Mini IP Interface

The Mini supports IP via the Iridium Certus 9770 module (WAN) allowing LAN device IP data to be be forwarded via the WAN interface.

Beta functionality of this feature was adding in version v0.3.11 or greater.

danger

The LAN does not have a firewall, any LAN with their gateway configured to the Mini will be forwarded over the WAN which will result in airtime costs.

note

This feature is in Beta. There is a known limitation where some TCP and UDP packets may be dropped before going out of the WAN, if there is any missed UDP packets or failed TCP connections a retry may be required.

Mini LAN

The default LAN configuration on the Mini is 192.168.250.0/24 with the Mini having the static IPv4 of 192.168.250.1. The Mini does have a DHCP server on the LAN but disabled by default, therefore all LAN devices need to be configured with a static IPv4 of 192.168.250.2 to 192.168.250.99 and netmask of 255.255.255.0 the gateway should be configured to 192.168.250.1

Confirm the IP connection with ICMP Pings

1. Connect the Certus antenna to the Mini.
2. Power up the Mini.
3. Configure a LAN device IPv4 configuration to the settings below. Preferable the LAN device should be a test PC so it has access to IP utilities like ping.
   • IPv4 Address: 192.168.250.2 to 192.168.250.99
   • IPv4 Netmask: 255.255.255.0
   • IPv4 Gateway: 192.168.250.1
4. If possible isolate traffic on the LAN device to prevent unwanted IP forwarding.
5. To confirm there is a LAN connection, ping Mini address from the LAN device, all pings should get a response. If this does not happen follow the steps above again, verifying the IPv4 configuration. An example command response is below.

root@test:~ $ ping 192.168.250.1
PING 192.168.250.1 (192.168.250.1) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 192.168.250.1: icmp_seq=1 ttl=64 time=0.593 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.250.1: icmp_seq=2 ttl=64 time=0.526 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.250.1: icmp_seq=3 ttl=64 time=0.521 ms
64 bytes from 192.168.250.1: icmp_seq=4 ttl=64 time=0.514 ms

--- 192.168.250.1 ping statistics ---
4 packets transmitted, 4 received, 0% packet loss, time 3050ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 0.514/0.538/0.593/0.031 ms

6. To confirm the Mini's WAN connection open a internet browser and connect to http://192.168.250.1. The Mini Home page should load indicating its current state. To confirm the LAN is up by checking the PPP Status. This should report UP if connected. If DOWN is reported confirm a antenna is connected and Mini is provisioned, if this is the case the Signal Quality will not be 0,0 and Provisioning will report Messaging,Packet Data

7. If PPP Status is reported as UP, the Mini is ready for ICMP pings over the internet. Run a ping to a known server which has a static IPv4. Usually a ping to 8.8.8.8 (dns.google.com) is ideal. You may observe a few losses to begin-with as it takes some time Iridium Certus to ramp up the radios for IP transmission, once the pings start getting responses the ping response time will decrease down to about 400 - 600 ms. An example of of this is below.

root@test:~ $ ping 8.8.8.8
PING 8.8.8.8 (8.8.8.8) 56(84) bytes of data.
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=1 ttl=112 time=8630 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=2 ttl=112 time=7699 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=3 ttl=112 time=6855 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=4 ttl=112 time=5921 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=5 ttl=112 time=4987 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=6 ttl=112 time=4053 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=7 ttl=112 time=3119 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=8 ttl=112 time=2185 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=9 ttl=112 time=1251 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=10 ttl=112 time=612 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=11 ttl=112 time=601 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=12 ttl=112 time=591 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=13 ttl=112 time=491 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=14 ttl=112 time=480 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=15 ttl=112 time=559 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=16 ttl=112 time=459 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=17 ttl=112 time=448 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=18 ttl=112 time=437 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=19 ttl=112 time=606 ms
64 bytes from 8.8.8.8: icmp_seq=20 ttl=112 time=595 ms

--- 8.8.8.8 ping statistics ---
20 packets transmitted, 20 received, 0% packet loss, time 19194ms
rtt min/avg/max/mdev = 437.244/2529.122/8630.026/2724.318 ms, pipe 9

Testing TCP and UDP Connections with Netcat

Prerequisites

• Perform the ICMP ping test as explained above to verify the Iridium Certus connection is up.
• Ensure netcat (or nc) is installed on both the client (test PC) and the server.
  • For Linux/Mac, install via package manager if not already installed.
    • Ubuntu/Debian: sudo apt-get install netcat
    • CentOS/RHEL: sudo yum install nc
    • Mac: brew install netcat
  • For Windows, download netcat nmap and add it to the system PATH.

Testing TCP Connection

On the Server

• Open a terminal on the server.
• Start a netcat listener on the desired port (e.g., port 12345):

nc -vl -p 12345

On the Client (Test PC)

• Open a terminal or command prompt.
• Connect to the server’s IP address on the specified port:

nc -v <server-ip> 12345

• Type a message and press Enter. If the connection is successful, you should see the message appear on the server’s terminal.

Testing UDP Connection

On the Server

• Open a terminal on the server.
• Start a netcat listener on the desired port (e.g., port 12345):

nc -vul -p 12345

On the Client (Test PC)

• Open a terminal or command prompt.
• Connect to the server’s IP address on the specified port:

nc -vu <server-ip> 12345

• Type a message and press Enter. If the connection is successful, you should see the message appear on the server’s terminal.

Troubleshooting

• Ensure Provisioning is Messaging, Packet Data.
• Ensure PPP Status is UP.
• Ensure the server’s firewall is configured to allow traffic on the specified port.
• Verify the server’s IP address and port number.
• Ensure there are no network issues by performing the ICMP ping test first.