Swarm Tile User manual

Tile Quickstart Guide
Customer Support | [email protected]
What’s in the box:
** Ground plane, enclosure, power source, and circuit board are not included but required
for installation
Date: 10/27/2020 (v0.1)

Integration, Power, and Serial Communication
1 2
3 4
Tile requires a specific reflow process.
Please see section 3.3 of the Tile
Product Manual for more details.
Tile requires 3.15-3.60V DC (strict
requirement) and a 1000mA peak
input power. Please see section 4.3 of
the Tile Product Manual for more
details. See RF Power Supply Design.
The Tile communicates via a standard
3.3V serial UART(115200/8-N-1)
interface (TX, RX, and GND are required)
or a PC interface with a USB-to-serial
converter. Once connected you can test
the connection by passing the firmware
command shown above to confirm
successful serial configuration.
Install quarter wave antenna via SMA
to SMA low loss cable and position
device in clear sight of the sky without
obstruction from trees or buildings
10-degrees above the horizon in most
directions. 20x20in ground plane is
required to achieve communication.
$FV*10
$FV 2020-05-19
19:07:33,v0.7.2*7d
Device with integrated Tile
¼ wave antenna
20x20in ground plane
SMA to SMA low loss
cable

RF Configuration, Deploy, and Messages
56
7
In the example above the ground plane
is the metal bracket holding the solar
panel. Ensure the ground plane and
antenna is at least three feet from the
ground.
Position Tile embedded device 15 km
away from cities of 500,000 people or
more (where RF noise is common).
Enter the receive test command RT
1*17 and adjust hardware
configuration until RSSI value is
consistently less than (more
negative) -93 dBm. See section 6 of the
Tile Product Manual for more details.
8
Use the pass predictor to select a
passover window greater than 10
minutes. When the Tile receives a
packet from a satellite a response will
be generated that reflects how well the
ground device heard the satellite. A
SNR value of -6 or greater is required to
ensure successful transmissions.
$RT
RSSI=-99,SNR=4,FDEV=1716,TS
=2020-10-14
$RT 1*17
$RT OK*23
$RT RSSI=-109
$RT RSSI=-111
$RT RSSI=-108
$RT RSSI=-110
$RT RSSI=-111
...

Transmit Message, Hive, and API
10
11
Log in to the Swarm Hive cloud
services website to view messages and
device statistics. The delay for the
message to reach the Hive during this
early access phase could take as long as
24 hrs.
After logging in and creating a session
ID you can interact with the API via
any common scripting language. Visit
our Swagger documentation on the
Hive help page for more information or
view the sample Python script on our
develop page.
curl --location --request GET
'https://bumblebee.hive.swarm.space/hive/api/v1/de
vices/count' \
--header 'Cookie:
JSESSIONID=Example<JSON-SessionID_00000000>'
-----
Returns number of devices
registered to the Hive
9
After completing step 8, queue 1
messages. An OK response will be
received. Once the message is delivered to
the satellite, a SENT response will be
received. The message number for OK and
SENT response will be the same. See
section 6 of the Tile Product Manual for
more details
$TD "Hello World!"*31
$TD OK,5354468575916*2c
$TD SENT,5354468575916*24
...

Swarm Tile Testing Plan
A checklist is presented below in order to provide a straightforward and logical way to diagnose hardware and get
onto the Swarm Satellite Network.
Initial Steps
❏Receive the Tile with GPS and Satellite antennas/connectors
❏Connect the Swarm provided GPS patch antenna
❏Connect the Swarm provided VHF satellite antenna which has been tuned specifically for the
Swarm spectrum
❏Test all U.FL connections to the Tile
❏Test all SMA connections
❏Reflow Tile, test connections, and power (see part 3.3 of Swarm Tile Product Manual)
❏Confirm power supply follows Swarm’s reference design philosophies and includes shielding and filtering
whenever necessary. VHF is sensitive to electromagnetic interference and properly designed supply is
required for successful transmissions. -- see Example DC Power Supply
❏Ensure that a serial connector is present on your PCB for updating the Tile’s firmware by serial. This can
be done by using the RX, TX, and GND pads on the Tile, and creating traces out to a 6-pin 0.1” header. Be
sure to include a switch or jumpers to bypass the serial interface to customer’s microcontroller. An
example circuit is included in our Evaluation Kit design, with schematics and part numbers posted on our
Developer’s webpage.
❏Connect to Tile to custom device (TX, RX, and GND are required) or a PC interface with a USB-to-serial
converter.. -- see part 4.5 of Swarm Tile Product Manual
❏Configure UART 3.3V 115200/8-N-1 serial interface on your device or computer - see part 4.5 of Swarm
Tile Product Manual
❏Send a command to verify serial connectivity -- see part 6.2 of Swarm Tile Product manual
Example command:
$FV*10 - this will return the version information.
Example response:
$FV 2020-07-02-22:50:53,v0.8.0*79
Field Trial and Transmission
❏Put the Tile in an enclosure
❏Mount antenna at least three feet from the ground with with a 20x20in ground plane - reference table 14
and 15 in Swarm Tile Product Manual
❏It may be necessary to move the enclosure and antenna to a more remote location outside of cities, and
away from RF interference.
❏Use only a Swarm supplied antenna and mount at least 3 feet from the ground with a clear view of the sky
10 degrees above the horizon in most directions in order to communicate with the satellites. Stay clear of
power lines and other devices which could cause RF interference. Stay clear of the antenna by >4 ft during
satellite transmissions to avoid de-tuning the antenna.
❏Visit swarm.space/developertools web page to use the Swarm Satellite Pass Predictor and wait until a
satellite passes overhead. The Satellite will initiate a session and request that the Tile sends its messages.
❏Test RSSI - values should be less than -93 (e.g. -97) for communicating reliably with the Swarm satellites --
see part 6.2 or Swarm Tile Product Manual
❏Issuing $RT 1*17 will return background RSSI values on the Tile’s serial terminal at a rate of once
per second

Swarm Tile Testing Plan
Customer Support | [email protected]
❏Example response will be $RSSI=-95
❏Adjust position of the device until you are constantly below -93
❏Test RSSI-SAT
❏When a satellite passes over head the $RT 1*17 command will return a RSSI-SAT response.
❏Example response will be $RT RSSI=-99,SNR=4,FDEV=1716,TS=2020-10-14
16:53:03,DI=0x000535*21
❏Adjust testing location until SNR value is greater constantly greater than -6
❏Test message transmissions. - see part 6.2 of Swarm Tile Product manual
❏Que up one test message. Here is what a sample message to send would be:
$TD 48656c6c6f2c2054696c652054657374657221*66 (Hello, Tile Tester! in hexadecimal)
❏Confirm that your message reached a satellite by ensuring that the Tile displays a $TD, SENT
response. An example response would be:
$TD SENT,RSSI=-100,SNR=3,FDEV=48,4421909905415*58
❏Ensure the message made it to the Hive by going to https://bumblebee.hive.swarm.space/hive/login,
logging in, navigating to the messages tab, and clicking the “Show Messages Received” button. Your
message should appear there once the satellite containing your message passes over one of Swarm’s
ground stations which during the early access program could take up to 24 hours.
Final Integration
❏Integrate the Tile into its final enclosure directly onto the intended PCB/product
❏Ensure the Tile can transmit required data with your product
❏Deploy the integrated Tile in the field
❏Review design to ensure compliance with FCC certification guidelines and begin the rest of the
certification process - see Swarm Tile Certification Guide