impOS Release 44

New Features And Improvements

The primary role of impOS 44 is to add further functionality to the imp006 module:

Global Navigation by Satellite Services (GNSS) support

• Read the device’s location.
• Read ancillary position data: NMEA (National Marine Electronics Association) sentences.
• Supports GPS, Gallileo, Glonass and Beidou.
• Extensive system configuration options.
• Install and update satellite “assist data” (ephemerides).
• This features requires a BG96 cellular modem and an active antenna.

Key Developer Guides

• How To Use GNSS With The imp006

New imp API Methods

• hardware.gnss.open()
• gnss-session.configure()
• gnss-session.disable()
• gnss-session.enable()
• gnss-session.getstate()
• gnss-session.readnmea()
• gnss-session.readposition()
• gnss-session.assist.enable()
• gnss-session.assist.load()
• gnss-session.assist.read()
• gnss-session.assist.reset()

Versions

The current release is 44.5 (see Release Notes and Known Issues).

impOS Version Naming

Electric Imp versions impOS™ releases as follows: odd-numbered major versions are pre-releases and even-numbered major versions are production-quality releases. As such, impOS 44 builds on impOS 43, which was not made available on general release. For information on changes and bug-fixes implemented in the various minor releases of impOS 43, please see the relevant release notes. This document will focus on changes made following the release of impOS 44.

imp Support

impOS 44 targets the imp006 module only — it supports hardware not available on earlier imps, which will not receive impOS 44 for this reason.

Release Notes

44.5

• Bug fixes
  • Fix occasional crash in imp.setsendbuffersize().

44.4

• Features
  • Add SIM support for more network operators.

44.3

• Bug fixes
  • Fix support for Vodafone India SIMs on cellular imps.
  • Fix potential race condition in PPP teardown that might cause watchdog resets.

44.2

• Features
  • Add support for a custom SIM/APN on cellular imps.

44.1

• Features
  • All imp006:
    • Add SIM support for more telcos.
  • imp006a:
    • Join WPA3 WiFi networks either in WPA3 mode or in WPA2/3 transitional mode.
• Bug fixes
  • All imp006:
    • Fix issues when closing Bluetooth session inside a Bluetooth callback.
    • Improve reslience to “BadAlloc”-style attacks. Note No actual vulnerabilities have been found.
  • imp006b:
    • Fix joining WPA3 WiFi networksin WPA2/3 transitional mode — regression in 41.16

44.0

• Initial public release
• Bug fixes
  • Fix Squirrel timer objects keeping a reference to their callback closure.
  • Fix an occasional crash experienced when reconfiguring a running UART.

Note This release branches from impOS 43.1, so please see the 43 release notes for earlier changes.

Known Issues

• imp.net.open() will reject any Network Interface Configuration (NIC) containing proxy, static network and/or WiFi configurations when it addresses an interface which is already in use — even if the new NIC exactly matches the one that is already in use. Until this issue is addressed, please include NICs with only an interface key when re-calling imp.net.open().
• Reconfiguring the pulse counter with a different duration causes pulses to be mis-counted.
• Squirrel strings containing NULs (bytes equal to zero) do not compare correctly in relative comparisons (<= etc.) even though they do in equality comparisons (== and !=). This has been the case in all impOS releases made thus far.