Kin is KIM2 Telemetry Module Instruction Manual

KIM2
Integration manual

Kinéis SAS au capital de 15 687 654 euros
11, rue Hermès, Parc Technologique du Canal, 31 520 Ramonville Saint-Agne France RCS Toulouse – SIREN 841 489 123
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Introduction

Kinéis products make satellite connectivity easy to access and it is our goal to make integration and industrialization process as streamlined as possible. The KIM2 module developed by Kinéis is a low-power transceiver module based on Kinéis standards and fully certified by Kinéis. The module is specifically designed for ease of use, to shorten development time and thus decrease time to market.
It offers IoT device manufacturers the possibility to integrate their end devices quickly and easily into the Kinéis network and is available for industrialization of satelliteconnected devices in large volumes. It enables communication with all the Kinéis polar LEO satellites and provides global connectivity to IoT devices for data collection and positioning. The use of Kinéis RF signals and protocols ensures very low power consumption for device within line-of-sight of Kinéis satellites. This document is an integration manual for the KIM2 transceiver module by Kinéis, complementing the component datasheet. This manual will bring you information regarding:

• Typical application circuit
• UART interface
• Transmission and reception protocols, including message formatting and communication strategies

For further assistance, feel free to contact Kinéis at the following link: https://www.kineis.com/contact/

A. Revision history

features:
–  Implementation of radio configuration
– Availability of LD-A2 modulation (low-data rate Argos-2: ±1.1rad BPSK, 400bits/s)

B. Related documents
– KINEIS-NT-22-0600 – KIM2 Datasheet
C. Versioning

HW release| FW release| Datasheet version| Integration manual version
---|---|---|---
Engineering samples| KIM2v1.0| KIM2 Datasheet v0.2| KIM2 Integration manual v0.2
Engineering Samples| df88832 0x1,Oct 18 2023_07:37:19| KIM2 Datasheet v0.3| KIM2 Integration manual v0.3

D. Next features
Below is a list of features that will be implemented in the next releases:

• Low power consumption in Standby, Running and Reception modes
• Software management of EXT_WKUP and KIM_INT pins
• MAC implementation (periodic transmission, satellite pass predictions, satellite detection etc…)
•  Automatic user data management (“push-and-forget”)

Typical application circuit

Figure 1: Example of Typical integration of MCU with the KIM2

A. Commands / controls
KIM2 must be powered with 3.3V to 5V DC supply between VDD pins and GND pins, and all GND pins connected to the ground plane.
The microcontroller unit (MCU) can control the KIM2 through UART communication and GPIOs:

• UART interface needs two pins for the two-way communication: LPUSART_TX and LPUSART_RX
•  EXT_PWR_ON input pin must be actively controlled to power on the module (High), and can be controlled to put the module in OFF mode (Low) between two transmissions
• USR_NRST input pin can be used to reset the module The following pins will be available in future firmware releases:
•  EXT_WKUP input pin allows the Host MCU to wake up the module (active state = high)
•  KIM_INT output pin is used by the module to wake up the host microcontroller (active state = high)

An antenna matched at 50Ω for the right frequency must be connected on the KIN_ANT pin.
B. Programming and debug
Since the KIM2 is at an engineering sample stage, it is recommended to include the footprint for the programming connector to the host PCB in order to be able to upgrade the firmware with future releases.
The connector reference is TC2030 by Tag-Connect, the schematics are shown in the picture on the right and the footprint is available at https://www.tag- connect.com/product/tc2030-idc-nlC. State transition diagram When the KIM2 is powered at VDD, it can follow different modes:

• OFF mode: when the EXT_PWR_EN pin is low, MCU power supply is off, power supply of analog parts are disabled too and the consumption is very low (quiescent current of the internal regulator).
• Standby mode: when the ON/OFF pin is high, this is the default mode. The RF digital processor is waiting for AT commands, allowing the transition to the Running Mode. This mode will be optimized for low power consumption in future releases, but currently drains as much current as the Running mode.
• Running mode: this mode is activated when the RF digital processor receives an AT command, for the duration of execution of the AT command.
• Transmission mode: this mode is activated when the RF digital processor receives a transmission AT command. It activates the TCXO and the internal power amplifiers, and a signal is transmitted to the antenna corresponding to the specified Kinéis message.
• Reception mode: this mode is activated when a transmission command calls for the reception of a downlink message (acknowledgment or downlink user message)

 UART Communication

The KIM2 serial interface uses a basic TTL 3.3V level signals with UART protocol (RX link is 5V-tolerant). UART interface uses fixed parameters:

A. AT commands syntax
The AT command or response will be a sentence terminated by on both sides of communication.
There are three types of extended AT commands:

• Information type read-only commands, allowing to read values saved in the module: AT+CMD=?

• Parameter type commands, allowing to set one or several values or parameters (parameters written within square brackets [] are optional):
  AT+CMD=,[,]

• Action type commands, invoking a function of the equipment, which generally involve more than the simple storage of a value for later use (ex: Transmission command) AT+CMD=
  For each AT command, there will be the following possible responses:

• +OK, means the command is accepted and will be executed

• +ERROR= means an error occurred during the execution of the command
  o Possible values for parameter are detailed in §C Error responses Spontaneous notifications can also be sent from the module with the format +CMD=.
  The AT command or response will be a sentence terminated by on both sides of communication.
  There are three types of extended AT commands:

• Information type read-only commands, allowing to read values saved in the module: AT+CMD=?

• Parameter type commands, allowing to set one or several values or parameters (parameters written within square brackets [] are optional):
  AT+CMD=,[,]

• Action type commands, invoking a function of the equipment, which generally involve more than the simple storage of a value for later use (ex: Transmission command)
  AT+CMD=
  For each AT command, there will be the following possible responses:

• +OK, means the command is accepted and will be executed

• +ERROR= means an error occurred during the execution of the command
  o Possible values for parameter are detailed in §C Error responses
  Spontaneous notifications can also be sent from the module with the format +CMD=.

Timing constraints: Once an AT command has been sent to module, one shall not send again a new command until previous has been completed with a response.
User shall wait at minimum 10ms before sending a new command after previous is completed.
B. AT commands description
1. General commands
a. Ping

PING – Communication test

AT+PING=?| Test the communication with the KIM2

b. Firmware version

FW – Read Firmware version

AT+FW=?| Read the firmware version from KIM2 module Answer: +FW=
Parameter:
· – Firmware version flashed into the module

c. ID number

ID – Read Kinéis ID number

AT+ID=?| Read the Kinéis decimal ID number of the module (used to operate the device on the Services Portal)
Answer: +ID=
Parameters:
· – Kinéis ID number in decimal formatc

d. Address

ADDR – Read Kinéis address

AT+ADDR=?| Read the Kinéis hexadecimal address of the module (used by the module in the radio frame building)
Answer: +ADDR=
Parameters:
· – Kinéis address in hexadecimal format (8 digits)

User data commands
a. Radio configuration

RCONF – Radio configuration

AT+RCONF=| Set the radio configuration of the module, provided only by Kinéis
Parameter:
· – 16-Byte hexadecimal encrypted string (32 digits)
AT+RCONF=?| Read the radio configuration of the module
Answer:
+RCONF=,,,
Parameter:
·  – frequency band low bound
· – frequency band high bound
· – transmission modulation
o LDA2
o  LDK
· – conducted output RF level in dBm

b. Transmission of data

TX – Transmission of data

AT+TX= [,]| Transmit a message
Parameter:
· – user data to be transmitted, in an hexadecimal string
o With LDK modulation (as set in the radio configuration):
o  Length must be 19 Bytes for data uplink
o Length must be 17 Bytes for data uplink acknowledgment or data downlink message reception
o With LDA2 modulation (as set in the radio configuration):
o Length must be 4, 8, 12, 16, 20 or 24 Bytes for data uplink
o  Length must be 2, 6, 10, 14, 18 or 22 Bytes for data uplink acknowledgment or data downlink message reception
If the data specified with the AT+TX command does not follow the proper data length, an error will be returned.
· – attribute bitmap as two hexadecimal digits for the communication protocol (see § 4 Communication protocol )
o 0x00: data uplink (default value)
o  0x01: data downlink
o 0x04: data uplink acknowledgment
+TX=, | Answer from the module after the transmission of data
Parameters:
· : integer that specifies the status
o 0: no error, status depending on communication protocol
§   Data uplink: single transmission has been performed
§   Data downlink: transmission has been performed and data downlink message has been received
§   Data uplink acknowledgment: single transmission has been performed and acknowledgment has been received from the satellite
o  Other: see error codes in § 3
o  Error responses
·    – user data transmitted, in a hexadecimal string
---|---

User data notifications
a. Reception of a data downlink message

DL – Reception of data downlink message

+DL=| Reception of a data downlink message
__ Parameter:
·  – user data in a hexadecimal string

C. Error responses

ERROR – Error response

+ERROR= | Error response from the module to an AT command
Parameter: – an integer that specifies the error
·  1: Unknow error
·  2: format of parameter is incorrect
·  3: parameters are missing
·  4: too many parameters
· 5: value of the parameter is incompatible
· 6: AT command is unknown
· 20: user data length is invalid
· 30: reception timeout (for data downlink or uplink acknowledgment)
In case of any other value, please reach out to Kinéis technical support

Communication protocol

Please visit https://connect.kineis.com/transmission-strategy to find out the best strategy to implement according to your use case requirements. The different scenarios implemented in the KIM2 are described below.
A. Data uplink
The data uplink service consists in data transmission only. In this scenario, the module is not aware whether the satellite has well received the message or not. Since the module only performs a single transmission, an adapted transmission strategy should be implemented in order to maximize the probability of reception of the message by the satellite. Parameter has the value 0 if the message is well transmitted by the module (no error). Other possible values are detailed in §3
B. Data uplink acknowledgement
The data uplink acknowledgment service consists in data transmission, and reception of an acknowledgment from the satellite to confirm the correct reception of the message. After the transmission of the message with attribute value 0x04, the module switches to reception mode to receive the data uplink acknowledgement. If the data uplink acknowledgement is not received by the module after the timeout period, the response from the module to the user application has the parameter