 Temperatur / Humidity sensors
• TSL2591 Lux sensor
• Edimax E180 3G modem
• WiFi from Raspberry

There are several things to think about

1. Is this the only hive to be connected to internet.
2. If there is more that one, you need to set it up as a router.
3. If there is only two hives a ethernet cable between would be the most power effeciant.
4. If there is more than two, you need a ethernet hub or using wifi between hives (wifi use a lot of power)

1. Only one hive connecting

Connect USB modem to pi
Check that you can see the USB modem:
$ lsusb
Bus 001 Device 004: ID 0c45:7401 Microdia
Bus 001 Device 006: ID 12d1:1003 Huawei Technologies Co., Ltd. E220 HSDPA Modem / E230/E270/E870 HSDPA/HSUPA Modem
Bus 001 Device 003: ID 0424:ec00 Standard Microsystems Corp. SMSC9512/9514 Fast Ethernet Adapter
Bus 001 Device 002: ID 0424:9512 Standard Microsystems Corp. LAN9500 Ethernet 10/100 Adapter / SMSC9512/9514 Hub
Bus 001 Device 001: ID 1d6b:0002 Linux Foundation 2.0 root hub

Update to latest versions
$ sudo apt-get update

Add program for connection to modem with disk partition
$ sudo apt-get install usb-modeswitch

Install PPP driver
$ sudo apt-get install ppp

Download and install Sakis3G application, this is stable, and easy to configure, more info on www.sakis3g.com
$ sudo wget "http://www.sakis3g.com/downloads/sakis3g.tar.gz" -O sakis3g.tar.gz
Unpack files
$ sudo tar -xzvf sakis3g.tar.gz
Make file executable
$ sudo chmod +x sakis3g

Copy file to /usr/local/bin
$ sudo cp sakis3g /usr/local/bin

Test connection (Use sudo, otherwise it maybe fails to open ports)
$ sudo ./sakis3g --interactive
1. Connect with 3G
1. USB device
3. HUAWEI Mobile
1. (internet) - (APN, maybe it differ at your mobile provider)
E180 connected to Phonero (24201). - Connected to internet

Check connection information

Interface: P-t-P (ppp0)
Connected since: 2016-01-18 14:39
Kilobytes received: 24
Kilobytes sent: 6
Network ID: 24201
Operator name: Phonero
APN: internet
Modem: E180
Modem type: USB
Kernel driver: option
Device: /dev/ttyUSB0

After testing internet connection, disconnect modem from menu

Make your own connection command

$ sudo ./sakis3g connect
Please select modem type by using OTHER variable, or by enabling interactive mode.

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g --interactive "connect"

Available options are:
USBMODEM USB device
BLUETOOTH Bluetooth modem
CUSTOM_TTY Custom tty...

Example:

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g OTHER="USBMODEM"

$ sudo ./sakis3g OTHER="USBMODEM" connect
Please select USB modem by using USBMODEM variable, or by enabling interactive mode.

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g --interactive "OTHER=USBMODEM" "connect"

Available options are:
0424:9512 BUSNUM=001
0424:ec00 BUSNUM=001
12d1:1003 HUAWEI Mobile
1d6b:0002 DWC OTG Controller

Example:

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g USBMODEM="0424:9512"

$ sudo ./sakis3g OTHER="USBMODEM" USBMODEM="12d1:1003" connect
Please select APN by using APN variable, or by enabling interactive mode.

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g --interactive "OTHER=USBMODEM" "USBMODEM=12d1:1003" "connect"

Available options are:
internet (internet)
CUSTOM_APN Custom APN…

Example:

       $ /home/pi/sakis3g APN="internet"

$ sudo ./sakis3g OTHER="USBMODEM" USBMODEM="12d1:1003" APN="internet" connect
E180 connected to Phonero (24201).
$ sudo ./sakis3g OTHER="USBMODEM" USBMODEM="12d1:1003" APN="internet" disconnect
Disconnected.