Nimbelink Skywire beaglebone cape lite User manual

Skywire® BeagleBone Cape Lite

User Manual

NimbeLink Corp

Updated: October 2017

 
Table of Contents 
 
Table of Contents 2 
Introduction 3 
Overview 3 
Product Description 3 
Orderable Parts 4 
Compatible BeagleBones 4 
Additional Resources 4 
Technical Specifications 5 
Block Diagram 5 
Pinout 6 
Getting Started 7 
Skywire Placement 7 
Connect the UFL Antenna Cables 7 
Cape Placement 8 
Attach Antennas 8 
Connect USB 9 
Apply Power 9 
Connect 10 
Device Tree Overlay 10 
Activate Modem (one-time step) 11 
UART Configuration 11 
USB Configuration 12 
Grove Connections 13 
Additional Resources 13 
 
PN 1001407 rev 1 © NimbeLink Corp. 2017. All rights reserved. 2 

1. Introduction

1.1 Overview

This document is the System Reference Manual for the Skywire® BeagleBone Cape Lite.

Throughout the document Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite will often be referred to as

'the cape,' although it may be referred to by its full name.

The NimbeLink Skywire modem is available with bundled data plans from leading

cellular carriers.

The Skywire cellular modem and antennas are sold separately.

Make sure you check NimbeLink's Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite product page for the

most up to date information.

1.2 Product Description

The Skywire BeagleBone Cape Light is a cape that allows easy access to the Internet of

Things (IoT) via cellular connection. BeagleBone Black and BeagleBone Green are

low-cost, community-supported development platforms that allows quick, easy

application development. They accepts plug-in boards called “capes” that allow a wide

variety of expanded capabilities. The Skywire BeagleBone Cape Light supports any of

NimbeLink’s end-device certified Skywire plug-in cellular modems with optional

bundled, no-contract cellular plans and in addition to cellular connectivity offers:

●Wide power supply input 5V-15V (12V recommended)

●Compatible with the BeagleBone Black, BeagleBone Black Wireless, and the BeagleBone

Green.

●BeagleBone Green Wireless can be used with additional standoffs

●Two user populatable Grove sensor interfaces for easy sensor interfacing

●Fast, easy prototyping made possible by the Skywire BeagleBone Cape Light.

1.3 Orderable Parts

Number

Description

Manufacturer

Carrier

Network Type

NL-AB-BBCL

Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite

Development Kit

NimbeLink

NL-SW-LTE-SVZM20

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT M1,

Verizon, Engineering Sample

NimbeLink

Verizon

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-C

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 1,

Verizon

NimbeLink

Verizon

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-WM14

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 1, AT&T,

T-Mobile

NimbeLink

AT&T,

T-Mobile

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-TSVG

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 3, w/

GNSS, Verizon

NimbeLink

Verizon

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-TNAG-B

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 3, w/

GNSS, AT&T, T-Mobile

NimbeLink

AT&T,

T-Mobile

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-S7588-T

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 4, AT&T,

T-Mobile

NimbeLink

Verizon

4G LTE

NL-SW-LTE-S7588-V

Skywire, 4G LTE CAT 4,

Verizon

NimbeLink

AT&T,

T-Mobile

4G LTE

TG.08.0113

Monopole Cellular Antenna

Taoglas

TG.30.8113

Dipole Cellular Antenna

Taoglas

1.4 Compatible BeagleBones

Number

Notes

BeagleBone Black

BeagleBone Black Wireless

BeagleBone Black Industrial

BeagleBone Green

BeagleBone Green Wireless

Users must use additional header standoffs. Recommended part:

Adafruit 706

1.5 Additional Resources

●NimbeLink's Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite Product Page

●NimbeLink’s Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite Device Tree Overlay

●NimbeLink's Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite Schematic

●NimbeLink's Skywire BeagleBone Cape Lite Design Files

2. Technical Specifications

2.1. Block Diagram

2.2. Pinout

PIN Name

Direction

GPIO Name

Connection

Notes

P9-11

Output

UART4_RXD

Skywire DOUT

P9-13

Input

UART4_TXD

Skywire DIN

P8-33

Input

UART4_RTS

Skywire RTS

P8-35

Output

UART4_CTS

Skywire CTS

P9-12

Input

GPIO1_28

Skywire DTR

P9-15

Input

GPIO1_16

Skywire Reset

P9-27

Input

GPIO3_19

Skywire ON-OFF

P9-23

I/O

GPIO1_17

Skywire ADC

Not configured by DTO, not

connected

P9-22

I/O

UART1_RXD

Skywire DIO2

Not configured by DTO, not

connected

P9-24

I/O

UART1_TXD

Skywire DIO3

Not configured by DTO, not

connected

P8-17

Input

GPIO_0_27

4V Regulator Enable

P8-26

Output

GPIO1_29

4V Regulator PG

P8-38

Output

UART5_RXD

Grove UART5 RX

Not configured by DTO

P8-37

Input

UART5_TXD

Grove UART5 TX

Not configured by DTO

P9-17

Input

I2C1_SCL

Grove I2C1 SDA

Not configured by DTO

P9-18

I/O

I2C1_SDA

Grove I2C1 SCL

Not configured by DTO

P9-19

Input

I2C2_SCL

I2C2 SCL

P9-20

I/O

I2C2_SDA

I2C2 SDA

P9-25

Input

GPIO3_21

EEPROM WP

Pulled High via external pullup

Input

12V Input

12V recommended. 6V-15V

Accepted.

3. Getting Started

3.1. Skywire Placement

Mount the Skywire on the cape with the Skywire's UFL connectors towards the

middle of the board.

3.2. Connect the UFL Antenna Cables

Attach the UFL antenna cables to the Skywire.

3.3. Cape Placement

Align the capes P8/P9 headers with the BeagleBone's headers and gently press

the two boards together to connect them.

3.4. Attach Antennas

Connect the cellular antennas to the cape.

3.5. Connect USB

Connect the Skywire's USB interface to the capes.

3.6. Apply Power

Apply 12V power to the cape. The capes onboard 12V to 5V regulator will supply

5V to the BeagleBone.

3.7. Connect

Connect your BeagleBone to your computer through the BeagleBone's USB

interface (via SSH or COM port).

3.8. Device Tree Overlay

The cape's GPIO pins are automatically configured by the cape's Device Tree Overlay

(DTO). The DTO is integrated into Debian releases after 2017-04-25. You can check the

system log to see if the DTO was loaded for the cape by issuing:

# dmesg | grep NL-AB-BBCL

This command will query the system log for anything to do with the cape. If the cape did

not load you will see a message similar to this:

[2.435969] bone_capemgr bone_capemgr: slot #2:

'NL-AB-BBCL,00B0,NimbeLink,NL-AB-BBCL'

[3.490471] bone_capemgr bone_capemgr: loader: failed to load slot-2 NL-AB-BBCL:00B0

(prio 0)

If the cape did successfully load you will see the following when you query the system

log:

# dmesg | grep NL-AB-BBCL

[2.463957] bone_capemgr bone_capemgr: slot #2:

'NL-AB-BBCL,00B0,NimbeLink,NL-AB-BBCL'

[2.531693] bone_capemgr bone_capemgr: slot #2: dtbo 'NL-AB-BBCL-00B0.dtbo'

loaded; overlay id #0

If your release does not have the capes DTO please follow these steps to install the

most recent device tree from bb.org:

1. On your systems terminal enter the following commands:

# sudo apt update

# sudo apt install bb-cape-overlays

2. Once the bb-cape-overlays has installed restart your system.

3. Check your system log to verify the DTO has been loaded for the cape:

# dmesg | grep NL-AB-BBCL

3.9. Activate Modem (one-time step)

Your Skywire cellular modem does not ship with an active cellular plan.

NimbeLink provides reduced rate M2M data plans for Skywire products.

To activate a data plan, please visit go.nimbelink.com to set up a data

plan account.

3.10. UART Configuration

The capes DTO will automatically configure the Beaglebones UART4 for communication,

with flow control (RTS/CTS), with the Skywire. To test the communication launch a

terminal interface from the BeagleBone to the modem. In this example we'll use

picocom to interface to the modem.

On the beaglebones command line enter the following command:

# picocom -b 115200 /dev/ttyS4

followed by the enter key, this will launch picocom with a serial terminal connection to

the modems UART port.

Once picocom (or the terminal program of your choosing) has launched, issue the

following command to the modem to test the UART connection:

Followed by the enter key. The modem should respond with:

 
 
 
3.11. USB Configuration 
Connector J5 on the cape allows users to connect their BeagleBone directly to the                           
Skywire's USB interface using a mini-B USB Cable. Each skywire has a unique USB                           
interface and users should consult data sheet for the specific Skywiremodem they're                       
using for more details on interfacing to the modem over USB. In general users can                             
interface with the Skywire's USB interface in the same manner as the UART when using                             
the cape.  
Users can set up the modems to provide a seamless network interface to their                           
BeagleBone. Depending on the modem a different protocol, such as PPP, CDC-ETH,                       
CDC-NCM, or QMI, will be required. To set up the network connection for your modem                             
please refer to the guide listed below for your modem. Please note that this list is not                                 
exhaustive of the reference materials for the Skywire modems and additional                     
application notes may be available under your modem's product page in the Application                         
Notes section.   
●NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-C: Sending and Receiving Data with CDC-ECM 
●NL-SW-LTE-GELS3-C: Sending and Receiving data with PPPd 
●NL-SW-LTE-WM14: Sending and Receiving data with CDC-ETHER 
●NL-SW-LTE-TSVG: Sending and Receiving data with PPPd  
●NL-SW-LTE-TSVG: Sending and Receiving data with QMI 
●NL-SW-LTE-TNAG: Sending and Receiving data with PPPd  
●NL-SW-LTE-TNAG: Sending and Receiving data with QMI 
●NL-SW-LTE-S7588-T: Sending and Receiving Data with CDC-NCM 
●NL-SW-LTE-S7588-T: Sending and Receiving data with PPPd 
●NL-SW-LTE-S7588-V: Sending and Receiving Data with CDC-NCM 
●NL-SW-LTE-S7588-V: Sending and Receiving data with PPPd 
PN 1001407 rev 1 © NimbeLink Corp. 2017. All rights reserved. 12 

 
3.12. Grove Connections 
The cape has two user populatable Grove connectors that allow users to attach                         
grove sensors. The J15 connector is wired into UART5 and the J16 connector                         
connects to I2C1. Both of connectors can also be configured as GPIO's by the                           
user if needed. It should be noted that the device tree overlay for the cape does                               
not configure any of the pins attached to the connectors.  
The footprint on the PCB is designed to fit JST S4B-PH-K-S(LF)(SN) connectors.  
4.  Additional Resources 
 
●Skywire Cellular Modems Product Page 
●Sending and Receiving files with FTP 
●Sending and Receiving data with Socket Dials 
●Sending and Receiving SMS messages 
●Sending GPS data using Python 
●Defining PDP Contexts MSCs 
●Streaming Video over LTE on BBC 
●Starting PPP at Boot 
●Starting PPP with SSH over Ethernet 
 
PN 1001407 rev 1 © NimbeLink Corp. 2017. All rights reserved. 13 