Potential Telematics application using Nerves - could use reference starting point to learn fundamentals

Nerves Forum Nerves Questions / Help
1

I have a potential commercial application that involves basic GPS and a need to push up some data via a cellular network to a cloud service and I want to use Nerves. At this point, I’m only interested in getting familiar with the basics of what’s involved. I’m simply trying to get a handle on the fundamentals so I can then dig into the more gory details later.

Thanks in advance
Bill

2

Hey Bill - the Getting Started section is probably the best place to start. It list several methods for getting started including a prebuilt image running livebook with Nerves related books and example code that runs on device in an interactive way.

There are also many examples for common use cases that provide an easy introduction.

3

hi Jon

Thanks for the reply. I pretty much purchased all the training you can on elixir, phoenix, liveview, OTP, etc. The challenge for me is getting a handle on the bits and pieces of communicating through a cellular modem to a cellular network. I live in the mobile OEM equipment space and that covers numerous expansive markets. We’re talking fleets of very diverse equipment that owners are looking for updates of what’s going on in the field. So connecting to a LAN/WAN is not an option here. Any data that the machine is collecting that the owner needs to see, then needs to be pushed up through a cellular network to a cloud server. That’s the piece of the pie I’m trying to wrap my head around. I have no problem doing my homework, I’m just trying to get a starting point of where NERVES development stands in this arena.

thanks

Bill

4

I too rely heavily on low-bandwidth cellular communications, so there has been quite a bit in Nerves support in that direction (though much more is needed).

The Nerves livebook referenced includes a sample book and demo for QMI enabled modems. You can also delve into the libraries themselves to get the state of cellular with Nerves. The biggest factor will be on what target device you are using and how the system is configured of it (i.e. does it include the kernel pieces needed for your particular modem)

Each of these libraries should list modems that have been tested and known to work as well as Linux kernel requirements (which can be confirmed by inspected the linux config file in the nerves_system_* lib that matches your target)