XLINK 500/100 Operations & Maintenance Manual page # 124
A signal strength of 0 indicates that there is no signal at all; the station will not be able
to make any Iridium transmissions.
When installing the station, make sure the station consistently reports a signal
strength of 4 or higher for at least 10 minutes.
12.1.2.
Short Burst Data
XLink uses the Iridium Short Burst Data (SBD) capability to send transmissions and receive
messages.
XLink uses messages to communicate via Iridium. Messages may be sent to the station via
Iridium, and the station may send messages in return.
Each message may contain up to 340 bytes.
12.1.3.
Transmission Data Content
Each measurement is independently setup with the data content for each transmission. Please
see section
A single message can only hold a limited amount of data. If there is more data than can fit,
multiple transmissions will have to be sent. In order to receive the freshest data, the
transmission interval should be set such that only one message is sent at one time. Given the
choice of getting one transmission every 15 minutes or getting two back-to-back transmissions
every 30 minutes, opt for the 15-minute data. The price is the same, but the data is refreshed
more frequently.
The station will send up to five separate SBD messages for each transmission, providing a
maximum capacity of 1655 bytes worth of data. If that is not enough data, increase the
transmission interval or setup two different Iridium transmissions.
Iridium Setup
section for details on setting up Iridium.
Iridium Message Checking
When an Iridium Scheduled transmission
is made, the system is notified of any incoming
messages. Checking for messages in this fashion does not incur any additional data usage costs.
If your station is set up to make transmissions every 30 minutes, that means that it will take up to
30 minutes for the station to receive any messages sent to it. If that is too long, you may consider
turning on
Listening
. Please see the Iridium Setup section for more on Listening and message
checking.
12.1.4.
Sending Messages to the Station via Iridium
Stations with Iridium modems can have messages sent to it via emails that get routed through
the Iridium system.
If
Listening
is enabled, the station receives messages immediately. In this mode, the modem is
always on, and the station consumes more power.