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Powered-on “Listen” Periods
During these periods, the modem is powered and will process an incoming message if and when
it is received. You are charged for the cost to retrieve the message. The advantage of this method
over Scheduled Message Checks is that you won’t be charged for message checks when no
message is waiting. However, since the modem is powered, more power is being consumed.
The Power on Interval property defines how often to power the modem, while Power on Time
defines the offset to this interval, and Power on Duration defines how long to stay on. For
example, settings shown in the dialog above will result in a daily period from 9AM to 10AM
where the modem is powered and waiting to receive and process messages. Note: any
transmissions scheduled during this period still occur.
Manual Message Checks
You can tell the system to check for messages manually from the Iridium diagnostics tab. See the
“Check Messages Now” button in the following dialog:
Message Check Charges
Note: The system checks for incoming messages on every scheduled and alarm transmission.
This message check does NOT cost extra, even if no message is waiting. Hence, the cheapest
way to manage incoming messages is to have the system look only when transmissions are
made. This eliminates the additional cost of scheduled message checks, as well as the
additional power needed for listen periods.
Data Password and Setup Password
These two properties specify authorization codes used to validate incoming command messages.
Setup Password specifies the authorization code for “setup-level” access, while Data Password
specifies the authorization code for “data-level” access.
Incoming command messages have setup-level access by default. When the Setup Password
property contains an authorization string, any and all incoming messages that normally require
setup-level access to be processed must prefix the command with the authorization code. For
example, to command the station to reboot with an authorization code of “MyAuthCode”, the
incoming message content would be “MyAuthCode !reboot”.
ISBD Blocks - Graphical Setup and EzSetup
Data is selected for inclusion in Iridium transmissions using ISBD blocks in the Graphical Setup,
and by checking the “ISBD” option in EzSetup. The ISBD properties are the same, whether you
are working in the Graphical Setup or EzSetup.
An example setup is shown below:
