Kio Cloud Device Management empowers those that have a Portal Light infrastructure to remotely manage and schedule firmware upgrades for both Kontakt.io IoT Infrastructure and Tag devices. Once a firmware upgrade is scheduled, devices receive the next available firmware version over-the-air (OTA).
You can learn about the latest firmware releases from our Firmware changelog.
Topics include:
Keeping your Kontakt.io IoT devices up-to-date with the latest available firmware version is important part of their lifecyle management.
Firmware upgrades are required to be scheduled from Kio Cloud Device Management 2.0. This allows organizations to control and plan for upgrades to minimize disruption and ensure that firmware upgrades are performed at times that are convenient or least impactful to users or operations.
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Set a Firmware Upgrade Window. Restrict the days of the week and time periods within each day when scheduled firmware upgrades can occur.
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Schedule Upgrades. Determine exactly when your Kontakt.io devices receive firmware updates through scheduling - either following your Firmware Upgrade Window or Immediately.
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Controlled testing and validation. Schedule firmware upgrades on subset of devices to test and evaluate a firmware version. Once testing is validated, you can proceed to schedule the firmware upgrade for remaining devices. Or if you have thousands of devices, you can schedule an upgrade for specific devices or even specific by a device model.
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Enable or Disable Firmware Upgrades. To allow scheduled firmware upgrades to occur, this setting must be enabled. You may choose to disable this setting during a planned no-change time period or when you want an additional layer of firmware management.
Managed Firmware Upgrades requires the following.
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Portal Light Infrastructure. They are installed and online - connectivity to the local Wi-Fi network and Kio Cloud.
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BLE Tags and Infrastructure devices. They are within Bluetooth range of a Portal Light. To successfully receive a firmware upgrade, they require a RSSI of at least -85 dBm.
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Battery-powered devices. A battery level of 25% or greater.
There are a few setup steps that must be completed to schedule firmware upgrades.
Watch the how to tutorial
To allow scheduled firmware upgrades, they must be enabled. If there comes a time that you do not want firmware upgrades to occur, such as during a planned no-change time period, you can disable firmware upgrades.
The Firmware Upgrade Window is a method to specify the days of the week and time periods within each day when scheduled firmware upgrades can occur. The Firmware Upgrade Window only applies to scheduled upgrades that are set to the Next Firmware Upgrade window. When a scheduled upgrade is set to Immediately, the Firmware Upgrade Window does not apply.
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From Kio Cloud, go to Device Management 2.0.
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From the Settings menu, select Firmware Upgrades > select EDIT.
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Select the Timezone used by the schedule. By default, set to UTC time.
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The schedule displays a 7-day window, representing the days of the week. Each day is divided into one hour time periods that are displayed in 24-hour time.
From the schedule, click on the starting point of the time period and hold your mouse button and drag the cursor to the ending point of the time period. A visual indicator shows the selected time period. A single day can have multiple time periods.
Example: three day window with multiple time periods.
Tip
To copy a time period to all days, select its Copy icon.
To delete the time periods in a day, select its Delete icon.
Repeat this step for each firmware upgrade window.
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Select SAVE.
Scheduled firmware upgrades set to the schedule of Next upgrade window will only occur during the time periods set within the Firmware Upgrade Window.
And for scheduled firmware upgrades set to the schedule of Immediately, these can occur both within and outside of these time periods.
Watch the how to tutorial
When you're ready to upgrade your Kontakt.io devices to the latest available firmware version, complete the following steps.
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From Kio Cloud, go to Device Management 2.0, from the Inventory menu, select the category of devices to be upgraded - Tags or Infrastructure.
Tags: devices that are moving, either attached to an object or are worn by people.
Infrastructure: devices that are stationary, maintaining a fixed position within a given location. These include the Kontakt.io Portal Light, Portal Beam, Beam Mini, and Beacon models.
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Next, you will select the devices to receive the firmware upgrade.
By default, all devices listed are selected and the count is displayed in the Bulk option.
If you only want a specific subset of devices to be upgraded, you can set the filters to narrow down the devices.
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To schedule the firmware upgrade, select the Bulk option (displays the number of devices to receive the upgrade) > select Firmware Upgrade.
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From the Schedule Firmware Upgrade window, select the Schedule when the firmware upgrade is to occur.
Next upgrade window: devices receive firmware upgrades only during the time periods set withing your Firmware Upgrade Window schedule.
Immediately: devices are placed into a queue to immediately receive the firmware upgrade.
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Select Schedule.
A completed confirmation displays the following:
Selected devices: [Number of devices selected for upgrade]
Scheduled upgrades: [Total number of devices scheduled for upgrade]
Nothing to upgrade : [Number of selected devices with the latest firmware]
Devices inaccessible: [Number of devices ineligible for upgrade due to user role permissions]
Note
Be sure that Enable Firmware Upgrades is selected (enabled) from your Firmware Upgrade settings - this is required to allow devices to receive scheduled upgrades.
From the Customize Table feature available within the Tags and Infrastructure list views, you can set the Firmware columns to display.
The firmware columns include Available Firmware Upgrade, Scheduled Firmware Upgrade, and Firmware (current installed version).
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From the list view, select Customize Table.
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Select the columns you would like displayed.
To remove a column, deselect the column.
You can also arrange the order of the columns.
Tip
If you do not see an expected column, you may need to click Restore Default to display all available columns.
From the Inventory menu, the Tags and Infrastructure list views have an Available Firmware Upgrade column.
The upgrade icon is displayed for each device, which provides a visual indicator and a mouse hoover over description.
From the Inventory menu, the Tags and Infrastructure list view have a Schedule Firmware Upgrade column.
The calendar icon provides a a visual indicator and a mouse hoover over description.
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Black calendar icon: firmware upgrade scheduled for the device
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Grey calendar icon: firmware upgrade is not scheduled.
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How do I know when a firmware upgrade is available for a device? |
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You can view this information from the Available Firmware Upgrade column within the Tags and Infrastructure menus. Details about firmware releases, can be viewed from the Device firmware changelog. |
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If a device is two versions behind the latest released version, how does it upgrade to the latest released version? |
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You will have to schedule an upgrade for each version until it reaches the latest released version. For example, if the latest available version is 3.0 and the device is at version 1.0 and there are two later versions, that being 1.5 and 2.0, you will first schedule it to be upgraded to version 1.5, then to version 2.0, and then schedule to version 3.0 (the latest available version). Kontakt.io does recommend keeping device firmware up-to-date to avoid having to schedule multiple upgrades. In addition, firmware releases commonly include improvements or fixes. |
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How do I know when a firmware upgrade is scheduled for a device? |
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You can view this information from the Scheduled Firmware Upgrade column in the Tags and Infrastructure menus. |
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Does a device transmit and receive data when it's downloading a firmware upgrade? |
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No. This is why it's recommended to schedule devices to receive upgrades during your defined Firmware Upgrade Window. |
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Can I cancel a firmware upgrade? |
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Not at this time, but this feature is on our roadmap and coming soon! |
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Are there any Kontakt.io devices that cannot receive scheduled firmware upgrades? |
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Yes, the Nano Tag and Sticker Tag models. They are both non-connectable devices that only broadcast BLE packets (data). |
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What happens to devices that cannot complete the scheduled upgrade within a time period in the Next upgrade window? |
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The devices are set in a queue to receive the upgrade during the next subsequent time period within the Firmware Upgrade Window. For example, you have scheduled 200 devices for an upgrade and your Firmware Upgrade Window is set to Monday through Wednesday with the time period of 12 AM to 3 AM. If 100 devices successfully upgrade on Monday between the hours of 12 AM and 3 AM, the remaining 100 devices are set in queue to receive the upgrade on Tuesday between the hours of 12 AM and 3 AM. This will repeat until all scheduled devices successfully receive the upgrade. |
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What happens when a device fails to receive a scheduled firmware upgrade? |
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When a device has failed to receive a scheduled firmware upgrade, the device is set in queue to receive the upgrade again 24 hours after the first attempt. If the second attempt fails, you will need to reschedule the firmware upgrade for the device. |