Setup Network

When you can reach meteobridge's web interface this is a proof that your network settings are fine. The Meteobridge application code that presents the web interface is not stored in the non-volatile flash memory of the meteobridge, but gets downloaded from the Internet during boot. So without having the meteobridge connected to the Internet, this will not be there. However, once you have access to the web interface you can make changes to networking to prepare the unit to be operational in another network environment which may need different settings. To get you around the bootstrap problem (how to configure networking when you need networking already configured to be able to do changes in the configuration?) there is a Meteobridge simulator in the Internet, which works as described here.

Please notice that Meteobridges mostly do not support some proprietary 2.4GHz WLAN high-speed modes (just the regular 802.11 b/g/n are supported) and it also cannot connect to MESH networks, which some routers are providing.

Sreendump is from a Meteobridge PRO2 with the optional NBIOT module installed. Other hardware might have less options to choose from.

Type Of Connection

In this section you can specify whether Meteobridge should use "LAN" or "wireless LAN" or operate in a stand-alone mode where it sets up a WLAN on its own that allows you to connect to its GUI. When you select "wireless LAN" you have to provide some more information.

• SSID is the name of the wireless LAN provided by the access point or router. Unless you have configured your router in a way that it hides the SSID, you should see the WLANs Meteobridge can login to in the "Known SSID" drop-down menu. Hidden SSIDs are not working with Meteobridge. The drop-down menu will also display signal strengths in db.
• WLAN Region defines the geographical region your WLAN is located at. As frequencies and rules how to use these frequencies do change from region to region, it is important that you select the correct region to make sure your Meteobridge operates within agreed RF regulations. Simply select the country code that fits best to your current location.
• Encryption must reflect the type of encryption valid for your WLAN. Meteobridge supports
  • none, no encryption at all, which is not recommended to use
  • WEP Open System, WEP Shared Key encryption methods from the past and easy to hack today (also not recommended to use)
  • WPA PSK, an encryption method not so easy to hack (but also no longer recommended)
  • WPA2 PSK, an up-to-date encryption method, with good protection (recommended)
  • WPA/WPA2 mixed mode', which might make sense when you have WPA equipment in your WLAN not able to run WPA2.
  • WPA3-PSK, most recent encryption method (not available on all Meteobridge platforms).
• Mode defines specific 802.11 standard used in the WLAN. You can choose between
  • auto', let decide Meteobridge itself
  • 802.11b, the oldest and slowest standard up to 10 Mbps
  • 802.11g, a faster standard up to 50 Mbps
  • 802.11g+n, todays standard up to 100 Mbps and above
• Passphrase is the password that grants access to your WLAN. Please don't use passwords with special characters, as these might not be handled correctly by the web interface.
• Some Meteobridge HW also supports LAN Bridge that allows to bridge devices connected to the Meteobridge LAN port into the WLAN. Devices used in this mode (called "client bridge") will receive DHCP data from the router that sets up the WLAN. Meteobridge is doing a 100% pass through.

Please also notice, that when your Meteobridge is configured in WLAN mode, it has also the LAN port configured to IP 192.168.168.111 to allow login via ethernet cable. When this IP is already used in your LAN, please do not have the Meteobridge connect via ethernet cable to your LAN, when the Meteobridge is configured in WLAN mode. Otherwise there will be network collisions between Meteobridge and your other device operating at 192.168.168.111.

When selecting "Stand-Alone" mode Meteobrigde will not integrate in your WLAN, but will setup its own WLAN access point at the shown SSID. You can connect to its SSID by using the specified passphrase. The Meteobridge GUI can be reached at IP 192.168.169.1. Stand-Alone mode is just available on Meteobridge PRO2 and will disable all upload services to weather networks etc. It mainly makes sense when using the PRO2 with the NBIOT module at a remote location where is no Internet available anyway. When a "Stand-Alone" Meteobridge PRO2 is connected to your LAN via Ethernet cable it will also connect to the LAN via DHCP. This LAN connection makes it much more easy to administer a Meteobridge configured for stand-alone use.

IP Addresses

You can choose between two different ways to provide the IP details for Meteobridge. When you select DHCP all needed data will be provided automatically from a DHCP server in the network. Meteobridge identifies itself as a DHCP client in the network and the DHCP server (mostly your router) does send all IP configuration data to it. If you don't select DHCP, you have to insert the following data manually:

• IP is the IP address which is used in your local network to address Meteobridge. As most home networks are using a class C network, you have to make sure that all devices in your network have IPs from the same class C network, or to say it less technical, that the first three numbers separated by dots are the same.
• Netmask defines the size of the subnet. A class C subnet as usually used in home networks always has a netmask of "255.255.255.0".
• Gateway defines the IP in your local network that acts as a connector to the Internet. Normally this will be the LAN IP of your router.
• DNS is the name server that should be used to translate domain names into IPs. In some situations your router also acts as a DNS forwarder and handles DNS requests in your local network. If so, the IP of your router is a suitable DNS IP. If not you should use a DNS IP of your ISP or you can use google DNS which has easy to remember IP "8.8.8.8".

When you use Meteobridge in a non DHCP mode all these manual entries must be correct, otherwise you will not have Internet connection.

Proxy

Networks in larger companies or organizations might not provide direct Internet access, but have a proxy server that needs to be contacted in order to retrieve data from the Internet. In such a situation, please select the Meteobridge proxy checkbox. You can insert the IP of the proxy server (not the name, it must be the IP) and the port number, where the proxy service is provided at). When your proxy also needs some username/password authentication, then you are out of luck, as Meteobridge can't handle that.

Confirm Changes

When you press "Save" all changes you did on this page are permanently stored, but not applied. When you press "Save and Apply and Reboot", changes are permanently stored and Meteobridge does a reboot to apply changes completely. Once network settings are done it is recommended to press "Save and Apply and Reboot" as this will make you test, if network setup runs ok. Having done this you will proceed to setup the other parts of configuration.
Please note: Without pressing "Save and Apply and Reboot" your changes (although stored and displayed on network tab) will not be made effective!

Cellular Network Features (Meteobridge PRO only) - DEPRECIATED

Discontinued Meteobridge PRO added support for GPRS/3G/4G mobile networks by means of a connected USB dongle. These dongles come in two flavours, which are both supported by Meteobridge PRO. The classical dongles act like a serial modem connected via USB and controlled by modem AT commands. Older Huawei dongles (E160 for example) work this way. Many of the newer 3G/4G dongles (E303 for example) don't behave like a USB modem but as a complete router that imposes a virtual Ethernet port on the client platform. The dongle is still physically connected via USB but looks like a LAN port on the connected system.
Remark: As there have been ongoing problems with finding compatible network dongles these features have been stripped from the PRO2 are no longer maintained. It is recommended to use a cheap external cellular router instead.

USB Modem Dongles

When a supported USB modem type dongle is connected to Meteobridge before boot, the network settings will have an additional option "USB Modem" to choose from. Picture below shows the USB modem section. There are a number of providers predefined. When your SIM is from one of these providers, just select the provider and fill in the missing data, like PIN code of your SIM card. When your provider is not listed, please select placeholder provider "custom" and enter all the details yourself. Many providers need adjusted "chat scripts", which you can also insert by setting the edit mark next to it. Finding the right settings will need some research in the Internet, but Meteobridge PRO at least gives you all needed options to fill in any data. When the Meteobridge PRO connects to the Internet via this dongle, the Meteobridge will no longer be part of your LAN/WLAN and will not be able to connect to devices in your LAN/WLAN. Please keep that in mind when you are operating a Vantage WLIP or other Ethernet connected weather stations. To allow you to still reach the Meteobridge PRO web interface when it is in USB modem mode, a local private WLAN can be established, where you can login with your mobile device. At the bottom of the picture you see the parameters to specify for this operation. Encryption is WPA, clients will get credentials via DHCP and Meteobridge device will have IP 192.168.1.1 in the private WLAN. Devices connected there can also reach out to the Internet via Meteobridge's Internet access.

USB Router Dongles

These devices work even more easy, as no credentials need to be handled by Meteobridge, all is done inside the dongle. When you use such a dongle the PIN of the SIM card cannot be handed over by Meteobridge. Therefore, you need to connect your dongle with SIM card inserted to your PC first and configure it in a way that a PIN is no longer needed. Having done this operation should be hassle free. Picture below shows how selecting the Router dongle mode looks like.

Supported Dongles

Meteobridge does not support all dongles around. Therefore we recommend to stick with tested ones, like:

• Huawei E303 (router mode)
• Huawei E160, E161 (modem mode)
• Huawei E3531 (router mode) as reported by forum user "DouglasW"
• Vodafone K3765 (modem mode, manufactured by Huawei)
• Verizon U620L (router mode)

NBIOT Operation (Meteobridge PRO2 only)

Meteobridge PRO2 comes with an optional NBIOT module that allows to upload data to the Meteobridge NBIOT data hub even when Meteobridge is located in a very remote location where no cellular network is available. NBIOT features are based on the SIM cards from 1NCE which covers many European countries. The Module comes with a SIM card preinstalled with 10 years of prepaid data volume. Meteobridge just sends very basic weather data through this massively limited connection. That way you can send a range of weather sensor data in per minute resolution to the Meteobridge NBIOT server, but apart from that the Meteobridge is operating in a stand-alone mode. No feed of weather networks, other Internet services, etc. Please also read here about what to expect from the NBIOT module.

NBIOT Hardware

This sections gives some information about the used NBIOT module

• module type: here a SIM7000E
• unique module IMEI (International Mobile Equipment Identity)
• SIM's ICCID (Integrated Circuit Card Identifier)
• SIM'a IMSI (International Mobile Subscriber Identity)

Provider

"Current Connection" shows which provider the module is connected to. Here it is "Deutsche Telekom" with provider ID "26201" and status is "connected". Signal RSSI is an indicator how strong provider connection is. "-77" is rather good, can go beyond "-110" in more remote locations. Signal RSSNR (signal-to-noise ratio) shows signal quality, where values above 10 are regarded good.

Pressing the "Scan" button will make your NBIOT module to go through endless lists of frequency to detect providers on air. This will take absurdly long. So please by very patient when having pressed this button, it can take up to 30 minutes! While the module is scanning all NBIOT operation is halted and a warning that the NBIOT module is busy will be printed in the messages section.

Preinstalled 1NCE SIM card supports countries and providers as shown on the right. Please don't rely on this list, you will need to try by experiment, if it is really working in your region. Please contact "info(at)smartbedded.com" if you are interested to give it a try.

NBIOT Upload

Here you find some additional information about your NBIOT uploads

• Upload Interval: Default upload frequency is every 5 minutes with sensor data in 1 minute resolution. As the 1NCE SIM has a hard limit on data volume upload is limited to about 30 sensors data instances. You can select which data to upload via NBIOT on "Station" tab as explained here.
• Data Volume: 1NCE SIM card provides 500 MB of data uploads within 10 years. SIM card used here has used about 40 MB of this total volume which is about 8% of total volume. Meteobridge makes use of heavy compression and optimization operate within these limits. When 500 MB are reached or 10 years of use have passed a new SIM card needs to be installed, but this is years away from now.
• Password: Uploaded data can be accessed for free from the Meteobridge NBIOT Data Hub. To protect your uploaded data from being inspected by 3rd party you can define a password that is needed when accessing data.
• Download link section provides an option to inspect the last 10 data buckets uploaded to the NBIOT Hub ("Open URL" button) and a "Show Options" button that explains how to read data from the NBIOT hub.

SIM Module Protocol

This logging section is mainly for debugging purposes. It shows communication between Meteobridge code and the NBIOT module. As long as you see "SEND OK" messages there about every 5 minutes things are working fine.