Upgrade Firmware for Generation Q Locators

To get the best performance out of your Generation Q Locators, we recommend that you always upgrade both the Quuppa Positioning Engine (QPE) and the Locator firmware to the latest available version. Both are distributed in the latest Quuppa software release package and can be downloaded from the Quuppa Customer Portal's Downloads section (QuuppaReleasePackage-<xxx>-ServerAndApps.zip).

Upgrade the QPE to the newest release first, before upgrading the Locator firmware.

When running the firmware upgrade process while the QPE is in tracking mode, please note that the individual Locators will temporarily stop contributing to the positioning calculations as their upgrade is in progress. This may result in short-term and local reduction in positioning performance during the upgrade process.

Note: In most cases, the firmware upgrade is undertaken while the QPE is in tracking mode. However, if you want to upgrade Generation Q Locators that don't yet have a license, you can do so by running the firmware upgrade with the QPE in deployment mode.

By default, the QPE upgrades the Locators one by one. This is the slowest way to upgrade all of the Locators in a given project, but ensures the smallest impact to the positioning performance as only one Locator will not be contributing to the calculations at any given time. If you need to speed up the process and your system can handle a slightly larger reduction in performance, the QPE can be configured to upgrade up to 10 Locators in parallel.

This instruction will walk you through how to upgrade the firmware for your Generation Q Locators as well as some addition tips on how to configure and customise the upgrade according to the needs of your deployment.

Upgrade Firmware for All Locators

The easiest way to upgrade the firmware for the Locators in your project is to use the qpe/upgradeAllFW request to upgrade all of the Locators at once. For Generation Q Locators with the software version 6.3 and higher, the request will also include any Locators that have not yet been assigned a license.

To upgrade the firmware for all Locators:

  1. Open the QPE Web Console in your browser.
  2. Use the qpe/upgradeAllFW request to start the upgrade process.
    Note: If you want to customise the firmware upgrade to use other than default configurations, you can do so by adding optional parameters to the request. For more details about the optional parameters, see the Configure Firmware Upgrade Parameters section below.
  3. The Locator firmware update status table will open automatically. Monitor the upgrade process using this table.
    Note: If you need to access the table manually, you can do so using the qpe/getDataTable?mode=upgradeallstatus&refresh=1 request. This table is only available if the firmware upgrade is in progress.

    Typically, the firmware upgrade for one Locator will take approximately 1-3 minutes.

    Tip: If you are using LD Generation Locators, please refer to the Upgrade All Firmware API documentation for more information.

Configure Firmware Upgrade Parameters

Using the qpe/upgradeAllFW together with relevant optional parameters enables you to customise the Locator firmware upgrade process according to your needs.

These parameters allow you to, for example, change the maximum number of Locators being upgraded at the same time to speed up the upgrade process in areas that are less mission-critical and can better handle a reduction in system performance during the upgrade. Similarly, you can use the optional parameters to select which coordinate systems or Locators will be upgraded, giving you control over the timing of the upgrades throughout your deployment.

The request for a firmware upgrade with added optional parameters looks like this:

/qpe/upgradeAllFW?[&mode=stop][&maxnum=maxNum][&coord=<coordSysID>][&locator=<locatorID>]

The table below lists and defines the different optional parameters that can be used to configure the upgrade.

Parameter Name Parameter Value
mode Optional, if this is set to stop it will stop ongoing upgrades. Note that if the download of the firmware is in progress or has finished the Locator might still get upgraded. Thus it is highly recommended to wait at least one minute after this command before disconnecting the Locators from the system or turning off the power. If set to status responds with status of the upgrade.
maxnum Optional, maximum number of Locators that are upgraded at a same time, maximum value is 10.
coord Optional, if given only Locators from this Coordinate system are upgraded.
locator Optional, if present, upgrades only Locators with specified IDs. If this parameter and the coord parameter are missing from the request, all viable Locators are upgraded. If you want to specify multiple Locators at once, set this parameter to a comma-separate list of Locator IDs, for example: '&locator=111111111111,222222222222'

Check Firmware Version in Use

If you need to check which firmware version the Locators in your project are running, e.g. to evaluate if upgrades are needed, you can do so by checking the Locator table. To access the Locator table:

  1. Open the QPE Web Console in your browser.
  2. Open the Locator Details link in the QPE Web Console's main view to access the Locator table.
    Note: Alternatively, the Locator table can also be accessed using the API request qpe/getDataTable?mode=locator.
  3. Check the firmware versions currently in use in your project from the table.