diff --git a/files/2.2.0-r9739.bin b/files/2.2.0-r9739.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index 4fb6c94..0000000
Binary files a/files/2.2.0-r9739.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/files/2.2.1-r9763.bin b/files/2.2.1-r9763.bin
deleted file mode 100644
index 53a1af8..0000000
Binary files a/files/2.2.1-r9763.bin and /dev/null differ
diff --git a/files/ansible-playbooks/afterupgrade_indoor_check.yml b/files/ansible-playbooks/afterupgrade_indoor_check.yml
index 035423f..3222d5d 100644
--- a/files/ansible-playbooks/afterupgrade_indoor_check.yml
+++ b/files/ansible-playbooks/afterupgrade_indoor_check.yml
@@ -43,6 +43,21 @@
         target_version: "{{ target_version | default('') }}"
         target_version_full: "{{ target_version_full | default(target_version | default('')) }}"
 
+    - name: Debug | snapshot of incoming scheduler metadata
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "attempt={{ attempt | default('') }}"
+          - "max_attempts={{ max_attempts | default('') }}"
+          - "current_delay_sec={{ current_delay_sec | default('') }}"
+          - "correlation_id={{ correlation_id | default('') }}"
+          - "original_emitted_at={{ original_emitted_at | default('') }}"
+          - "target_version_full={{ target_version_full | default('') }}"
+          - "target_version={{ target_version | default('') }}"
+          - "schema_version={{ schema_version | default('') }}"
+
+
     # Visibility of what scheduler sent
     - name: Debug show received scheduler metadata
       delegate_to: localhost
@@ -152,8 +167,8 @@
           max_attempts: "{{ effective_max_attempts | int }}"
           correlation_id: "{{ correlation_id }}"
           original_emitted_at: "{{ original_emitted_at }}"
-          target_version_full: "{{ target_version_full }}"     # <-- ADD
-          target_version: "{{ target_version | default(target_version_full) }}"  # <-- ADD (keeps core if it was sent)
+          target_version_full: "{{ target_version_full }}"     
+          target_version: "{{ target_version | default(target_version_full) }}"  
           current_delay_sec: "{{ next_delay_sec | int }}"
           schema_version: 1
 
@@ -336,6 +351,15 @@
       changed_when: false
       ignore_errors: true
 
+    - name: Debug | banner normalization inputs
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "banner_raw={{ (firmware_banner.stdout | default(firmware_banner) | default('')) | trim }}"
+          - "normalize rule: '2.2.1 rev 6801' -> '2.2.1-r6801'"
+
+
     - name: Debug show raw firmware readout from DEV2
       delegate_to: localhost
       ansible.builtin.debug:
@@ -365,6 +389,16 @@
       ansible.builtin.set_fact:
         expected_norm_step1: "{{ (target_version_full | default('') | trim) }}"
 
+    - name: Debug | expected target base and regex extraction inputs
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "target_version(raw)={{ target_version | default('') }}"
+          - "target_version_full(raw)={{ target_version_full | default('') }}"
+          - "regex='[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+\\.[0-9]+-r[0-9]+'"
+
+
     - name: Extract version core X dot Y dot Z dash rNNNN from target if present
       delegate_to: localhost
       ansible.builtin.set_fact:
@@ -380,6 +414,14 @@
       ansible.builtin.set_fact:
         expected_norm: "{{ (expected_norm_core | default('') | length > 0) | ternary(expected_norm_core, expected_norm_step1) }}"
 
+    - name: Debug | final expected normalized version (what we will compare against)
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "expected_norm={{ expected_norm | default('') }}"
+
+
     # 1 capture raw banner line from DEV2
     - name: Capture firmware banner line from DEV2
       delegate_to: localhost
@@ -399,6 +441,24 @@
               )
           }}
 
+    - name: Debug | banner normalized result
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "banner_norm={{ banner_norm | default('') }}"
+
+    - name: Debug | version compare inputs and strategy
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "expected_norm={{ expected_norm | default('') }}"
+          - "banner_norm={{ banner_norm | default('') }}"
+          - "eq={{ (expected_norm | default('')) == (banner_norm | default('')) }}"
+          - "substr={{ (banner_norm | default('')) is search((expected_norm | default('')), ignorecase=False) if (expected_norm | default('') | length) > 0 else 'N/A' }}"
+
+
     - name: Evaluate version match using normalized equality or substring
       delegate_to: localhost
       ansible.builtin.set_fact:
@@ -412,6 +472,14 @@
             )
           }}
 
+    - name: Debug | version match outcome
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "version_match={{ version_match | default(false) }}"
+
+
     - name: Debug snapshot of expected and actual normalized versions
       delegate_to: localhost
       ansible.builtin.debug:
@@ -700,11 +768,21 @@
           max_attempts: "{{ effective_max_attempts | int }}"
           correlation_id: "{{ correlation_id | default('') }}"
           original_emitted_at: "{{ original_emitted_at | default('') }}"
-          target_version_full: "{{ target_version_full }}"     # <-- ADD
-          target_version: "{{ target_version | default(target_version_full) }}"  # <-- ADD
+          target_version_full: "{{ target_version_full }}"    
+          target_version: "{{ target_version | default(target_version_full) }}" 
           current_delay_sec: "{{ next_delay_sec | int }}"
           schema_version: 1
 
+    - name: Debug | next attempt backoff plan
+      delegate_to: localhost
+      when: debug_aic | bool and (version_match | default(false) | bool) == false
+      ansible.builtin.debug:
+        msg:
+          - "attempt={{ attempt | default('') }} / max_attempts={{ max_attempts | default('') }}"
+          - "next_delay_sec={{ next_delay_sec | default('') }}"
+          - "routing_key={{ routing_key | default('deviceconfig') }}"
+          - "correlation_id={{ correlation_id | default('') }}"
+
     - name: Publish delayed next indoor attempt to holding with TTL routed to deviceconfig
       when: delayed_payload is defined
       delegate_to: localhost
diff --git a/files/rabbit-client.sh b/files/rabbit-client.sh
index 29178e6..9568b65 100644
--- a/files/rabbit-client.sh
+++ b/files/rabbit-client.sh
@@ -64,24 +64,41 @@ dispatch_task() {
   task="$(jq -er '.task_name // empty' <<<"$json")" || task=""
   task_options="$(jq -r '.task_options // empty' <<<"$json")" || task_options=""
 
+
   # Pass after-upgrade metadata via -e by augmenting task_options (single source of truth)
-  if [[ "$task" == "afterupgrade_check" ]]; then
-    local attempt corr_id orig_at target_ver
-    attempt="$(jq -r '.attempt // empty' <<<"$json")"
-    corr_id="$(jq -r '.correlation_id // empty' <<<"$json")"
-    orig_at="$(jq -r '.original_emitted_at // empty' <<<"$json")"
-    target_ver="$(jq -r '.target_version // empty' <<<"$json")"
+  # Supports both historic 'afterupgrade_check' and current 'afterupgrade_indoor_check'
+  if [[ "$task" == "afterupgrade_indoor_check" || "$task" == "afterupgrade_check" ]]; then
+    # Extract everything the publisher may send
+    local attempt max_attempts cur_delay corr_id orig_at target_ver tv_full schema
+    attempt="$(jq -r '.attempt // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    max_attempts="$(jq -r '.max_attempts // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    cur_delay="$(jq -r '.current_delay_sec // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    corr_id="$(jq -r '.correlation_id // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    orig_at="$(jq -r '.original_emitted_at // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    target_ver="$(jq -r '.target_version // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    tv_full="$(jq -r '.target_version_full // ""' <<<"$json")"
+    schema="$(jq -r '.schema_version // ""' <<<"$json")"
 
-    [[ -n "$attempt"  ]] && task_options+=" -e attempt=${attempt}"
-    [[ -n "$corr_id"  ]] && task_options+=" -e correlation_id=${corr_id}"
-    [[ -n "$orig_at"  ]] && task_options+=" -e original_emitted_at=${orig_at}"
-
-    if [[ -n "$target_ver" ]]; then
-      local esc_tv=${target_ver//\'/\'\"\'\"\'}   # replace ' with '\'' safely
-      task_options+=" -e target_version='${esc_tv}'"
+    # Backfill target_version from target_version_full if missing (e.g., fox200-2.2.1-r6801.bin → 2.2.1-r6801)
+    if [[ -z "$target_ver" && -n "$tv_full" ]]; then
+      target_ver="$(sed -nE 's/.*([0-9]+\.[0-9]+\.[0-9]+-r[0-9]+).*/\1/p' <<<"$tv_full" || true)"
     fi
+
+    # Safe single-quote escaper for -e 'value'
+    esc() { local s="$1"; printf "%s" "${s//\'/\047}"; }
+
+    # Always pass the vars (even if empty), so the play never sees undefined
+    task_options+=" -e attempt='$(esc "$attempt")'"
+    task_options+=" -e max_attempts='$(esc "$max_attempts")'"
+    task_options+=" -e current_delay_sec='$(esc "$cur_delay")'"
+    task_options+=" -e correlation_id='$(esc "$corr_id")'"
+    task_options+=" -e original_emitted_at='$(esc "$orig_at")'"
+    task_options+=" -e target_version='$(esc "$target_ver")'"
+    task_options+=" -e target_version_full='$(esc "$tv_full")'"
+    task_options+=" -e schema_version='$(esc "$schema")'"
   fi
 
+
   if [[ -z "$device" || -z "$task" ]]; then
     warn "payload missing required keys (inscope_device/task_name). Skipping."
     return 0