No Cellular / internet connectivity. No data is being displayed in Aircloud. AirTag is offline.

No Cellular / internet connectivity. No data is being displayed in Aircloud. AirTag is offline.

This article describes which connectivity issues can occur, how they manifest themselves in practice, how they can be identified and investigated, and finally, what steps can be taken to resolve the problem.

Description of the experienced issue
  1. No data is being displayed on all dials of the Aircloud dashboard.
    1. No new measurements are being received by the Aircloud webserver.
How can a bad connection be identified?

Before we try to resolve an issue, it is valuable to understand the roots of the issue. There are several possible investigations to idenitfy which type of issue we are encountering. Learning more about the root cause of the connectivity issue, will help us to determine the correct steps towards a resolution. Go through the list and compare your situation with the given options.
  1. Led indicators of the AirTag or UniTag
    1. When the 'Com Cloud' led is red.
      1. This indicates there is no connection to the Aircloud server.
    2. When the 'Com GW' led is red.
      1. This indicates there is no connection to the gateway router.
  2. Led indicators of the Airmatics gateway (3 leds under 'System WWAN')
    1. Left led: System State: Indicates successful power on and device readiness.
      1. Off: no power
      2. Orange: booting
      3. Red: Error
    2. Middle led: WWAN State: Indicates 3G/4G interface availability and use.
      1. Off: no power
      2. Orange: on, not connected
    3. Right led: Signal Strength: Indicates 3G/4G interface signal strength.
      1. Off: no power
      2. Red: Very bad signal strength
        1. -104dBm when connected to 3G
        2. -111dBm when connected to 4G
      3. Orange: Bad signal strength 
        1. Between -104dBm & -94dBm when connected to 3G
        2. Between -111dBm & -94dBm when connected to 4G
      4. (A good signal strength is above -94dBm)
  3. Signal strength indication via the Aircloud 'Gateway Status' event.
    1. Upon navigating to the 'Events' page of a -Tag in Aircloud, a 'Gateway status' event is displayed every hour.
    2. Upon clicking the event, the signal strength can be read out at the right hand side via a Received Signal Strength Indicator (RSSI).
  4. The gateway cannot find a network provider.
    1. Look at the 'gateway status' event, the network provider identification (NN) lists: 'Searching' if no network provider is identified.
  5. Ethernet quality retransmissions and Timeouts.
    1. Upon navigating to the 'Events' page of a -Tag in Aircloud, an 'Ethernet quality' status event is displayed every hour.
    2. The event displays a 'Retrans' value and a 'Timeout' value.
    3. The retrans value counts the amount of packages that had to be retransmitted by a -Tag, caused by an asbent acknowledge.
      1. If this value runs up high quickly, it indicates a bad connection.
    4. The timeout value counts the amount of times a -Tag will try to re-establish connection due to too many retransmissions.
      1. If this value runs up high quickly, it indicates a bad connection.
  6. 'Edge device has been restarted' event being displayed every 2 hours.
    1. When a -Tag has no internet connection for more than 2 hours, it will reboot itself automatically.
  7. The Aircloud dashboard displays a red device information icon. 
    1. When the Aircloud webserver does not receive any new measurements from the -Tag for a certain amount of time, it will be indicated by the red 'i'.
    2. If a -Tag has is offline, but powered, the data samples will be stored inside the -Tag locally. As soon as the -Tag re-establishes a cloud connection, it starts uploading the offline stored samples. During this process, the red 'i' is displayed as well.
      1. You can verify if this is the case by looking at the 'last measurement received' indicator upon clicking on the 'device information' icon (= the 'i').
        1. It is confirmed that the -Tag is going trough an offload sample update cycle when the 'last measurement received' indicator is updating.
        2. In this scenario, the 'Com Cloud' led will be green since a correct connection is now established. However, the red 'i' is still displayed.
      2. In this scenario, do not power down the -Tag or gateway, this will only cause the uploading process to be interrupted, causing it to be restarted from the very beginning.
        1. Wait until all samples stored offline have been uploaded to the cloud. After this connectivity will be correctly established.

What can I do to resolve the issue?

In short, causes of a missing or bad signal fall under three categories:
  1. Localized poor coverage due to building materials or destructive interference.
  2. Geographical distance from or obstacles between the Airmatics gateway and the nearest cell tower.
  3. Incorrect handling of the gateway or its antenna.
Below is a list of possible steps for solving our problem. They are listed in such a way that it is advisable to perform the step at the top first, and then move down. Please take into account the information obtained above. For example, it would not be necessary to replace the antenna of the gateway if we have previously established that the gateway has good connectivity.

General

Do not use the Reset Button available on the Airmatics gateway. If you have done so, you have resetted the software and configuration inside the gateway. This causes it to be inoperable. A new gateway is to be purchased.
  1. Perform a power cycle on all the devices in the network.
    1. Power down the gateway & -Tags for a minimum of 2 minutes
    2. Repower all devices and wait for 30 minutes
    3. It is possible that establishing all connections can take up quite some time after power has been applied.
    4. Additionally take into consideration the fact that the -Tag might be uploading older (offline) samples first.
  2. If it is possible, try establishing a cloud connectivity while the -Tag and antenna are outside of a building.
    1. This step could verify the fact that the bad connectivity is caused due to building materials or destructive interference.
    2. If mounted outside, the CloudGate Gatway needs to be mounted into an IP65 (NEMA4) enclosure for its protection. (Article number: Y19TICS15). The used internet cable and gateway power cables also have to be water proof.
  3. If a connection has been established before, or we have been able to establish a connection outside, Reconsider the place where the antenna (and/or gateway) has been installed.
    1. Reassess the placement of the antenna and/or gateway and consider relocating them to improve signal strength.
      • Central Location: Place it centrally for even coverage throughout the area.
      • Elevated Position: Position it higher up to improve signal distribution and reduce obstructions.
      • Minimize Obstacles: Avoid placing it near walls, large constructions, or materials that block signals.
      • Avoid Interference: Keep it away from devices that may interfere with its signal. (high-power cables, switchgear, VSD/VFD units)
      • Reflective Surfaces: Avoid placing it near metal surfaces to prevent signal distortion.
      • Use the 'status event' on the Aircloud webpage to identify the signal strength in various location.
      1. The maximum length of an internet cable (RJ45, CAT5/5E/6, STP) between -Tags or between a -Tag and the gateway is 100m or 328ft.
      2. The maximum length of a cable running from an antenna to the gateway is 3m or 10ft. Longer antenna cables could work, but will weaken the signal.
  1. If no connection has been established before, check the integrity of the connection between the fitted antenna and the gateway.
    1. For the standard included (2-wire) antenna:
      1. Connect the LTE labeled (purple or black) cable to the connector on the right (WWAN Main).
      2. Connect the GNSS labeled (blue) cable to the connector on the left (WWAN Diversity and GPS).
      3. Additional info: the connectors are SMA-female.
    2. For a different, (1-wire) antenna:
      1. The gateway is by default configured to be compatible with a 2-wire antenna, and not a single wired one. Therefore the configuration of the gateways has to be changed first. Consult the article explaining how to access the configurations of an Airmatics gateway.
      2. In the configuration of the gateway the 'diversity' feature has to be disabled.
      3. Connect the antenna to the gateway 'WWAN Main antenna' connector and not to the 'WWAN Diversity and GPS antenna' connector.
    3. In instances where the antenna cables are longer than required, do not ‘coil’ the cables.
    4. Upon finishing this test, try to establishing a connection again, possibly outside.
  2. It is possible that the network provider cannot be found. This can be identified if the 'gateway status' event lists NN: 'Searching'. This could for example, be caused by a badly inserted, or dirt SIM card.
    1. Open the Airmatics gateway and remove the SIM card.
    2. Clean the SIM card and place it back into the gateway.
    3. Power cycle the gateway.
  3. If still no connection has been established, consider the following steps.
    1. Purchase a stronger "high gain" antenna.
      1. In these situations we supply a trough hole/bolted mount antenna, article number: Y19TICS08.
        1. If this is a 1-way antenna, be aware that the 'diversity' feature has to be turned off in the gateway configurations.
      2. When based in the USA, purchase a 3th party Verizon sim card.
Please be informed that CMC NV does not support the Verizon sim card, and can not take responsibility once the gateway has been openen to handle the SIM card. Purchasing and fitting this SIM-card is on your own responsibility.

A good signal has been detected on the gateway, still no data is coming into the Aircloud webserver.
  1. Verify if this is caused by the uploading of offline measured samples, explained above.
  2. Check  the RJ45, CAT5/5E/6, STP cable integrity.
    1. Verify the integrity of the ‘Patch’ network cable connection from the gateway running to the -Tag.
      1. Possibly by using a RJ45 testing tool.
      2. Or by replacing the cable by a network cable that has been verified to be working correctly.
    2. Verify the integrity of the ‘Patch’ network cable connection running from the -Tags to other -Tags
      1. Possibly by using a RJ45 testing tool.
      2. Or by replacing the cable by a network cable that has been verified to be working correctly.
    3. Be sure that a 'daisy chained' interconnection topology is used.
    4. Move away routing cables from high voltage cabling and switching gear (interference).
    5. Tip: on the RJ45 connectors, LED's are present to indicate the presence of communication.
  3. The use of the 'LAN' RJ45 internet socket on the Airmatics gateway is recommended, but the 'WAN' socket should work too. 
    1. The gateway is configured to be compatible with both, but the ports hold a different address range (LAN being broader).
Additional information
  1. When connectivity is lost, but reconnected within 1 hour, and the -Tag remains powered, all data will be uploaded as the connection is re-established. This loss of connectivity will not be visible in the graphs section.
  2. Gateway is configured to do both, but the ports hold a different address range (LAN being broader)
  3. The closer a signal strength is to 0dBm, the better. Any signal strength, higher than -85 decibels is considered to be a good (and certainly usable) signal.
A good cellular connection is a joint responsibility by the end user and the cellular network provider. Apart from providing the goods and its documentation, we can do little to change the fact that a good on-site connection is present or not.
However, If you have tried all the possibilities, but would still like our help, please privde the following information upon creating a support ticket.
  1. A picture of the label or sticker of the Airmatics gateway (serial Nr must be visible).
    1. A picture of the leds of the gateway.
  2. A picture of the -Tags affected, label or sticker, (serial Nr must be visible).
    1. A picture of the leds on the -Tags.
  3. Explanation of the encountered issue.
  4. Explanation of things that have been tried, and their results.

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