Sutron XPERT Series User manual

9210 & XPERT DATALOGGERS
IRIDIUM Manual
Part No. 8800-1193
Version 3.22
February 5, 2018
Sutron Corporation
22400 Davis Drive
Sterling, Virginia 20164
TEL: [phone]
FAX: [phone]
WEB: http://www.sutron.com/

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Table of Contents
Introduction..................................................................................................................................... 4
Installation....................................................................................................................................... 5
Installation................................................................................................................................... 5
Features........................................................................................................................................... 6
Configuration.................................................................................................................................. 7
Iridium Entry - Setup Tab........................................................................................................... 7
Iridium Properties ................................................................................................................... 7
Iridium Transmit Settings....................................................................................................... 9
Mobile Terminated (MT) Messages ..................................................................................... 12
Configuring Mobile Terminated (Incoming) Message Checks ............................................ 13
ISBD Blocks - Graphical Setup and EzSetup........................................................................... 14
ISBD Block Properties.......................................................................................................... 15
Basic Entry –Setup Tab ........................................................................................................... 16
Testing Iridium Operations........................................................................................................... 18
Iridium Diagnostics Tab ........................................................................................................... 18
Modem Status ....................................................................................................................... 18
Next Task Status................................................................................................................... 19
Last Messages Received....................................................................................................... 19
Self-Timed Statistics............................................................................................................. 19
Alarm Statistics..................................................................................................................... 20
Total Data Statistics.............................................................................................................. 20
Test Transmission................................................................................................................. 22
Troubleshooting........................................................................................................................ 22
Appendix A –Telemetry Formats ................................................................................................ 24
ASCII Column Format.............................................................................................................. 24
Handar Format .......................................................................................................................... 24
NFDRS and NIFC Formats....................................................................................................... 24
Pseudobinary Formats............................................................................................................... 26
Pseudobinary B (Interleaved and Non-Interleaved) ............................................................. 26
Pseudobinary-C Format ........................................................................................................ 27
Pseudobinary-D Format........................................................................................................ 28
Six-Bit Binary Encoded Format............................................................................................ 29
SHEF and SHEFFIX Formats............................................................................................... 30
SSP Format ........................................................................................................................... 31
Text Format........................................................................................................................... 31
BUFR.................................................................................................................................... 32
BUFR Content Options......................................................................................................... 35
Appendix B –Iridium Transmission Header................................................................................ 36
The Facts................................................................................................................................... 36
The Issues.................................................................................................................................. 36
The Solution.............................................................................................................................. 36
Table of Figures

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Figure 1: Iridium Entry on Setup Tab............................................................................................ 7
Figure 2: Iridium Properties Dialog................................................................................................ 8
Figure 3: Iridium Transmission Settings......................................................................................... 9
Figure 4: Select Tx Content.......................................................................................................... 12
Figure 5: Iridium Message Settings.............................................................................................. 13
Figure 6: Example ISBD block setup ........................................................................................... 15
Figure 7: ISBD Edit Tag Dialog................................................................................................... 15
Figure 8: Iridium Custom Formatting Entry................................................................................. 17
Figure 9: Iridium Diagnostics Tab................................................................................................ 18
Figure 10: Last Iridium Messages Dialog..................................................................................... 19
Figure 11: Today's Self-timed Statistics Dialog ........................................................................... 20
Figure 12: Today's Alarm Statistics Dialog.................................................................................. 20
Figure 13: Today's Totals Dialog.................................................................................................. 21
Figure 14: Test Transmission Dialog............................................................................................ 22

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INTRODUCTION
Sutron’s Xpert family of DCPs (both the 9210/B and the Xpert/2) have been designed to be
easily expandable by adding additional software libraries, called Sutron Link Libraries (SLLs).
One such library is Iridium.sll, which adds the ability for the Xpert to communicate over the
Iridium network using Short Burst Data (SBD) messages. This document is the user manual for
Iridium.sll. The following topics are discussed:
•How to install the library
•What features are supported by the library
•How to configure the Xpert for Iridium communications

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INSTALLATION
This section describes installation of the Iridium.sll library.
Installation
To install the Iridium.sll library, copy the file to the “\Flash Disk” subdirectory of your Xpert
using Xterm. For more information on performing this file transfer, please refer to chapter 6 of
the Xpert or 9210 user manual.
Once the library file has been transferred, reboot the Xpert. The library will load automatically
after the Xpert reboots.
To uninstall the library, use Xterm to delete the file from the Flash Disk subdirectory. This can
only be done when the Xpert application is not running (select “Exit App” from the Status tab).
In order for the Iridium.sll library to load and operate correctly, the version of the Iridium.sll file
must be the same as the version of the application loaded into the Xpert. This is usually not a
concern because the same versions of the sll and application are typically packaged together.
Should the need arise to verify that the versions are the same, the version of the sll as it resides
on the PC can be determined by looking at the file’s properties (right-click on the file and select
the “Version” tab). The version of the Xpert application is given by the application itself, at the
top of the About dialog, which is accessed from the Status tab.

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FEATURES
This section discusses what features are supported related to Iridium communications.
•Self-timed (scheduled) Mobile Originated (MO) telemetry data using Short Burst Data
(SBD)
•Alarm MO telemetry data using SBD
•Scheduled and manually initiated processing of incoming command messages, i.e.,
Mobile Terminated (MT) messages
•Set Xpert system time to Iridium system time
•Diagnostic support, including:
oScheduling details
oNext self-timed message content and size
oRecent incoming messages
oSignal strength
oTotal message and byte counting
oProjected data usage

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CONFIGURATION
This section discusses how to configure the Xpert to process Iridium messages. There are three
different places you’ll go to use and configure the Xpert for Iridium communications:
•Iridium Entry - Setup Tab
•ISBD Blocks - Graphical Setup and EzSetup
•Basic Entry –Setup Tab
Iridium Entry - Setup Tab
The Iridium entry on the Setup tab offers modem and scheduling options.
Figure 1: Iridium Entry on Setup Tab
Iridium Properties
To configure the modem and its connection, select the “Iridium” entry and press the “Edit”
button. The following dialog will appear.

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Figure 2: Iridium Properties Dialog
Enabled
The Enabled checkbox determines whether Xpert will do any kind of Iridium processing. The
checkbox must be checked for Xpert to initiate self-timed and alarm transmissions, process
incoming commands over Iridium, etc. If Enabled is not checked, the Xpert behaves as if the
modem is not connected, and will not process any incoming or outgoing transmissions.
Comm Port
Select the Xpert Comm Port to which the Iridium modem is connected.
Sync Time
When the Sync Time checkbox is checked and recording is ON, the Xpert will set its system
time to Iridium system time (which follows GMT). This time synchronization will only occur
during a transmission or message check, and will only occur up to once daily.
The Iridium system provides GMT time using a counter relative to an “epoch” time defined by
the Iridium authority. The epoch time changes roughly every 7 or so years. In order for the Xpert
to compute system time properly through a change to the Iridium epoch, the Xpert must store
both the current epoch time, and the next expected epoch time. As of version 3.15, the Xpert is
programmed to handle an Iridium epoch change in May, 2014.
Iridium will announce new epoch changes in coming years. When a new epoch date is
announced, the Xpert must be told to store the new date. To change the value of the next epoch
date-time stored in the Xpert, send the following command to the Xpert via Iridium short burst
message:
!irsenxt MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS
For example, to set the next epoch date-time to 5PM June 3, 2020, you would send, “!irsenxt
06/03/2020 17:00:00”.
It’s also possible to set the current Iridium epoch date-time in the Xpert, though this would only
be required if the Xpert failed to set the proper epoch date itself during an epoch transition. To
set the current epoch date, you would send the command, “!irse MM/DD/YYYY HH:MM:SS”.

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Again, the irsenxt and irse commands must be received via Iridium short burst data (SBD)
message to take effect. These commands won’t work if issued over the Xpert command line.
Iridium Transmit Settings
To configure self-timed (scheduled) Mobile Originated (MO) transmissions, select the
“Transmit” entry under the Iridium entry on the Setup tab and press the “Edit” button. The
following dialog will appear.
Figure 3: Iridium Transmission Settings
This dialog is used to define the schedule and format of self-timed transmissions, as well as some
details about what data to include in alarm transmissions.
Note: use ISBD blocks in the Graphical Setup, and the ISBD option in EzSetup, to define
what data to include in transmissions. See ISBD Blocks - Graphical Setup and EzSetup for
more information.
Tx Interval
Tx Interval defines how often to transmit self-timed messages. The format of the string is,
“hh:mm:ss”, where “hh” = hours, “mm” = minutes, and “ss” = seconds. For example, “01:00:00”
means “every hour”, while “00:30:00” means every half hour.
Tx Time
This property defines an offet to Tx Interval. It has the same format as Tx Interval. A Tx Time of
“00:15:00” means, “15 minutes after the hour”. Some examples of transmission schedules are
shown in the table, below:
Tx Interval
Tx Time
Transmission Schedule
01:00:00
00:00:00
12AM, 1AM, 2AM, …, 12PM, 1PM, 2PM, …
02:00:00
00:00:00
12AM, 2AM, 4AM, …, 12PM, 2PM, 4PM, …
01:00:00
00:30:00
12:30AM, 1:30AM, 2:30AM, …, 12:30PM, 1:30PM, …

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04:00:00
00:15:00
12:15AM, 4:15AM, 8:15AM, 12:15PM, 4:15PM, …
Retransmit
When checked, data from failed self-timed transmissions (due to temporary lack of satellite in
view, for example), are retransmitted on the next successful self-timed connection. Note that the
most recent data is always transmitted first on the first successful reconnect, followed by the
oldest to newest data from failed transmissions. Up to 7 days of missed data will be
retransmitted.
Note: A system reboot prevents retransmission of data logged by LogField blocks and EzSetup.
For complete retransmission support, log data using the standard Log blocks in Graphical Setup.
GPRS Fail Only
When checked, Iridium will only proceed with a scheduled transmission when the on-board
GPRS modem fails to indicate it succeeded in its transmission within 3 minutes. This allows you
to use Iridium as a back-up to GPRS transmissions, transmitting only when GPRS has failed to
transmit its data to the Primary or Secondary servers.
To use Iridium as a back-up to GPRS, check the “GPRS Fail Only” setting, and configure
Iridium’s Tx Interval and Tx Time to be the same as GPRS’s Tx Interval and Tx Time. Also,
make sure to include both GPRS and ISBD telemetry tag blocks in the graphical setup to define
the content of the transmissions. Since both GPRS and ISBD blocks are required, you have the
option to transmit less data over Iridium if desired to reduce data cost.
Max Daily Bytes
When “GPRS Fail Only” is checked, the system will stop making scheduled Iridium
transmissions for the day once “Max Daily Bytes” has been met. This limit only applies when
“GPRS Fail Only” is checked, and never applies to alarm transmissions, nor when transmitting
responses to commands received via SBD message over Iridium.
The value of Max Daily Bytes can be changed by sending a command to the Xpert via Iridium
short burst message:
!irsmdb nnn
For example, to set Max Daily Bytes to 20000, send “!irsmdb 20000”.
Include Header
When checked, a header is prepended to the data that describes the type of transmission, as well
as details that describe how the message may be broken up over multiple packets. Be sure this
option is checked when transmitting to Hydromet Cloud (formerly, “SutronWin”).
Include Station Name
When checked, the station name is included in the transmission header. This is typically left
unchecked for operation with Hydromet Cloud (formerly, “SutronWin”).