How To: Retrieve Cellular Performance Metrics Data Using the Digi RM API

Introduction

Digi Remote Manager (DRM) provides a REST API that allows you to query cellular performance metrics for any enrolled Digi device. Using this API, you can retrieve current signal snapshots across your entire fleet, as well as detailed time-series telemetry including Signal Quality, Signal Strength, RSSI, RSRP, RSRQ, and cell-level identifiers (specifically the E-UTRAN Cell Identifier (ECI) for LTE connections and the NR Cell Identity (NCI) for 5G NR connections).

This article covers two complementary approaches: a single API call to retrieve the current signal snapshot for all devices at once, and a per-device stream history API for retrieving detailed historical telemetry data.

Prerequisites

Before using the APIs described in this article, confirm the following:

• You have an active Digi Remote Manager account with at least one cellular device enrolled.
• You have valid DRM credentials (username and password, or a DRM API key) for HTTPS Basic Authentication.
• The target device is online and connected to DRM. Historical metric data remains queryable for devices that are currently offline, provided they were connected and reporting at the time the data was collected.

Enable Device Health Metrics on Each Device

Important:  Cellular metric streams — including Signal Quality, Signal Strength, and cell identity data (ECI/NCI) — are only uploaded to DRM when Device Health metrics reporting is enabled on each device. The metric streams will not exist in the API until this setting is turned on.

To enable Device Health metrics on a DAL OS device:

1. Log in to the Device Web UI (or access the device Settings page via Digi Remote Manager (Note: Settings for devices which are controlled by a Template can not be changed unless the device is put into Debug mode, or the device is moved to a Group where a Template won't control the device Configuration)
2. Navigate to Monitoring  >  Device Event Logs.
3. Enable:  Enable event log uploads.
4. Set the Sample interval to the desired reporting frequency.  Several options available ranging from 1 to 60 minutes. Shorter intervals provide higher data granularity but also increase cellular data usage.
5. Save and apply the configuration.

This config settings change can also be deployed across multiple devices simultaneously, by editing this Settings area under aTemplate which controls a device, then changing the setting via Template Scan Remediation.

Firmware Version

Reporting of cell-level metric streams such as ECI and NCI depends on two separate firmware layers, both of which must be considered:

• DAL OS firmware — controls which metrics are collected from the modem and uploaded to DRM.  Recent DAL OS releases added explicit support for collecting and uploading cell identity metrics. This is the primary dependency and the first thing to update.
• Cellular modem firmware — the firmware running on the modem hardware module inside the device, independently of DAL OS. The modem must itself support reporting cell identity data. If the modem firmware does not expose ECI or NCI, a DAL OS update alone will not make the stream appear.

In most cases, updating to the latest stable DAL OS release is sufficient. If the cell_id stream remains absent after a DAL OS update, the modem firmware version should be investigated as a secondary step — this is device-model-specific and may require a separate support engagement.

• Update devices to the latest stable DAL OS release first. This can be done from DRM by selecting the device and choosing Actions > Update Firmware, or programmatically via the v1/firmware_updates API.
• After updating firmware, re-run Step 1 of the procedure below to confirm the expected streams are now present.
• Firmware release notes are published at docs.digi.com. Search for your device model to find details on when specific metric streams were introduced.

Choosing the Right API for Your Use Case

DRM provides two distinct approaches for retrieving cellular signal data. The right choice depends on whether you need a current snapshot across your entire fleet, or detailed historical time-series data for specific devices and streams.

Retrieving Current Signal Metrics Across All Devices

If your goal is to pull signal analytics for your entire fleet in a single API call — without needing per-device historical data — the v1/devices/inventory endpoint is the most direct approach. It returns the current snapshot of signal metrics for every enrolled device in one response.

For CSV output across the entire fleet (recommended for large fleets):

Key signal fields returned per device:

Understanding RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ in DRM

DRM does not expose RSSI, RSRP, and RSRQ as three separate top-level fields in the device inventory response. Instead they are surfaced as follows:

• RSRP (Reference Signal Received Power) — available as the signal_strength field in v1/devices/inventory for LTE and 5G NR devices, and as the metrics/cellular/{M}/sim{S}/rsrp metric stream for historical time-series data.
• RSRQ (Reference Signal Received Quality) — available as the signal_quality field in v1/devices/inventory for LTE and 5G NR devices, and as the metrics/cellular/{M}/sim{S}/rsrq metric stream for historical time-series data.
• RSSI (Received Signal Strength Indicator) — available as the signal_strength field in v1/devices/inventory for 2G and 3G devices. For LTE and 5G NR devices, signal_strength reflects RSRP rather than RSSI. There is no dedicated rssi metric stream; the signal_strength stream value reflects whichever measure the modem reports for the active technology.

Retrieve Cellular Performance Metrics

Follow the steps below to discover available metric streams for a device and retrieve raw historical telemetry data.

Step 1 — Discover Available Metric Streams for a Device

The metric streams available for a device vary by model, modem hardware, and firmware version. Run this call first to confirm which streams are present before querying history.

          GET https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/devices/metrics/{deviceId}

Replace {deviceId} with your device's DRM identifier (format: 00000000-00000000-XXXXXXXX-XXXXXXXX). The response returns the full list of metric streams the device is currently reporting. Look for stream names that follow this pattern:

          metrics/cellular/{interface}/sim{S}/{metricName}

Where {interface} is the cellular interface name as reported by the device, and S is the SIM slot number. The interface name varies by device model — common values are shown in the table below.  Always use the exact interface name discovered in Step 1 rather than assuming a value.

Common interface naming conventions by device family:

        •  Numeric index (e.g. 1, 2) — used on some Digi device models
       •  WWAN interface name (e.g. wwan, wwan1) — used on TX54 and similar devices
       •  Other models may use different interface names entirely.

The correct name for your device will appear in the stream discovery response in Step 1. The table below lists the metric names ({metricName}) relevant to this article:

Note:  If an expected stream such as cell_id does not appear in the response, first update the device to the latest DAL OS firmware release and re-run this step. If the stream is still absent after a DAL OS update, the cellular modem firmware may not support reporting cell identity data on that hardware. See the Firmware Version section under Prerequisites for full guidance. Also note: the interface name segment in the stream path (e.g. wwan, wwan1, 1, 2) will vary by device model — always use the exact name shown in the discovery response for subsequent API calls.

Step 2 — Retrieve Raw Historical Metric Data

Once you have confirmed the stream names available on the device in Step 1, use the streams/history endpoint to pull the raw time-series datapoints. Use the exact stream name as returned by the discovery response — including the correct interface name for your device. This endpoint returns every stored datapoint with no aggregation applied — it is the correct endpoint for maximum data granularity.

           GET https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/streams/history/{deviceId}/metrics/cellular/{interface}/sim{S}/{metricName}?start_time={ISO8601}&end_time=ISO8601}&size=1000&order=asc

Example — retrieve RSRP history over a 7-day window. Substitute the interface name discovered in Step 1 for your specific device:          

Each record in the response contains:

• timestamp — when the value was recorded on the device
• server_timestamp — when DRM received and stored the datapoint
• value — the metric value, expressed as a string
• stream_id — the full stream path, combining the device ID and metric name
• quality — a data quality flag; 0 indicates a good reading

Important:  Pagination is required whenever a date range contains more than 1000 datapoints. When the response includes a cursor and next_uri field, pass the cursor value as a query parameter on your next request. Continue requesting pages until no cursor is returned.

Note:  Repeat Step 2 for each metric stream of interest — rsrp, rsrq, signal_strength, cell_id, and sinr are each separate streams and must be queried individually. Use the full stream name exactly as returned by the discovery response in Step 1, including the correct interface name for your device. For a script that exports multiple streams in one operation, see How to Export Digi Remote Manager API Data to CSV.

Step 3 — (Optional) Retrieve Aggregated Rollup Data

If you need time-bucketed summaries rather than individual raw datapoints — for example, hourly averages for a dashboard or report — use the rollups endpoint:

          GET https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/streams/rollups/{deviceId}/metrics/cellular/{interface}/sim{S}/{metricName}?method=average&interval=hour&start_time=2025-01-01T00:00:00.000Z

Supported aggregation methods: average, min, max, sum, count, standarddev. Supported intervals: half, hour, day, week, month.

Note:  Use streams/history (Step 2) when raw, unaggregated telemetry is required. Use streams/rollups only when pre-aggregated time buckets are explicitly needed.

Understanding ECI and NCI in the cell_id Stream

The cell_id metric stream carries the identifier of the serving cell as reported by the cellular modem:

• For LTE (4G) connections, the value is the E-UTRAN Cell Identifier (ECI) — a 28-bit number that uniquely identifies the LTE cell globally.
• For 5G NR connections, the value is the NR Cell Identity (NCI) — a 36-bit number that uniquely identifies the 5G NR cell.

To determine which technology is active on a device, check the network field in the v1/devices/inventory response, or read the metrics/cellular/{interface}/sim{S}/band stream for the active RF band, using the interface name discovered in Step 1.

Working with Subaccounts

If your DRM account is organized with a parent account and one or more subaccounts, you can scope any API request — including streams/history and device metrics calls — to a specific subaccount using standard HTTP request headers. This is the correct method for targeting subaccount data, and replaces any use of customer_id as a URL query parameter, which is not supported by these endpoints.

The actor Header — Scope a Request to a Single Subaccount

Add the actor header to any API request to direct it at a specific subaccount. The value is the customer_id of the target subaccount, which can be retrieved by calling GET /ws/v1/subaccounts/inventory. When actor is used on a GET request, only items belonging to that subaccount are returned.

Example — retrieve cellular metric history scoped to subaccount 74214:

          GET  https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/streams/history/{deviceId}/metrics/cellular/{interface}/sim1/rsrp?start_time=2025-01-01T00:00:00.000Z&end_time=2025-01-08T00:00:00.000Z&size=1000

    Header: actor: 74214

The account-filter Header — Retrieve Data Across All Subaccounts

Add the account-filter: all header to retrieve data from the parent account and all subaccounts in a single response. This is useful when you need a fleet-wide view that spans all managed accounts.

           GET https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/devices/inventory?fields=id,name,carrier,network,signal_strength,signal_quality,signal_percent

    Header: account-filter: all

Note:  The actor and account-filter headers are used alongside your standard HTTP Basic Authentication credentials. No changes to the URL or query parameters are needed to scope requests to a subaccount. To find the customer_id values for your subaccounts, call:

          GET https://remotemanager.digi.com/ws/v1/subaccounts/inventory.

Exporting Metric Data to CSV

The streams/history endpoint returns JSON. If you need to export cellular metric data to a CSV file — for example, to load into a spreadsheet or external analytics tool — the most practical approach is to page through the full history response and write each datapoint as a row.

The example below illustrates this pattern using Python. The same logic applies to any language or tool capable of making HTTP requests and writing files:

Note:  To export multiple streams (rsrp, rsrq, signal_strength, cell_id, etc.) in one operation, or to export across an entire fleet, see the companion article:   How to Export Digi Remote Manager API Data to CSV.

Common Issues

Further Information

• Digi Remote Manager API Guide: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/
• v1/streams API reference: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/api/v1-streams
• v1/devices API reference: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/api/v1-devices
• Working with Subaccounts: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/pages/working-with-subaccounts/
• v1/subaccounts API reference: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/api/v1-subaccounts
• Real-time metric push using DRM Monitors: https://doc-remotemanager.digi.com/pages/monitors-with-templates/
• DAL OS firmware release notes and downloads:  Login to your Digi Remote Manager account, then access the Firmware UI
• For device inventory and IMSI retrieval see:  How To: Retrieve Device Inventory Data Including IMSI Using the Digi RM API
• For bulk CSV export of metrics and inventory see:  How To: Export Digi Remote Manager API Data to CSV