Fibocom NL668-LA Instructions for use

69100.1000.00.02.61.34_DEMO"
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FIBOCOM NL668-LA Series HardwareUser Manual Page 1 of 65
FIBOCOM NL668-LA HardwareUser
Manual
Version: V1.0.0
Date: 2019-06-06

Applicability type
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FIBOCOM NL668-LA Series Hardware User Manual
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No.
Product model
Description
1
NL668-LA
MCP is 4+2，support MAIN_ANT, DIV_ANT, GNSS_ANT

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Copyright
Copyright ©2019 Fibocom Wireless Inc. All rights reserved.
Without the prior written permission of the copyright holder, any company or individual is prohibited to
excerpt, copy any part of or the entire document, or transmit the document in any form.
Notice
The document is subject to update from time to time owing to the product version upgrade or other
reasons. Unless otherwise specified, the document only serves as the user guide. All the statements,
information and suggestions contained in the document do not constitute any explicit or implicit
guarantee.
Trademark
The trademark is registered and owned by Fibocom WirelessInc.
Versions Record
Version
Author
Assessor
Approver
Update Date
Description
V1.0.0
Gaoying
Tumin
Chenguojiang
2019-06-06
Initial version

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Content
Content ................................................................................................................................................4
Figure Index........................................................................................................................................7
Table Index..........................................................................................................................................8
1 Introduction.................................................................................................................................. 10
1.1 Document Introduction.....................................................................................................................10
1.2 Safety precautions............................................................................................................................10
2 Product Overview....................................................................................................................... 12
2.1 Product Introduction.........................................................................................................................12
2.2 Product Specification.......................................................................................................................12
2.3 Functional..........................................................................................................................................13
2.4 Evaluation Board ..............................................................................................................................14
3 Pin Description............................................................................................................................ 15
3.1 Pin Assignment.................................................................................................................................15
3.2 Pin function........................................................................................................................................15
4 Electrical characteristics.......................................................................................................... 23
4.1 Power .................................................................................................................................................23
4.2 Power supply.....................................................................................................................................23
4.3 1.8V output........................................................................................................................................24
4.4 Power consumption..........................................................................................................................25
5 Functional interface................................................................................................................... 28
5.1 Control interface ...............................................................................................................................28
5.1.1 Power on/off...................................................................................................................................28
5.1.2 RESET............................................................................................................................................30
5.2 Network status indicate interface...................................................................................................32
5.2.1 Interface status description..........................................................................................................32
5.3 (U)SIM card interface.......................................................................................................................33
5.3.1 (U)SIM pin definition.....................................................................................................................33
5.3.2 (U)SIM interface circuit.................................................................................................................34
5.3.3 (U)SIM hot plug.............................................................................................................................35
5.3.4 (U)SIM design requirements .......................................................................................................36
5.4 USB interface....................................................................................................................................37

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5.4.1 USB Pin definition.........................................................................................................................37
5.5 UART Interface.................................................................................................................................37
5.5.1 UART interface definition.............................................................................................................37
5.5.2 UART port application..................................................................................................................38
5.6 ADC interface....................................................................................................................................39
5.7 PCM interface ...................................................................................................................................39
5.7.1 Support model...............................................................................................................................39
5.7.2 PCM interface definition...............................................................................................................40
5.7.3 PCM interface description............................................................................................................40
5.7.4 PCM signal description ................................................................................................................40
6 Low power consumption.......................................................................................................... 42
6.1 Airplane mode...................................................................................................................................42
6.2 Sleep mode .......................................................................................................................................42
6.2.1 USB Application （ nonsupport USB suspend, support VBUS ） ................................................42
6.2.2 USB application (nonsupport USB suspend, nonsupport VBUS)..........................................43
6.2.3 USB application (Supports USB Suspend)...............................................................................43
6.2.4 UART application ( WAKEUP_IN pin level control )................................................................43
6.2.5 UART application ( DTR pin level control )...............................................................................44
6.2.6 ATS24 Command..........................................................................................................................44
7 RF interface.................................................................................................................................. 46
7.1 Operating band.................................................................................................................................46
7.2 Output power.....................................................................................................................................46
7.3 Receive Sensitivity...........................................................................................................................47
7.4 GNSS Receiver.................................................................................................................................49
7.4.1 GNSS specification.......................................................................................................................49
7.4.2 GNSS observes protocol.............................................................................................................49
7.5 Antenna design.................................................................................................................................49
7.5.1 Antenna index................................................................................................................................49
7.5.2 Antenna reference design............................................................................................................51
8 Reliability...................................................................................................................................... 54
8.1 Limiting voltage range......................................................................................................................54
8.1.1 Absolute voltage range.................................................................................................................54
8.1.2 Operating voltage range ..............................................................................................................54
8.2 Environment temperature range ....................................................................................................54

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8.3 Environmental reliability requirements.......................................................................................... 55
8.4 ESD characteristics..........................................................................................................................55
9 Structure specification.............................................................................................................. 57
9.1 Product appearance.........................................................................................................................57
9.2 Structure dimension.........................................................................................................................57
9.3 PCB Soldering Pad and Stencil Design........................................................................................ 58
9.4 SMT....................................................................................................................................................58
9.5 Carrier and storage ..........................................................................................................................58
10 Approval...................................................................................................................................... 59
11 Appendix..................................................................................................................................... 60
11.1GPRS and EGPRS Encoding Scheme.......................................................................................60
11.2Terms and acronyms......................................................................................................................62
11.3Related Document.......................................................................................................................... 64
11.4Reference Standards.....................................................................................................................64
11.5Contact.............................................................................................................................................65

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Figure Index
Figure 3-1 Pin Assignment (TopView Diagram).....................................................................................15
Figure 4-1 Recommend Power Design....................................................................................................23
Figure 4-2 Power Limit................................................................................................................................24
Figure 5-1 OC Drive Power on Reference Circuit..................................................................................28
Figure 5-2 Button Switch Power on Reference Circuit ..........................................................................29
Figure 5-3 Power on Timing.......................................................................................................................29
Figure 5-4 Power off Timing.......................................................................................................................30
Figure 5-5 OC Driven Reset Reference Circuits.....................................................................................31
Figure 5-6 Button Reset Reference Circuits............................................................................................31
Figure 5-7 Reset Timing.............................................................................................................................32
Figure 5-8 Network Indicate Light Reference Circuits...........................................................................33
Figure 5-9 (U)SIM Card Connector (SIM016-8P-220P) ........................................................................34
Figure 5-10 (U)SIM Card Connector with Detection Signal Reference Circuit ..................................35
Figure 5-11 (U)SIM Card Connector without Detection Signal Reference Circuit.............................35
Figure 5-12 UART Level Translate Reference 1 ....................................................................................38
Figure 5-13 UART Level Translate Reference 2 ....................................................................................39
Figure 5-14 PCM_SYNC Timing...............................................................................................................40
Figure 5-15 PCM_CODEC to NL668-LATiming.....................................................................................41
Figure 5-16 NL668-LA toPCM_CODEC Timing.....................................................................................41
Figure 7-1 Main and diversity AntennaReference Circuit.....................................................................52
Figure 7-2 GNSS Antenna Reference Circuit..........................................................................................52
Figure 9-1 Product Appearance ................................................................................................................57
Figure 9-2 Structure Dimension (Unit: mm).............................................................................................57

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Table Index
Table 2-1 Product Specification.................................................................................................................13
Table 3-1 I/O Description Parameters......................................................................................................16
Table 3-2 Pin function description.............................................................................................................21
Table 4-1 Power Interface..........................................................................................................................23
Table 4-2 Filter Capacitors Design of Power Supply .............................................................................24
Table 4-3 VDD_EXT Logic Level...............................................................................................................25
Table 4-4 Power Consumption..................................................................................................................27
Table 5-1 Control Signal.............................................................................................................................28
Table 5-2 Power off.....................................................................................................................................30
Table 5-3 Reset............................................................................................................................................30
Table 5-4 Network Status Indicate............................................................................................................32
Table 5-5 Network Indicate Light Work Status........................................................................................33
Table 5-6 (U)SIM Card Pin.........................................................................................................................33
Table 5-7 (U)SIM Card Hot Plug Function Configured..........................................................................36
Table 5-8 USIM_PRESENCE Effective Level Switched........................................................................36
Table 5-9 USB Pin Definition.....................................................................................................................37
Table 5-10 Main Serial Port........................................................................................................................38
Table 5-11 Debug Serial Port.....................................................................................................................38
Table 5-12 ADC Pin Definitation................................................................................................................39
Table 5-13 Support Model of PCM............................................................................................................39
Table 5-14 PCM Pin Definition ..................................................................................................................40
Table 5-15 PCM Interface Description......................................................................................................40
Table 5-16 Codec Timing Parameters......................................................................................................41
Table 6-1 W_DISABLE# Pin Description.................................................................................................42
Table 6-2 Module Enter Airplane Mode Ways..............................................................................................42
Table 7-1 RF Interface................................................................................................................................46
Table 7-2 Operating Band..........................................................................................................................46
Table 7-3 Output Power..............................................................................................................................47
Table 7-4 Receive Sensitivity.....................................................................................................................48
Table 7-5 GNSS Specification...................................................................................................................49
Table 7-6 Main Antenna Requirements....................................................................................................51
Table 8- 1 Absolute Voltage Range...........................................................................................................54

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Table 8-2 Operating Voltage Range.........................................................................................................54
Table 8-3 Environment Temperature Range...........................................................................................55
Table 8-4 Environmental Reliability Requirements.................................................................................55
Table 8-5 ESD Allowable Discharge Range............................................................................................56
Table 10-1 Approval ....................................................................................................................................59
Table 11-1 GPRS Encoding Scheme........................................................................................................60
Table 11-2 Multilevel Multislot Allocation..................................................................................................61
Table 11-3 EGPRS Modulation and Encoding Method........................................................................61
Table 11-4 Terms and Acronyms...............................................................................................................64

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1 Introduction
1.1 Document Introduction
This document describes the electrical characteristics, RF performance, structure size, application
environment, etc. of NL668-LA module. With the assistance of the document and other instructions, the
developers can quickly understand the hardware functions of the NL668-LA module and develop
products.
1.2 Safety precautions
By following the safety guidelines below,you can protect the personal safety and help protect the product
and work environment from potential damage. Product manufacturers need to communicate the
following safety instructions to end users. In case of failure to comply with these safety rules, Fibocom
Wireless will not be responsible for the consequences caused by the user’s misuse.
Road safety first! When you drive, do not use the handheld devices even if it has a
hand-free feature. Please stop and call!
Please turn off the mobile device before boarding. The wireless feature of the mobile
device is not allowed on the aircraft to prevent interference with the aircraft
communication system. Ignoring this note may result in flight safety issue or even
breaking the law.
When in a hospital or health care facility, please be aware of restrictions on the use of
mobile devices. Radio frequency interference may cause medical equipment to
malfunction, so it may be necessary to turn off the mobile device.
The mobile device does not guarantee that an effective connection can be madeunder
any circumstances, for example, when there is no prepayment for the mobile device or
the (U)SIM is invalid. When you encounter the above situation in an emergency,
remember to use an emergency call, while keeping your device turned on and in areas
where signal is strong.
Your mobile device receives and transmits RF signals when it is powered on. Radio
interference occurs when it is near televisions, radios, computers, or other electronic
devices.