Quectel BG95-S5 Satellite NTN Network

The Quectel BG95-S5 series supports IoT-NTN (satellite), LTE Cat M1/Cat NB2, and EGPRS, offering ultra-low power consumption. It complies with 3GPP Release 17 standards, ensuring optimal performance for advanced IoT applications

Prerequisites

• Monogoto SIM

• BG95-S5

• UMTS & LTE EVB Kit

Quick Navigation

• Set up EVB Kit (if applicable)

• Connect BG95 to Monogoto

• Sending a PING

• Useful Links

Set up EVB Kit (if applicable)

Quectel EVB kit with BG95-M3 modem

Set up the EVB Kit

• Connect the Quectel BG95-S5 modem to the EVB kit.

• Connect the LTE antenna and GPS antenna

• Insert the Monogoto SIM

Connect your PC to the EVB Kit

Use the USB to UART converter cable to connect your computer to the COM1 MAIN port of the EVB Kit

When using Windows, install the driver using the disk or USB stick provided by Quectel.

Connect to the EVB kit using a terminal program. You can use PuTTY for Windows, or screen, minicom, or miniterm for Mac or Linux.

Power the EVB Kit using the USB to micro USB cable and switch the POWER button to ON. The POWER LED will turn on RED.

Press and hold the PWRKEY button for 1 second, the STATUS light will light up on GREEN, the NET_STA LED will start blinking BLUE.

Once the modem has started, it will report:

RDY
APP RDY

Enter AT, if the connection with the BG95 modem has been established, the board will answer with OK.

Connect the BG95 to Monogoto

Keep the AT Commands manual next to you for more details about the commands. Click here to download the latest version.

Reset the modem to its default configuration:

Reset non-volatile memory:

AT+QPRTPARA=1 

Restore factory settings:

AT+QPRTPARA=3

Reboot module:

AT+CFUN=1,1

Set the error reporting to verbose, resulting in more descriptive error messages (optional):

AT+CMEE=2

Check the status of the SIM card. The correct response should be: +CPIN: READY

AT+CPIN?

If you receive an error, the SIM may not be inserted properly or the SIM is protected with a PIN. By default, Monogoto SIMs are not PIN protected.

Query device information

Request the product type, hardware and firmware version:

AT+QGMR

Example response: AT+QGMR BG95S5LAR08A01_A0.203.A0.203

Request the IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity):

AT+CIMI

Request the ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card ID), which is the identification number of the SIM card

AT+CCID

Network Configuration

It is possible to let the modem select the network automatically.

Automatic Network Selection

To set the modem to automatic network selection enter the command:

AT+COPS=0

Configure Radio Access Technology (RAT)

Configure the modem to only use NB-IoT NTN not LTE Cat-M1:

AT+QCFG="iotopmode",3
AT+QCFG="nwscanmode",3 

Set the APN to data.mono:

AT+CGDCONT="IP","data.mono" or AT+CGDCONT=1,"IP","data.mono"

Lock the modem to a specific region/band

AT+QCFG="band",0xf,0x100002000000000f0e189f,0x10004200000000090e189f,0x1,1

Although the modem may support many different NTN bands,

0x1 = 23 Canada

0x2 = 255 L band Global (Taiwan, Australia, New Zealand, Japan)

0x4 = 256 S band Europe

Query Network information

To information about the technology used, the network provider and cellular band, enter:

AT+QNWINFO

Example response: +QNWINFO:"NTN NBIoT","90198","NTN NBIoT BAND 23",229155

Reports the information of serving cells

AT+QENG="servingcell"

Example response:

+QENG: "servingcell","LIMSRV","NTN NBIoT","FDD",901,98,2DCEAE,30,7699,23,0,0,7EE,-120,-13,-115,85,

Check the radio signal strength and signal quality:

AT+CSQ

+CSQ returns 2 values separated by a comma. The first value represents the signal strength and provides a value between 0 and 31; higher numbers indicate better signal strength. The second value represents the signal quality indicated by a value between 0 and 7. If AT+CSQ returns 99,99, the signal is undetectable or unknown.

Check the current network registration status

AT+CEREG?

response:

+CEREG: 2,5,"7EE","2DCEAE",E 

Validate if your device received an IP address:

AT+CGPADDR

Expected response: +CGPADDR: 1,XX.XXX.XX.XXX

Do you see an IP address? Congratulations! You’ve successfully connected the Quectel modem to Monogoto 🎉

Test the connection by sending a UDP payload

A UDP payload test when the modem has an active data connection with a Satellite.

Set and Active UDP Socket

AT+QIACT=1

response:

OK

Send UDP Payload to the IP address 34.192.142.126:

AT+QIOPEN=1,0,"UDP","34.192.142.126",12345

response:

OK
+QIOPEN: 0,0

Send UDP Socket

AT+QISEND=0,12
> HELLO WORLD

response:

SEND OK
+QIURC: "recv",0

info UDP Socket

AT+QIRD=0

response:

+QIRD: 12
HELLO WORLD
OK

Test the connection by sending a PING

A PING test can be performed to test if the modem has an active data connection with a mobile network.

When cellular modems are idle for a long period of time, cell towers might drop the data connection to save resources. Sending regular PINGs is a good method for testing the data connection, as well as for keeping the connection alive because the operator registers your device as being actively used.

Send 3 PINGs to IP address 8.8.8.8:

AT+QPING=1,"8.8.8.8",3

Example response:

+QPING: 0,"8.8.8.8",32,543,255
+QPING: 0,"8.8.8.8",32,396,255
+QPING: 0,"8.8.8.8",32,262,255

Useful Links

• Quectel BG95-S5 product page

• UMTS & LTE EVB User Guide

• Quectel BG95-S5 Documentation