M2M Machine to Machine

GPS repeater

GPS repeater

This GPS repeater kit is a complete re-radiating system to allow you to re-radiate the GPS carrier indoors. The GPS repeater kit consists of a roof antenna, a plug-in re-radiating amplifier and a re-radiating antenna. The roof antenna is a L1/L2 35dB Gain, 50 ohm antenna. The re-radiating amplifier has a 110V/220V plug-in transformer which powers the amplifier and the roof antenna. The signal from the roof antenna is amplified and radiated out the repeating GPS antenna. If the receiving antenna has line of sight with the re-radiating antenna, it will receive the signal up to 30 meter away.

If you are interested in a free consultation and a concept for your M2M device, then send an email to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or give me a call at +49-1755774832. I will present you my experience (25 year in radio / 15 years in GSM and GPS). On request you can get references to wireless projects for all over the world. Thank you in advance for any challenge.

Can you please give me a hint why it can’t register into GSM network?

Question reached me by email.

Q: I write you because I am having troubles with the GSM/GPS shield. Can you please give me a hint why it can’t register into GSM network?

A: I will explain you how to power on a GSM module in in general.

1. Power supply / antenna

• Connect GSM antenna
• Put SIM card in SIM holder
• Take care that you power supply is able to support the 2 Ampere peak current. If not then the GSM module will get a power down reset by power on.

2. Power on and AT

• Power on the GSM module with toggling the ON / OFF pin of the GSM module.
• The answer will be OK. Do you get an OK by the GSM module?

3. AT+CPIN

• Give PIN number to module

4. AT+CREG, AT+CSQ , AT+CMONI

• This commands will tell you more about the GSM network around you.

5. Start voice call

• ATD 05032-8019985; (do not forget the “,” in the end) => the phone will ring

6. Send SMS

• Commands are listed in the manual of GE865

If point 1 to 6 is working fine, then you can think about to go ahead with GPS.

Feedback:

Thank you for your answer. The extra power info was usefull and I can access now the gsm network.

Remark:

The power down reset is still the most common user mistake I have seen by supporting GSM applications in the last 15 years. User mistakes and requests for support comes up again and again. Hopefully this article will save some of your time. Maybe the reading of further articles will train you and transfer some further know-how free of charge.

Who wants to donate is welcome to use my wish list at Amazon .

Indoor positioning without GPS / GNSS

Indoor positioning without GPS / GNSS has its benefits. Its helps to get a position, where no GPS / GNSS signal can be received. It also can be used as a backbone for GPS / GNSS. Nevertheless it can be cheaper.

Indoor positioning by Bluetooth Low Energy

Bluetooth Low Energy also called Bluetooth 4.0 was renamed to Bluetooth Smart and Bluetooth Smart ready in September 2011. The Motorola Razr Droid is the first Android phone with support of Bluetooth Low Energy / Bluetooth Smart Ready. A device lot a smart phone or tablet with support ot Bluetooth Low energy is called a Bluetooth Smart Ready device. Accesories like a heart beat belt or a proximity tag are called Bluetooth Smart devices.

Where am I? Inside a large building such as an airport terminal Bluetooth low energy tags could be placed in strategic locations to inform cell phone-equipped passengers of their location. More about indoor positing at airport

Bluetooth Low Energy Proximity Tag – Reference Design

The application is based on a system on chip. Micro controller, memory, oscillators and the I/O channels are on the same integrated circuit. The certificated Bluetooth Low Energy Stack is running on the chip as well. More about the Bluetooth Low Energy Proximity Tag r eference Design.

Indoor locating by Microsoft’s human antenna

Microsoft showed that electromagnetic noise can be used to identify the position of a person in a room, what the person is doing, and even where a hand is placed on a wall. Microsoft’s vision is to dim the light – my vision is AAL (Ambient Assitet Living) . More about here: concept with Microsoft’s human antenna in AAL

Indoor positioning by WIFI 802.11b

WIFI 802.11b is use to detect change in position of one meter or even less http://ow.ly/UYxZ
Today I can help with WIFI locating on WIFI 802.11n in Cisco WIFI networks. There are ready to use tags, but there are WIFI modules that support this feature too. With such a WIFI module and laptop, PDA, tablet or even a forg lift can be located.

Indoor positioning by Bluetooth 2.1

Research on positioning systems and context-aware applications are being performed in the Alipes project at CDT, Luleå University of Technology, Sweden. An evaluation of Bluetooth as a possible technology for positioning was performed during autumn of 2001 in this project. http://ow.ly/14yjE

Indoor positioning by Batman

Batman´s technology in use to see trough walls. Will Gotham City become reality? Is Batman´s technology not science fiction any-more? http://ow.ly/UYhe

Indoor positioning by GSM / GPRS / 3G

http://www.gsm-modem.de/M2M/m2m-faq/how-to-develop-a-tracker-without-gps/ In year 2000  I was the leader of a development team to locate salesmen of tickets at the World Trade Show EXPO 2000 in Hanover, Germany, indoor. We protected the salesmen of the tickets of the gondola train. After a short period they had always thousands of Euro´s in their pocket.

Indoor positioning by active RFID

Open source location tracking project using OpenBeacon tags and OpenBeacon firmware which transmits beacon packets. Such packets can then be received by OpenBeacon  base stations in the vicinity. Signals received by one or more base stations can then be used to estimate the position of the tag.

Everybody who is interested in positioning is welcome to subscribe to this Blog by RSS or email (left upper corner). Right now I have capacities for studies and development of prototypes and final products and services left. Behind me are a lot of long term business partners with knowledge and experience in wireless M2M.
Everybody can reach me easy by email to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or by using the form and ask for a concept, study, development up to mass production. It could be an one stop buying including dedicated support.

Liquid level meter with integrated GSM modem

This friendly support question liquid level meter with an integrated GSM modem reached me today

“I am not sure if this is the appropriate way to ask a technical question or if you have the time to answer this kind of questions atall, but I am desperate so I will just try.

I purchased a liquid level meter with an integrated GSM modem. As far as I know this is a 2G technology modem. Unfortunately I have not been able to get it to work. My guess is there is some sort of compatibility problem with the 3.5G sim cards (the only ones available here in Chile). Have you ever had similar problems? Can you point me in the right direction to look for a solution?”

I have seen trouble based on SIM cards before. The GSM modem you mentined is not state of the art. Anyhow, my first proposal is to put the SIM card in a older 2G mobile phone and to test it again.You mentioned not the cellular operator you try to use.

List of all cellular operators in Chile

Bad operators for you, because they support 3G only

• Telefonica Movil de Chile (TELEFONICA) = 3G 850
• Entel PCS Telecomunicaciones S.A. (ENTEL PCS) = 3G 1900
• Nextel S.A. (Nextel Chile) = 3G 1700/2100
• VTR MOVIL, S.A. (VTR MOVIL) =3G 1700/2100

Good operators you you, because they support 2G

• Entel PCS Telecomunicaciones S.A. (ENTEL PCS) = GSM 1900
• CLARO CHILE SA (CLARO CHILE) = GSM 1900
• Telefonica Movil de Chile (TELEFONICA) = GSM 850/1900

The better option is to have a look on the GSM modem with embedded watchdog listed as below:

http://www.gsm-modem.de/M2M/m2m-gallery/gsm-modem-with-watch-dog/

Some benefits of this GSM modem

• Latest GSM Quad band modem technology inside
• Hardware watch dog inside
• Battery and charger inside
• Option to run own code on Python inside

GSM modem application examples

Burglar alarm, monitoring of server room, standard AT modem with watchdog, operating hour timer of machines, remote control, remote monitoring, fault detector, data logger … and a lot of more. Liquid level we can measure and detect as well.

If you have interest in this GSM modem made by a business friend of mine then just drop an email to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or use the form to get further details.

GSM / GPS tracking in the shoes?

The whole world is constantly trying to publish the smallest GPS tracking device.

This morning a tracking device in the shoe was seen again. Apart from the fact that a shoe is a very inappropriate place for a GPS and GSM antenna, everyone needs more than one pair of shoes. In the bathtub I always pull my shoes off. My grandma has always pulled your shoes when she went to bed. Alzheimer’s patients are so confused that they just go off. They left with shoes – but sometimes without shoes.

The ubiquitous physics is simply repealed. Water is conductive. The red-coloured water in the foot named blood is simply ignored. That the road through rain and snow is wet sometimes is also overlooked. The wave only outside the Fresnel zone can “survive”- It was forgotten. GPS signal levels are close to the atmospheric noise. By the way, GPS is no longer the centre of the world. When you already rely on GNSS, you should – like the new Motorla Razr Droid – use a combination of GPS and Glonass. Those who wants it better and more accurate take a GPS / GLONASS-module which receives the American GPS and Russian Glonass parallel. With the later update the GNSS modules also will receive the European Galileo, the Chinese Compass and the Japanese QZSS. A multi-channel GNSS module for Alzheimer’s patients also fulfils the risk management. If one GNSS is disrupted, the other still works. A test drive in Dallas shows this clearly. The “only GPS device” has gaps in the tracked trip, and in another part of trip the “drunken” driver passed the middle of some skyscrapers. The combined GPS/Glonass system displays the position data in a string of pearl necklace. The A-GPS was not enabled. The dead reckoning by gyros and CAN-bus interface or speedometer was not used as well. With dead reckoning the position continues to record in the tunnel or in the hall.

On my new 20 gram tracker only those horrible antennas are left. A battery is no longer needed. This weight we have thrown overboard. Just these two weakening antennas and in addition the ground plane is still left. Mr. Marconi, why did you invent the ground plane? Couldn’t you simply leave out? That’s a pretty kettle of fish! The antennas are larger than the radio modules. Everything shrinks and becomes lighter. The board can be designed as a flex-PCB. The microcontroller is now barely visible. The SIM card is a SIM on chip.

Mr. Marconi had this really be?

http://de.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marconi-Antenne

And who wants to know more this is allowed to send an email to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de.

6LoWPAN Bluetooth Low Energy

Out of 6LoWPAN mailing list

In April, we adopted the Bluetooth Low Energy draft as a working group
document, which since has seen four revisions.  The authors now
believe that this document is ready for last-call, and I haven’t heard
otherwise from the WG.

We now start the Working Group Last Call on:

http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-6lowpan-btle-04

Once it passes WG last-call, the document is planned to be submitted
by this Working Group to the IESG for publication as a Standards-Track
Document.

This is a two-week Working-Group Last-Call, partially suspended during
the holidays, so it ends on

Thursday, 2012-01-05 at 1200 UTC.

Please review the referenced version of the document carefully, and
send your comments to the 6lowpan list.  Please also do indicate to
the list if you are all-OK with the document.

What a nice future. The sport shoes, the bikes, the skis – even my computer mouse or my medical sensor will have an IPv6 adress. And if the rumors are true, then the Motorola Razr Droid has now an API for Bluetooth Low Energy. If somebody is intersted in a Bluetooth Low Energy evaluation kit, then just drop an email to harald.naumann@gsm-modem.de

In April, we adopted the Bluetooth Low Energy draft as a working group
document, which since has seen four revisions.  The authors now
believe that this document is ready for last-call, and I haven't heard
otherwise from the WG.

We now start the Working Group Last Call on:

  http://tools.ietf.org/html/draft-ietf-6lowpan-btle-04

Once it passes WG last-call, the document is planned to be submitted
by this Working Group to the IESG for publication as a Standards-Track
Document.

This is a two-week Working-Group Last-Call, partially suspended during
the holidays, so it ends on

    Thursday, 2012-01-05 at 1200 UTC.

Please review the referenced version of the document carefully, and
send your comments to the 6lowpan list.  Please also do indicate to
the list if you are all-OK with the document.

How to minimise IP traffic in cellular networks?

The questions related to IP traffic in cellular networks reached me.

Q: The other question about data transfer is about how cell phone
companies charge for data transmission. If I send a IP/UDP packet,
this will obviously be billed to me. But if somebody sends me an
IP/UDP packet will it be charged only if I receive it? Will it be
charged at all if it comes from another chip? What about broadcasted
UDP packet?

A: You always pay. The cellular modules I am using offering a firewall wall. They will not answer by pinging them. The next is, that most cellular operators does not route IP packet from server in the Internet to your cellular module. Your cellular module has an internal non public IP address inside the cellular network. The next higher level of security is to route specific IP addresses to the cellular module only. Nevertheless, one German operator helps you with a public IP address that you can access from server in the Internet. Anybody can access to the cellular module. If you do not activate the firewall inside the cellular module, then end of the month you maybe get a high invoice for IP traffic.

Nevertheless, if you still have further questions and would like to start the development of your own cellular based IP application right now then just send an e-mail to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or use the form here. BTW, a consulting contract for one or two days can save you a lot of time and money. I will be glad to share our more than 15 years in GSM and GPS plus 25 years in radio communication with you. Even when I have no time left, then one of my business friends in wireless M2M will jump in.

GPS, Glonass, Galileo and better precision?

This questions related to GNSS (GPS, Glonass, Galileo) reached me.

Q: “I work for a company that develops GPS tracking devices. I have been reading your posts on M2M and you seem to be an expert regarding GSM/UMTS/ETC and GPS. There are two questions I want to ask you. Number one is with Galileo, you seem to be really excited about this mixed modules. Are the costs the same? Is the precision really that good? Do you have any suggestions as where to begin?”

A: I am 25 in radio communication and 15 years in GSM and GPS. I also was the leader of a team to develop tracking devices with and without GPS. In year 2000 at EXPO in Hannover all salesmen for tickets of gondola train was monitored by a GSM based locating system. We were able to track indoor.

Right now there is no Galileo active. I assume you mean Glonass. The combination on GPS with Glonass gives you a better accuracy and also a better probability to catch a satellite signal. The test trip in Dallas shows the difference very good. The single GPS module has received 4 to 8 satellites during a trip between the skyscrapers. If you have a closer look on the picture, then you will see that there are parts in the track, where the GPS module has given no latitude and longitude. Other parts of the track show the car driving in the buildings. If the GPS module gets only 4 GPS satellite signals, then it has worst case to use reflections for the calculation. The result is a wrong position.
The opposite you see at the combined GPS/Glonass module. The minimum visible satellites on sky were 8. Best were 12. Anyhow if the combined GPS/Glonass modules can choose 4 out of 8 or 5 out of 8 satellites then it can ignore signals that are reflected and poor.
Back to Galileo: Galileo you will get by firmware update. The GNSS module is able to receive GPS, Glonass, Galileo and even the Chinese satellite GNSS called Compass by updating the firmware. See also:

• Test trip with single GPS and combined GPS/Glonass module
• GPS was yesterday, Glonass is today and Galileo is tomorrow

Nevertheless, if you still have further questions and would like to start the development of your own GNSS application right now then just send an e-mail to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or use the form here. I will be glad to share my experience and knowledge with you.

Vehicle tracking device with embedded GSM / GPS antennas

All in one Vehicle tracking device

vehicle tracking device

This vehicle tracking device is a highly flexible plug and play GSM 850 900 / GSM 1800 / GSM 1900 modem with embedded GPS module for direct and easy integration in your vehicle. GSM antenna and GPS antenna are embedded in the vehicle tracking device. This saves trouble during installation, money for external GSM /GPS antennas and time for installation as well.
The supported bearers are SMS and GPRS on TCP/IP stack. GPRS on TCP/IP stack in the main bearer and SMS is fallback only. Nevertheless if you like it can run on SMS only.

This vehicle tracking device is based on latest hardware.

GSM module Telit GL865-Quad

The Telit GL865-Quad is a Quad band GSM / GPRS module with high sensitivity and low power consumption. Based on Telit’s pin to pin policy this GSM / GPS modem can be produced next years without redesign of the vehicle tracking device

Embedded GSM antenna

The embedded GSM antenna saves the hustle and trouble during installation. It is a customized embedded GSM antenna to give customers best performance.

GPS module UP501

The UP501 is a GPS module with embedded GPS patch antenna. It is a closed tuned system and makes the integration on PCB easy. Normally GPS patch antennas are detuned by mounting it on PCB. An UP501 will not be detuned. This gives the vehicle tracking device a very high sensitivity.

GPS patch antenna

A GPS patch antenna was not necessary, because it was already a part of UP501.

Vehicle tracking device test trip

A trip from Rostock to Berlin has shown best performance. The device was installed under the seat of the driver and had few to ground. Yes you are reading right – it has not shown to sky and it was still able to receive a signal. German engineering teams always test to the maximum limits.

So if you are interested to track something, then just drop an email to harald.naumann (at) gsm-modem.de or give me a call (phone number at left upper corner).  If you would like to develop an own vehicle tracking device, then please feel free to contact me too. My daily job since years is to consult developers to create new amazing wireless M2M products. Thank you in advance for any feedback.

Android running on your uC Core? Can we use it for a smart home gateway?

The question as below reached me:

“Is Android running on your uC Core? Please explain your solution. We are building smart home gateway right now on 32 bit processor with Android.”

Smart home gateway proposal

On the uC Core will run the Arduino SDK. Nevertheless, on the uC you can run several operating systems (e.g. Free RTOS). It also offers an Android@Home library.

SW libraries you will get: Android Accessory, IEEE 802.15.4 (ZigBee, MiWi, MiWi P2P), Bluetooth Stack, Ethernet (TCP-IP, Internet), USB – device & host, G.711 Speech Encoding/Decoding, ADPCM and Speex (Audio), Memory Disk Drive File System (FAT 16 and FAT32) to share and transfr data with PCs, Touch Sense (mTouch), Data EEPROM Emulation, Encryption/Decryption, nanoWatt XLP Battery Life Estimator (PIC24F), Graphics (QVGA), Helix MP3 Decoder, Certified Class B Safety, Smart card ISO-7816.

Android@Home / Android at Home

Android@Home is nothing else then an uC on with USB wired to an Android phone or tablet. If you mount a standard Android tablet in a customised enclosure and screw it to the wall, then you get the world cheapest smart home gateway the world ever has seen. The only you will miss are interfaces to KNX, LON and all the other wired buses we have in German houses. In other countries maybe other wired buses are more public.

Anyhow, with the Android@Home you can access to any wired or wireless bus and protocol you like. You just screw my PCB behind the tablet and but an adapter PCB with access to and interface you like on top. If you follow the link then you will find five uC evaluation kits where you can but a GSM / GPS adapter on top.

http://www.gsm-modem.de/M2M/m2m-componets/iot-avl-smart-home-aal-m2m-and-m2m2p-on-arduino/

The uC PCB plus the adapter are the world cheapest M2M kit for AVL, vehicle tracking or people tracking. If you replace the GPS module, then you get world cheapest telemetry evaluation kit.

Back to a smart home terminal

Android@Home evaluation kit

As I told a standard Android tablet plus the evaluation kit is maybe enough for you. The WLAN is already a part of the tablet. With WLAN to your router you can access to Internet. The cheapest tablets do not offer a 2G, 3G or 4G wireless link. Do not care. You can use the 2G module on my adapter as a backbone for your WIFI. 2G is cheaper and fast enough for sending an alarm by email, SMS or voice call. BTW, you can connect a ZigBee or 6LoWPAN module as well.

Android on a smart home terminal is nice. You get a perfect graphic human machine interface. Android is “stupid” and offers in plain version no drivers to all the other wired or wireless links in your house. For that reason Android@Home was born. It was born for accessories for smart phones as well. Just have a look at Motorola Razr Droid:

http://www.motorola.com/Consumers/US-EN/Consumer-Product-and-Services/Mobile-Phones/ci.DROID-RAZR-BY-MOTOROLA-US-EN.accessories#anchor

Motorola Razr HD station

The HD Station connects your DROID RAZR to an HD TV or monitor and external speakers. Watch movies, share pictures, browse the web, and play music in stereo. It includes 3 USB drives, so you can connect a keyboard, mouse or flash drive to your phone.

If you follow my idea, then I can help you with contacts in Germany to organizations related to the smart home. We also can talk together people how such a smart home terminal shall look like. I am sure, that we will need two versions. The version for India is price sensitive. The version for Germany maybe not, because based on my proposal your smart home terminal will be cheaper than any other on our market. I am also looking on a tablet where I can run Android or Linux. The Linux gives me in several applications in my mind some further benefits.

Best will be to try to get the uC evaluation kit with adapter (GSM, GPS or any other wireless link you like) to get from one hand. If you like, I can help with resources for developing a prototype up to final product. Just drop an email to harald.naumann at gsm-modem.de or use the form here.