Functioning

High level features

This section describes the high-level features of AT3 V1.0 release.

• LoRa features
  • Class A
  • LoRa regions support (EU, AS, IN, AU, US)
  • Network access: OTAA
  • Network join management
  • Network monitoring (Link check, Reset after no answer)
  • Multiple transmissions strategies (configurable ADR, Dual transmissions)
  • Uplink queue (Up to 8 messages)
  • Downlink messages processing
  • Configurable heartbeat
  • Configurable confirmed uplinks
• Geolocation
  • Configurable multi-technology (GNSS, LP-GNSS, BLE, WiFi) geolocation profiles based on triggers (button press, SoS, etc)
  • BLE positioning using beacon type (Eddystone, Altbeacon, iBeacon) & beacon identifier filtering
  • Configurable timing for geolocation (timeout, LoRa reporting)
• BLE inventory management/BLE scan collection
  • Reporting of upto 20 BLE beacons using beacon type & beacon identifier filtering
• SOS support
  • Specific UI to indicate SoS
  • Configurable geolocation behaviour during SoS mode
• BLE connectivity
  • Single bonding support
  • Passkey authentication support
  • Export standard characteristics (temperature, battery, ...)
  • Export vendor specific characteristics (parameters, mode change, ...)
  • Notification support (send notifications to mobile phone)
  • BLE firmware update over the air
  • MCU firmware update over the air
  • CLI over BLE
  • Find me support
  • Tracker stops geolocation/collection when securely connected.
  • Behavioral profile support
• BLE beaconing
  • Configurable beacon transmission (Eddystone, Altbeacon, iBeacon & Quuppa)
• Device management
  • CLI interface (Support multiple commands, two access levels)
  • Log facility (Per module log)
  • Accelerometer management (Motion and shock detection)
  • Temperature management (Permanent storage of the min/max values, actions taken when min/max thresholds reached)
  • Battery management (Primary vs rechargeable batteries, remaining capacity measurement, and estimated consumption).
  • Configuration parameters management (Permanent storage, Configuration files and Parameter identifier parser)
  • Startup modes
  • Firmware update over USB.
  • Firmware update over BLE

Startup process

A process called shipping has been introduced to allow the shipping of the trackers to the final customer. This process puts the tracker in a deep low power state. Once the tracker arrives on the final customer site, it leaves the shipping state and enters the active state which starts the LoRaWAN join/Cellular connection process. The shipping process can be disabled during the manufacturing.

The startup process is described as follows:

1. The device is in the shipping state and waits for a long button press or for a reed switch sequence.
2. Then the tracker enters active state and performs LoRaWAN join/Cellular connection (depending on the configuration)
3. Once the LoRaWAN or cellular connection is successful, the tracker starts reporting of positions.

Geolocation

This section describes the high level geolocation features of the tracker. For more details, please refer to Geolocation manager.

GNSS

The tracker has onboard MT3333 which supports GNSS. GNSS payloads can be decoded by the Abeeway driver. For more information, please refer to GNSS manager.

Low-Power GNSS

The tracker also supports Abeeway proprietary LP-GNSS which relies on ThingPark Location to help acquiring GNSS positions. This feature helps with GNSS fixes in poor signal conditions and can improve accuracy and reduces power consumption of the tracker. For more information, please refer to GNSS manager.

This feature requires ThingPark location subscription.

WiFi indoor/outdoor geolocation

The tracker supports scanning of WiFi MAC addresses which are reported to the customer's business application or ThingPark location. The WiFi MAC addresses can be used for indoor positioning using Google/HERE WiFi geolocation service.

ThingPark location subscription supports WiFi/HERE geolocation using WiFi MAC addresses. For more information, please refer to Geolocation Manager.

BLE indoor geolocation

The tracker supports scanning of BLE MAC addresses which are reported to the customer's business application or ThingPark location. The BLE MAC addresses can be used for indoor positioning using ThingPark location. For more information, please refer to BLE scan.

BLE geozoning

The BLE geozoning mode is used to track people inside the buildings, plants, or any other indoor areas where safety is a main concern.

Dedicated beacons are populated inside the monitored building. The tracker can recognize the following beacon types:

• Entry: These beacons are placed at the entrance of the monitored building.
• Exit: These beacons are placed at the exit of the monitored building.
• Safe area: These beacons are placed at the safe areas of the building.
• Hazardous area: These beacons are placed at the hazardous areas of the building.
• No beacon detection: When no beacons are detected inside the building, it is considered as a safe area.

The following picture describes the different type of areas.

Note

• This feature is not supported in AT3 1.0. It is planned in future firmware releases of AT3.

BLE beaconing

The tracker supports BLE advertising of standard beacon types (Eddystone, iBeacon, Altbeacon & Quuppa). The beacon identifier can be configured using the firmware parameters. For more details on BLE beaconing, please refer to BLE group.

User interfaces

This feature allows the interaction of the firmware with buzzer, LEDs, button (if available on the tracker). Please refer to section user interface for more details.

SOS

Activation mode	Tracker Models	User Interface needed
Using a button (button press type, configured in core_button1_map & core_button2_map parameter)	Micro tracker V4 Smart badge V2	Button
	Compact tracker V2 Combo LPWAN Compact tracker V1	Hall effect sensor acting like a button
Using a downlink	All	NA

This capability forces the device in a specific tracking mode tagged as SOS, for instance when the tracker's carrier needs help.

Once this feature is activated, the behavior is the following:

• The tracker sends a start SOS event payload.
• The tracker does geolocation as part of geolocation manager configuration
• The tracker's UI can be configured to indicate that the tracker is in SoS mode ⁽¹⁾.
• The tracker will play melody to indicate SoS mode ⁽¹⁾.

Note:

⁽¹⁾ Only applicable to tracker models (Micro tracker V4, Smart Badge V2) which have a buzzer and LED.

Motion detection

This feature is supported by all Abeeway trackers.

The tracker embeds a three axes accelerometer, which detects accelerations and triggers motion events. It is configurable with the following parameters:

• accelero_motion_sensi: This parameter configures the sensitivity of the accelerometer.
• accelero_motion_duration: This application firmware generates motion end notification once this timer elapses after the tracker stops moving.
• accelero_full_scale: This parameter affects the measurement range of the accelerometer. Lower values give extremely sensitive and accurate measures but are capped rapidly, while higher values are less accurate but are capped at higher values. Consequently, the lower values should be used in the case of motion detection if high sensitivity is required (e.g. to detect movement of freight in a high speed train), while higher values will be reserved for shock detection. Human motion (e.g. wearing a badge) will be detected reliably at all scales.
• accelero_output_data_rate: This parameter affects the sampling rate of the accelerometer. The setting of this parameter will affect:
  • Power consumption: Lower values will minimize power consumption. Ultra-low power operation requires use of 12.5Hz output data rate (ODR).
  • Accuracy: Higher values will provide more sensitivity to transient events. Shocks which last less than 1/ODR seconds may go unnoticed. ODR acts as a low pass filter, so the vibration's measured energy will decrease at low ODR frequencies.

When configuring the tracker only for motion detection, accuracy is not an issue since we are only interested by the movement. So, it is advised to use the lowest value of accelero_output_data_rate. However, when shock detection is used, if very short duration shocks are expected, higher values of accelero_output_data_rate may be needed. In general shocks between "soft" objects at low speed will last more than 1/10s and the lowest accelero_output_data_rate will work. Vice versa high speed shocks between hard objects may have extremely short duration.

For more information, please refer to Accelerometer group.

Shock detection

This feature is supported by all Abeeway trackers.

This feature enables the reporting of the shocks detected by the tracker. The shock detection threshold is configured using accelero_shock_threshold. Once the tracker detects the shock, it generates shock detection notification message.

For more information, please refer to Accelerometer group.

Notification Messages

Notification messages are supported by all Abeeway trackers.

These messages are notifications sent by the tracker informing the application server about specific events. These events can be system related (for ex. Low battery) or application specific (for ex. Trigger of SoS).

Refer to the section Notifications for the format of the notification uplinks.

Temperature monitoring

This feature is supported by all Abeeway trackers.

This feature is designed to report temperature events when the temperature measured by the device is above or below the configured thresholds, core_temp_high_threshold and core_temp_low_threshold in °C. The temperature hysteresis is configured using core_temp_hysteresis to avoid too many uplinks due to frequent temperature changes. The configuration of these parameters is explained in System core group.

The temperature notification uplink is described in Class temperature

Power management

This feature allows the tracker to monitor the battery level and send the system notification of type low battery when detecting low battery level.

LoRaWAN and Cellular network management

The tracker firmware supports the management of both LoRaWAN and cellular networks.

Note: Cellular network management is only valid for trackers embedding GM02S module. Combo cellular-LPWAN compact tracker supports the cellular features of the firmware.

The network manager is responsible for:

• Managing the network connectivity state.
• Switching between the LoRaWAN or the cellular networks based on availability of the primary network.
• Routing the application messages over a cellular or LoRaWAN network.

For more information on network management, please refer to Networking.