Swarm Tile Product Manual Swarm Tile Manual Revision 0.
Legal Notices This User Manual provides user information and is provided “as is.” Swarm Technologies and its affiliated companies, directors, officers, employees, agents, trustees or consultants (“Swarm”) assume no responsibility for any typographical, technical, content or other inaccuracies in this User Manual. Swarm reserves the right to revise this User Manual or withdraw it at any time without prior notice. You can find the current version of this Swarm Tile User Manual at www.swarm.space.
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Revision History Revision Date Comment 0.95 03/16/2020 Tile Product Manual - Initial Release Swarm Tile Product Manual 0 Revision History 3 1 Safety Information and Compliance 5 1.1 FCC Compliance 5 1.2 ISED Compliance 6 1.3 Transceiver Regulatory Certification 7 2 Product Overview 8 3 Mechanical Specification 9 3.1 Tile Dimensions 10 3.2 Environmental 10 3.2 Mechanical Specification – Mounting 10 3.3 Reflow Soldering 11 3.
6 Software interface 25 Message types 25 General command structure 25 Command timing 25 Additional notes 26 6.1 Unsolicited Messages 27 Date/time 27 Tile status 28 Geospatial information 29 GPS fix quality 30 GPS spoofing indicator 31 Received data 31 6.
1 Safety Information and Compliance The Tile is designed to comply with the standards for Radio Emissions Compliance and Electromagnetic Compatibility in the United States, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, United Kingdom, and the European Union. 1.1 FCC Compliance 1.1.1 FCC Interference Statement (Part 15.105 (b)) This equipment has been tested and found to comply with the limits for a Class B digital device, pursuant to Part 15 of the FCC Rules.
The FCC ID for the Tile is 2AVE9-TILE01. All manufacturers integrating the Tile into their products are advised to provide a physical or e-label stating “Contains FCC ID: 2AVE9-TILE01” 1.1.5Part 15 Subpart B Disclaimer: The final host product requires Part 15B compliance testing with the modular transmitter installed. 1.2 ISED Compliance 1.2.1 ISED RSS-Gen Notice CAN ICES-3 (B)NMB-3(B): This device complies with Industry Canada’s licence-exempt RSSs.
1.3 Transceiver Regulatory Certification The Tile is a regulatory approved modular transmitter that is designed to be integrated into a enclosed host system. With appropriate external connections, the host can be designed to emet full regulatory tests and sold as a regulatory certified product that meets FCC, IC, and CE requirements Regulatory Approvals Radio Tests EMC Tests FCC FCC CFR47 Parts 2, 15, and 25 IC Industry Canada RSS170 Issue 2 - March 2011 CE ETSI EN 301 721 V2.1.
2 Product Overview The Swarm Tile (Model: TILE01) satellite data modem transmits and receives data to and from Swarm’s space network and is designed to be embedded into a third-party product. Swarm backend systems can support the delivery of customer data via a REST API to the cloud service of each user’s choice.
Table 1: Overview of the Swarm Tile 9
3 Mechanical Specification A diagram of the Tile is shown in Figure 1.
3.1 Tile Dimensions The overall dimensions of the Tile and its weight are summarized in Table 2. Parameter Value Length 58.67 mm Width 27.43 mm Height 6.03 mm Weight 10 g Table 2: Tile Mechanical Dimensions and Weight 3.2 Environmental The environmental specifications of the Tile are summarized in Table 3 below.
Figure 2: Location of solder pads on the underside of the Tile 3.3 Reflow Soldering The Tile is designed to be reflow soldered onto a PCB. A recommended reflow profile can be found below in Figure 3 and Table 4 Use of "No Clean" soldering paste is strongly recommended, as it does not require cleaning after the soldering process has taken place. The paste listed in the example below meets these criteria: Soldering Paste: M8 SAC305 / PN#89268 (AIM Solder) Alloy specification: Sn 95.5/ Ag 4/ Cu 0.5 (96.
Figure 3: Recommended reflow profile for lead-free solder paste Time (Seconds) Temperature (℃) 0 25 45 150 165 200 180 240 220 240 280 25 Table 4: Data points for reflow soldering 13
3.4 Physical Interface Connectors The Tile incorporates two connectors: • A GPS Antenna U.FL male connector [TE Connectivity #1909763-1] • An RF Antenna U.
4 Electrical Interfaces The following subsections contain information for the electrical interfaces of the Tile. The RF interfaces are covered in section 5. 4.1 User Connector The user connector provides the following required connections to the Tile: • DC power supply input, 3.3V, 1000 mA peak • Serial data interface 4.2 Tile Pin Allocation The pin numbering scheme of the Tile is shown in Figure 4.
Pin Number Name Type Description 1 GPS_EXTINT Not Connected RESERVED - DO NOT CONNECT 2 GND Ground Ground 3 GPIO_1 Input/Output General purpose input/output 4 GND Ground Ground 5 SERIAL_RX Input 3.3V serial receive 6 SERIAL_TX Output 3.3V serial transmit 7 GND Ground Ground 8 GPS_OUT RF External GPS antenna connection 9 3V3 VCC 3.3V at up to 1000mA 10 3V3 VCC 3.
Additional Notes Pin Number Note 3 Connection is unbuffered directly to a GPIO on the Tile processor. Configuration will be provided via Tile firmware. GPIO pin is 3.3V tolerant, with a sink/source current limit of ±8 mA (±20 mA with a relaxed VOL/VOH) 8 If not using the provided U.FL connector, a 50Ω impedance path must be provided to a non-powered external GPS antenna. 9, 10 The 3.
Name VCC ICC (3.3V) ICC (3.5V) Description Min Typ Max Unit Module supply voltage 2.8 3.3 3.5 V Current consumption - Sleep Mode 21.6 23.7 32.8 μA Current consumption - Receiver Active 29.7 31.6 34.1 mA Current consumption - Geolocation Mode* 51.1 53.7 55.2 mA Current consumption - Transmitter on 740 743 745 mA Current consumption - Sleep Mode 27.3 28.0 28.0 μA Current consumption - Receiver Active 30.3 32.8 36.1 mA Current consumption - Geolocation Mode* 50.
Figure 5: Sample hardware integration for Tile Figure 6: Example integration of a Tile 19
4.4 Power On/Off Control The Tile can be externally switched on/off by an user-supplied power switch on the 3V3 power inputs. When a Tile has been turned off, power should not be restored until more than 1 second has elapsed. Additionally, if a unit does not respond to software commands, power off the module, wait for at least 1 second and then power it back on. If the 1 second minimum wait time is not adhered to, the reset circuit may not operate and the Tile could be placed in a non-operational state.
5 RF Interface This section describes the physical characteristics of the RF connectors and specifications of the RF Interface. 5.1 RF Connectors The Tile RF and GPS connectors are male U.FL connectors [TE Connectivity Part Number 1909763-1]. This is a surface mount connector that is directly attached to the Tile.. A Swarm VHF antenna must be used, as third party antennas will not be tuned well enough to provide enough gain and resonance in the specified frequency range of 138 to 150 MHz.
5.2.1 Antenna Characteristics The Tile is certified with the following antennas as described in Tables 8 and 9. No power reduction compensation is required for use with these antennas. Swarm Coiled ¼ Wave 8.5” Antenna Parameter Value Length 21.5 cm Diameter (Connector) 11.2 mm Diameter (along major length) 7.6 mm Weight 31.
Swarm ½ Wave Antenna Parameter Value Length 108.5 cm Diameter (Connector) 40.7 mm Diameter (along major length) 3.3 mm Weight 150g Operating Temperature -60 °C to +130 °C Operating Humidity 0-100% humidity, condensable Impedance 50 Ohms nominal Polarization Linearly Polarized VSWR (in Swarm Bands) 1.8 Gain 2.15 dBi Frequency 137.000-138.000 MHz (RX) 148.000-150.
Figure 8: RF trace routing and keep out area for RF output (top layer) 24
Figure 9: GPS trace routing and keep out areas (top layer) Figure 10: PCB buildup and layer thicknesses for certified PCB 25
6 Software interface Message types The Tile transmits two types of messages: ● ● Unsolicited messages, which include status messages, date/time and GPS information, and notifications that messages have been received by the Tile Command responses, which include responses to message and power management commands, as well as notifications that messages have been sent or settings have been updated General command structure All messages to and from the Tile are NMEA formatted messages.
Additional notes The user application connected to the Tile should ignore any characters received from the tile after startup until the $TILE BOOT,RUNNING*49 string is received. The bootloader will output messages as it starts up. These messages include, but are not limited to: status messages, firmware update progress messages, and error messages.
6.1 Unsolicited Messages Date/time This message indicates the current date/time obtained from the Tile’s GPS. This message is not sent until the GPS has obtained a fix sufficient to set its internal date and time. If the GPS loses its fix, the message is sent with a flag indicating an invalid state. Date/time messages can be enabled or disabled using the $DTor $OPcommand. $DT < YYYY >< MM >< DD >< hh >< mm >< ss >,< flag >*xx Parameter Description YYYY Year (1970..2038) MM Month (01..
Tile status Status messages indicate that the Tile has booted and acquired date/time and position information from the GPS network. Error and debug messages are also sent as status messages. Tile status messages cannot be disabled.
Geospatial information This message provides standard NMEA-formatted positional information, including latitude, longitude, altitude, course, and speed. Geospatial information messages can be enabled/disabled using the $GNor $OPcommand. $GN < latitude >,< longitude >,< altitude >,< course >,< speed >*xx Parameter Description latitude Latitude in d.ddddddd format (float). The latitude is presented in the N basis (negative latitudes are in the southern hemisphere) longitude Longitude in d.
GPS fix quality This message provides a standard NMEA-formatted description of the type of GPS fix currently in use. GPS fix quality messages can be enabled/disabled using the $GSor $OPcommand.
GPS spoofing indicator This message provides a standard NMEA-formatted value of the quality of GPS signals received. GPS spoofing indicator messages can be enabled/disabled using the $GS or $OP command. $GJ < flag >,< value >*xx Parame ter Description flag 0Spoofing unknown or deactivated 1No spoofing indicated 2Spoofing indicated 3No reliable GNSS position fix (likely due to spoofing) value Value ranging from 0 to 255 indicating how much spoofing the Tile detects.
6.2 Commands and Responses Date/time This command repeats the most recent $DTmessage, or queries or sets the $DTmessage rate. $DT <@|?|< rate >>*xx Parameter Description @ Repeat most recent $DTmessage ? Query current $DTrate rate Disable or set rate of $DTmessages Returns one of: Value Description $DT - ,*xx The most recent $DTmessage.
is a value between 1 and 2147483647 (231-1). It will be the number of seconds in between each message. An OK response confirms that the parameters have been updated in response to a command with the parameter. An ERR response indicates that additional or invalid characters were included between the Tand the * of the command. Example: Calling the most recent date/time message: $DT @*70 $DT 20190408195123,V*6d Returns a date/time of April 8th, 2019 7:51:23 PM GMT .
Firmware version This command returns the Tile’s firmware version. $FV*xx Returns one of: Value Description $FV *xx The current firmware version $FV ERR*xx An error response Notes: An ERR response indicates that additional characters were included between the V and the * of the command.
Geospatial information This command repeats the most recent $GNmessage, or queries or sets the $GNmessage rate. $GN <@|?|< rate >>*xx Parameter Description @ Repeat most recent $GNmessage ? Query current $GNrate rate Disable or set rate of $GNmessages Returns one of: Value Description $GN ,, ,,*xx The most recent $GNmessage.
An OK response confirms that the parameters have been updated in response to a command with the parameter. An ERR response indicates that additional or invalid characters were included between the Nand the * of the command. Example: Calling the most recent GPS message: $GN @*69 $GN 37.8921,-122.0155,77,89.0,0.2*0c Returns a location of 37.8921N, 122.0155W . The Tile's altitude is 77m , its course is 89.0 degrees , and it is moving at 0.2 kilometers per hour .
GPS Fix Quality This command repeats the most recent $GSmessage, or queries or sets the $GSmessage rate. $GS <@|?|< rate >>*xx Parameter Description @ Repeat most recent $GSmessage ? Query current $GSrate rate Disable or set rate of $GSmessages Returns one of: Parameter Description $GS ,,, *xx The most recent $GSmessage.
An OK response confirms that the parameters have been updated in response to a command with the parameter. An ERR response indicates that additional or invalid characters were included between the Sand the * of the command.
Manage received messages This command enables management of received messages.
Messages have three states: unread, read, and deleted. Once an unread message is read, its state changes to read. It can subsequently be read again. If a message is deleted, it can no longer be read. All in the above context means both read and unread messages, but does not include messages that have been deleted. If a message is marked read using the M= or M=* command, marking it as read again is not an error.
Disable/enable messages This command allows selective disabling/enabling of messages from the Tile, as well as setting parameters including message delivery preferences, controlling the GPIO1 pin, and controlling the red and green LEDs. $OP [,p2=< val >[,...
appear in the middle of the string. The user application should NOT rely on any given option being at any given position; the string should be parsed using the comma as a delimiter, and the desired option retrieved by name. Note that the TMoption does not appear in the output string. is a value between 1 and 2147483647 (231-1). It will be the number of seconds in between each message. The default rate for each message type is 60 (once per minute).
only if the the sleep mode is terminated by the S or T parameter being reached, a GPIO wakeup (if configured), or activity on the serial RX line. (2) - If either of these modes are selected, the pin will be set to the selected state after the client has issued the $SL command. The pin will change to the awake state if the sleep mode is terminated (as described in (1), or when then Tile wakes to perform internal house- keeping functions.
(1) - The LED will be lit when the Tile is awake, in both the user mode and system mode. If the Tile is not put to sleep with the $SL command, the LED will remain on. If the Tile is put to sleep with the $SL command, the LED will be lit if the Tile wakes to perform internal housekeeping tasks. The LR option sets the operating mode for the red LED. Please see the LG option for the available modes.
Restart Tile This command restarts the Tile. $RS*xx Returns one of: Value Description $RS OK*xx Command has been accepted and the Tile will immediately perform a hardware restart $RS ERR*xx An error message Notes: An OK response confirms that the Tile will successfully restart. An ERR response indicates that additional or invalid characters were included between the Sand the *of the command.
Sleep mode This command puts the Tile into a low-power sleep mode.
The $SL WAKE, message is emitted after the Tile wakes from a user commanded sleep mode (as opposed to the Tile waking to perform internal housekeeping and then returning to sleep).
Similarly, if the GPIO1 pin is configured to wake on a high-to-low (or low-to-high) transition, then on transition on the GPIO1 pin, the Tile will also wake with a message such as: $SL WAKE,GPIO @ 2019-04-11 18:57:55*7f 49
Transmit data This command transmits data to the Swarm network. $TD [HT=< hold_time >,]< [string|data] >[..
$TD ERR,QUEUEFULL,0*xx Queue for queued messages is full $TD ERR,TOOLONG,*xx Message is too large to send Notes: The HTparameter is optional but must occur before the portion of the command. is either the number of seconds to expire the message if it has not been sent, or an epoch second date after which the message will be expired if it has not been sent.
ID indicates the message has not been placed in the queue and therefore has no ID. The value should be treated as a simple arbitrary number.
