RELEASE NOTES

PTP 650 Series

System Release 650-01-49
1 Introduction

This document provides information for the Cambium Networks PTP 650 Series System Release PTP
650-01-49.

Firmware for PTP 650-01-49 is available from:

https://support.cambiumnetworks.com/files/ptp650/

The information in this document is subject to change without notice. The recommendations,
technical data, configurations and statements in this document are believed to be reliable and
accurate, but are presented without implied or express warranty. Users must take full responsibility
for their applications of any product specified in this document. The information in this document is
proprietary to Cambium Networks Ltd.

2 Released products

2.1 Hardware
No new hardware has been introduced in this release.

2.2 Embedded firmware

ODU firmware:

• Boot software, BOOT-01-00

• Recovery software, RECOVERY-01-02

• Main application software, PTP650-01-49

Management Information Base (MIB):

• 650-01-49

PTP-SYNC:

• Boot Loader, v0.04

• Firmware, v00.09

• Main application software, v01.01

2.3 Upgrades
No new upgrades have been introduced in this release.

2.4 Link Planner software

System Release PTP 650-01-49 is supported by LINKPlanner v5.3.1.

2.5 User guide

PTP 650 Series User Guide System Release 650-01-49, phn-3341 015v000.

PHN-5115 001V000 – MAY 2020 PAGE 2 OF 7

3 New features

3.1 ICMP Echo Request (Ping) commanded from cnMaestro

System Release 650-01-49 generates ICMP Echo Request messages (Pings) transmitted at the
network interface of the ODU Management Agent, in response to a command from a connected
cnMaestro server. The ODU returns the associated results to cnMaestro in a format similar to the
output of typical command line utilities.

The interface between the ODU and the cnMaestro server allows the following parameters to be
configured:

• The IPv4 address or Fully Qualified Domain Name (FQDN) of the target host machine

• The number of packets to be transmitted, 1..10

• The size of the ICMP echo request payload, 1..1023 octets or bytes

• The time to live (TTL) in the transmitted packet 1..127

Note The troubleshooting command that causes the ODU to generate pings is not yet
included in released cnMaestro server software..

3.2 Update CAMNWK Root CA certificates

System Release 650-01-49 includes additional trusted Root CA certificates to authenticate
cnMaestro servers. The new certificates are as follows:

• Cambium Networks Issuing CA G2

• Cambium Networks Root CA G2

3.3 Support for cnMaestro Custom Stat Request message

System Release 650-01-49 supports the cnMaestro Custom Stat Request message (Message Type
124). The Custom Stat message is used when the cnMaestro server needs to retrieve a statistic value
from a managed device where that statistic value is not stored in the cnMaestro Server database.
The ODU makes the full set of supported stats available in response to Custom Stat Requests.

4 Problems and limitations corrected

Units stuck in cnMaestro Approval Pending state

In earlier releases, a managed PTP 650 ODU sometimes remains unnecessarily in the Approval
Pending state at the cnMaestro server, failing to reach the Connected State.

The problem occurs when the ODU receives an unexpected duplicate Success Response message
after already transitioning to the Connected state, and consequently returns to the Approval Pending
state.

In 650-01-49, the cnMaestro interface in the ODU silently discards a Success Response message
received in the Connected state, and the problem is avoided.

PHN-5115 001V000 – MAY 2020 PAGE 3 OF 7

Device Agent watchdog after 49 days and 17 hours
In earlier releases, ODUs managed using cnMaestro sometimes restart spontaneously, triggered by
the watchdog circuit. The spontaneous reboot occurs when the elapsed time counter equals
approximately 49 days 17 hours.

The problem arises because the Device Agent (DA) firmware for the cnMaestro interface does not
handle the wrap of the 32-bit elapsed time indicator correctly at 2^32 milliseconds, resulting in failure
of the DA to respond to the watchdog.

The problem is corrected in System Release 650-01-49, by ensuring that the DA correctly handles
the counter wrap.

Extended wireless acquisition time in links with high receiver power

In earlier releases, the acquisition time for PTP links is sometimes undesirably extended when the link
is configured for DSO, with Link Access, and receiver power is close to the top of the receiver power
range at –35 dBm.

When spectrum management is configured for DSO, the receiver in the Slave ODU scans channels in
the Regulatory Band searching for an acquisition signal from the Master. If the receive signal is large,
the Slave ODU can detect the acquisition signal in channels adjacent to the wanted signal. In the
existing wireless interface, the Slave ODU does not attempt to establish a link if the acquisition signal
is up to three channels either side of the wanted channel. This approach is generally sufficient, but at
very high receiver power it is sometimes possible for the receiver to detect a signal at four channels
below or above the wanted channel. In this case, the ODU may attempt to establish a link. This
attempt to establish a link ultimately fails, but in doing so extends the scan period unnecessarily.

In System Release 670-01-49, the wireless interface has been modified to avoid establishing a link at
an offset of four channels.

Max Receive Modulation Mode is reset when bandwidth is changed

In earlier releases, the Max Receive Modulation Mode attribute is reset to the highest rate mode when
the ODU is reconfigured with a different channel bandwidth. This is potentially confusing, and in 650-
01-49 behavior is modified to retain the existing Max Receive Modulation Mode setting.

Transmit buffer stalled sending to cnMaestro

In earlier releases, a watchdog reset occasionally occurs when the ODU is managed using cnMaestro.
The problem is triggered when a message is not completely delivered from the ODU to the
cnMaestro server, and data is consequently stored in a buffer in the ODU awaiting a further
transmission opportunity. If the connection is subsequently closed by the cnMaestro server before
this data is sent, the ODU continuously attempts (and fails) to deliver the remaining buffered data,
and consequently the Device Agent fails to respond to the watchdog function.

In System Release 650-01-49, the ODU discards any buffered data when the connection to the server
is closed, avoiding the problem described above.

650-01-47 onboarded in cnMaestro 2.2.0-r60 is not returning stats

When an ODU with System Release 650-01-47 is managed by cnMaestro server 2.2.0-r60, the server
is unable to obtain statistics from the ODU.

This occurs because the server requests a list of statistics, some of which are not supported in 650-
01-47. The expected behavior in this scenario is for the ODU to return an error message relating to
the unsupported statistics, while correctly returning values for the supported statistics. In 650-01-47,
there is a problem in the firmware with responding to a request that contains unsupported statistics,
and consequently the ODU fails to provide any data at all.

PHN-5115 001V000 – MAY 2020 PAGE 4 OF 7

In System Release 650-01-49, the problem is resolved, ensuring that the ODU will respond with an
error message for the unsupported statistics, while correctly returning results for the supported
statistics.

Connection refused messages

In earlier releases, a syslog event is generated at one-minute intervals when the Access Control List
(ACL) feature is activated. The message indicates that a connection was refused from the ODUs own
IP address. In System Release 650-01-49, the local IP address is (invisibly) added to the ACL, and the
syslog message is not generated.

Link drops when barring DSO channels including the active channel
In earlier releases, a link can sometimes drop if several channels are barred at the same time in the
Spectrum Expert page, in the case where the list of barred channels includes the active channel. The
problem arises because of the order of channel moving and barring operations in ODU firmware.

The problem is resolved in System Release 650-01-49.

Device Agent watchdog with unreliable cnMaestro connection

In earlier releases, ODUs managed using cnMaestro sometimes restart spontaneously, triggered by
the watchdog circuit. The watchdog detects a problem that arises when the Device Agent (DA) in
the ODU has an unreliable connection to the cnMaestro server. This connection can be unreliable
because either (a) the ODU is discarding management messages when the Denial of Service
protection mechanism is activated, or (b) management messages are received with errors and
discarded in the wireless link.

The DA has incorrectly used the standard “blocking” socket API, resulting in an indefinite wait for the
missing message. The remedy is to configure a “non-blocking” socket.

The problem is corrected in System Release 650-01-49, where the DA correctly handles missing
messages.

TDD Frame Offset direction using Cambium Sync

In earlier releases that support TDD Synchronization using Cambium Sync, the TDD Frame Offset
attribute retards frame timing by the configured offset if the synchronization method is Cambium
Sync, but advances frame timing by the same amount if the synchronization method is PTP SYNC.
This is unsatisfactory and potentially confusing when designing a synchronized network.

In System Release 650-01-49, the TDD Frame Offset acts to advance frame timing for both
synchronization sources.

5 Known problems or limitations

5.1 Network Management

Management agent unresponsive state
The ODU management agent occasionally becomes unresponsive to HTTP and HTTPS, via both
wireless and wired interfaces. The ODU continues to carry end-to-end data service traffic. The ODU
also continues to respond to ICMP echo requests (i.e. pings).

The problem is cleared by restarting the ODU. It might be possible to restart remotely using telnet if
this interface is enabled before the web interface becomes unresponsive.

We believe that this problem is significantly more likely to occur if the ODU is used in link with fading
wireless conditions.

PHN-5115 001V000 – MAY 2020 PAGE 5 OF 7

ODU does not adjust MTU based on receiving Packet Too Big message
The PTP 650 ODU does not adjust its MTU in use for the management agent upon receiving an
ICMPv6 packet too big message.

ODU does not appear to respond to MLD queries

The unit does not process IPv6 Multicast Listener Discovery version 1 (MLDv1) general listener query
messages reliably.

5.2 TDD Synchronization

Not Synchronizing with 3460 µs Frame duration and no GPS deployed
A Master ODU does not provide synchronization in the situation where all of the following are true:
(a) frame duration is configured for 3460 μs and (b) no GPS is deployed and (c) timing for the site
derived from the Cluster Master ODU.

5.3 Network synchronization

Phase error caused by disconnecting and reconnecting SyncE slave port
There is sometimes a large phase transient at PTP 650 Sync E outputs if the ODU makes a transition
from tracking to holdover triggered by physical disconnection of the incoming Sync E reference. This
large phase transient does not occur if the transition to holdover is triggered by a change in the QL
of the received reference.

Wander transfer function fails EEC Option 1 and Option 2 in G.8262

The peak gain of the wander transfer function within the passband of the tracking loop is 0.7 dB
compared with the 0.2 dB requirement in ITU-T recommendation G.8262.

The bandwidth of the tracking loop in PTP 650 is somewhat greater than the 0.1 Hz requirement for
EEC Option 2 networks, and consequently PTP 650 does not comply with the wander transfer limits
in Table 13 of G.8262. This is not likely to be a problem in typical applications of PTP 650, where the
number of Synchronous Ethernet nodes is small.

6 Technical Support

For Technical Support, please visit our support pages at:

https://support.cambiumnetworks.com

PHN-5115 001V000 – MAY 2020 PAGE 6 OF 7

Cambium Networks
Cambium Networks provides professional grade fixed wireless broadband and microwave solutions
for customers around the world. Our solutions are deployed in thousands of networks in over 153
countries, with our innovative technologies providing reliable, secure, cost-effective connectivity
that’s easy to deploy and proven to deliver outstanding metrics.

Our award-winning Point to Point (PTP) radio solutions operate in licensed, unlicensed and defined
use frequency bands including specific FIPS 140-2 solutions for the U.S. Federal market. Ruggedized
for 99.999% availability, our PTP solutions have an impeccable track record for delivering reliable
high-speed backhaul connectivity even in the most challenging non-line-of-sight RF environments.

Our flexible Point-to-Multipoint (PMP) solutions operate in the licensed, unlicensed and federal
frequency bands, providing reliable, secure, cost effective access networks. With more than three
million modules deployed in networks around the world, our PMP access network solutions prove
themselves day-in and day-out in residential access, leased line replacement, video surveillance and
smart grid infrastructure applications.

Cambium Networks solutions are proven, respected leaders in the wireless broadband industry. We
design, deploy and deliver innovative data, voice and video connectivity solutions that enable and
ensure the communications of life, empowering personal, commercial and community growth
virtually everywhere in the world.

www.cambiumnetworks.com
Cambium Networks and the stylized circular logo are trademarks of Cambium Networks, Ltd. All
other trademarks are the property of their respective owners.

© Copyright 2020 Cambium Networks, Ltd. All rights reserved.