October 2020 Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Table of Contents 1 Introduction............................................................................................................................................................ 1 2 BLIP Product ........................................................................................................................................................... 2 BLIP Hardware and Software .............................................................................
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 1 Introduction BLIP is Unifly's high-quality drone tracking device providing maximum tracking accuracy, minimal update latency and secured communications to Unifly's cloud services. Once mounted on the top or bottom (resulting in improved Bluetooth connectivity) of a drone, BLIP reports the drone's position and a series of other flight parameters to Unifly's cloud-based service infrastructure using LTE Cat 1 cellular network connectivity.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 2 BLIP Product BLIP Hardware and Software Figure 1 The BLIP The BLIP is packaged in a weatherproof sealed enclosure. The Bluetooth MAC address is used to identify and connect the Unifly Operator app to the BLIP. It is encoded in the QR code printed on the front side of the enclosure and is also printed on the top label on the back side. The bottom label contains the certification symbols and the hardware revision number i.e. R2.3.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Features • Highly accurate GNSS module (GPS, Galileo, Glonass) • Multi-band cellular (LTE Cat 1) communication • Bluetooth Low Energy v5.
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Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 3 Technical Characteristics Physical Characteristics Dimensions Protection level Weight Enclosure material Enclosure colour 126 mm x 79 mm x 20 mm IP 67 180 g ABS and silicone White with UV printed logo Electrical Characteristics Minimum Operating temperature range Battery capacity Current – Transportation mode Current – Standby mode Current – Pairing mode Current – Boarding mode Current – Tracking mode Typical -20 2100 0.016 0.15 0.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Cellular Network Support BLIP is available in different hardware versions in function of the region in which the BLIP will be used: Product Version LTE Chipset Countries Frequencies LARA-R211 LTE Cat 1 modules for Europe, Asia and other countries with 2G fallback 3, 7, 20 3 (1800), 7 (2600), 20 (800) MHz A1 LARA-R202 LTE Cat 1 modules for AT&T with 3G fallback (anticipating Canada, USA, Mexico, South-America esp.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Bluetooth qualification v5.0 (Bluetooth low energy – BLE) LTE Cat 1 Maximum transmit power table according to Directive 2014/53/EU Operating frequency bands and maximum output power: Frequency band Maximum output power BT / BLE 4.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 FCC Warning 15.19 Labeling requirements. This device complies with part 15 of the FCC Rules. Operation is subject to the following two conditions: (1) This device may not cause harmful interference, and (2) this device must accept any interference received, including interference that may cause undesired operation. 15.21 Information to user.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 4 Unifly Operator App User Guide Unifly's BLIP tracking device comes with the Unifly Operator app which can be installed from Apple's App store. The Unifly Operator app communicates with the BLIP tracking device using Bluetooth.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 4.2.2 BLIP in Standby mode: shake the BLIP to activate In Standby mode, BLIP has the lowest possible power consumption. Fully charged, it supports several months of operation while in Standby mode. In this mode, the only active components are the accelerometer and the microcontroller awaiting activation. When movement of the device is detected by the accelerometer by shaking the BLIP for example, the BLIP automatically transitions to Pairing mode (see below).
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Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 • Now tap the “Connect Bluetooth” button: Figure 7 Tapping the "Connect Bluetooth" button • The “Bluetooth Pairing Request” dialog box appears: enter the Bluetooth passkey (123456 by default) and tap the “Pair” button. This code is only requested at the very first pairing of a mobile device and the Unifly Operator app.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 For the very first Bluetooth connection to the mobile device it is possible you will be required to reconnect to the BLIP as the BLIP is initially not in the list of known Bluetooth devices of your mobile device. o Firmware upgrade for BLIP hardware R2.1 Make sure the BLIP R2.1 is using firmware v1.8.30 or higher. Upgrade the firmware manually if required. If you are using a BLIP R2.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 In order to speed up the GNSS synchronisation, tapping GNSS “Searching…” string will force the BLIP to download the GNSS almanac information over LTE. This LTE download will take approximately 90 seconds to complete. Once this download has been done the GNSS synchronisation process will proceed much faster.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Figure 11 Entering your Registration ID • Once the BLIP has acquired its position the app will display GNSS status Acquired and the GNSS LED is lit green or blue. • Once the BLIP’s LTE connection is available the app will display LTE status Connected after transiting the LTE Standby and Registering statuses.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Tapping the “Show Details” button results in more detailed information being displayed as required by the ASTM F3411 standard and the EU legislation: Figure 13 Displaying additional details BLIP in Flight mode Tap the “Start Flight” button just before your drone takes off. In absence of internet connectivity on your mobile device (i.e.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Figure 14 No internet connectivity Once the flight is started, BLIP feeds data to the Unifly cloud services once per second by default. The app transitions to In Flight mode and “STOP FLIGHT” and “IN FLIGHT – SHOW MAP” buttons are displayed. You will also see the starting position GPS coordinates being displayed.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Once the BLIP starts moving, its position is visualised in real-time on the app’s map screen and the BLIP starts transmitting data to the Unifly UTM system: Figure 16 Drone flight visualisation in the app Figure 17 Drone flight visualisation in the Unifly UTM system In Flight mode can be deactivated manually by tapping the “STOP FLIGHT” button. It is also deactivated automatically when the BLIP does not move for more than 30 minutes.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 The app allows for keeping the map centred on the BLIP’s reported position. Tap the current position icon at the top right on the map to keep the drone’s position centred on the map: Figure 18 Keeping the map centred on the drone BLIP: Stopping the flight Tap the “STOP FLIGHT” button on the app’s main screen to end the flight.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Tap the < icon top left until you are back on the app’s main screen. Then tap the … at the top right of the screen to display the main menu and tap “Disconnect Bluetooth”. The BLIP will now transition to Standby mode. Once the BLIP is disconnected from your mobile device it is ready to be rediscovered over Bluetooth by the mobile app.
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Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 6 The main menu Open the main menu by tapping the … icon at the top right of the screen. Figure 20 The main menu Device Settings Figure 21 The Device Settings screen • Network report interval: the default reporting rate is once per second. Range: 1-300 seconds.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 • GNSS fetch interval: the default fetching rate is once per second. Range: 1-300 seconds. • Pairing mode timeout: controls the transition from Pairing to Sleep mode provided the BLIP is not moving. Default is 1800 seconds. Range: 60-86400 seconds (24 hours). A value of 0 disables the transition to Sleep mode. • Boarding mode timeout: controls the transition from Boarding to Sleep mode provided the BLIP is not moving. Default is 1800 seconds.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Figure 22 Updating the firmware Note: during the firmware update all LEDs are lit white. Important: after a firmware update make sure to review the access point name setting as explained in section Device Settings. 6.1 Copy Information Currently not used. Transportation Mode Tap this menu entry to put the BLIP in Transportation mode i.e. the mode in which the BLIP was delivered to you.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 Figure 23 Confirming the power off Start Virtual Flight Puts the BLIP in demo simulation mode without the need for a Bluetooth or LTE connection.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 7 Firmware and app compatibility Firmware Version App Version App Distribution < 1.8.30 Unifly BLIP v1.0.2 • iOS via Apple App Store > 1.9.x < 1.12.5 Unifly BLIP Operator v1.0.2(2) • iOS via Apple App Store > 2.1.x Unifly Operator v2.0.
Unifly Operator App User Guide Rel. 2.3 8 Release Notes Rev. 2.0 New functionality • Operator app identification by Bluetooth MAC address • Operator app version 2.0 • BLIP hardware R2.3 support • BLIP firmware 2.1.x supporting regionalized firmware versions ie BLIP EU R2.3 v2.1.5 • GNSS Almanac download over LTE • Editable registration ID compliant with EASA, i.e. FIN87astrdge12k-xyz-8, including checksum validation • Unique serial number per ANSI/CTA-2063 standard format, i.e.
