Avnet AES-ATT-M18QWG-SK-G Hardware User's Manual

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LIT#

Global LTE IoT Starter Kit
Hardware User Guide

Version 1.4

Page 2

Version

Date

Comment

1.0

07/05/2017

Initial Release

1.1

11/02/2017

Certification info added (pg 47-48)

1.2

12/04/2017

Section 4.5 cellular operating frequency bands amended

1.3

12/05/2017

Cellular operating frequency bands updated

1.4

02/10/2017

- Kit Contents diagram added

- Block Diagram updated

- URL for kit purchase updated

- Light Sensor cautionary note added

- Force USB Boot details added

- Additional GPIOs and notes on usage added

- Detailed info added to certification section

- Modem-mode use case removed

- Starter SIM details and supported countries updated

- Intro to LTE IoT Breakout Carrier plus use of Click modules for prototyping

Document Control

Document Version: 1.4
Document Date: 02/10/2018
Document Author: Peter Fenn
Document Classification: Public
Document Distribution: Public

Prior Version History

Page 3

Contents

Terminology ..................................................................................................................... 7

1 Introduction ............................................................................................................... 8

1.1 Kit Info ................................................................................................................................. 9

1.2 Items Included in the Kit....................................................................................................... 9

2 Block Diagram and Features .................................................................................. 10

2.1 List of Features .................................................................................................................. 10

2.1.1 LTE System Board ..................................................................................................... 10

2.1.2 WNC M18QWG Global Module .................................................................................. 10

2.1.3 Pulse Electronics LTE + GNSS Antennas ................................................................... 10

2.1.4 Expansion Interfaces for System-Level Prototyping .................................................... 10

2.2 LTE IoT System Board Block Diagram ............................................................................... 12

2.3 Location of Key Components ................................................................ ............................. 13

3 LTE System Board Functional Description ............................................................ 14

3.1 LTE Modem Module (WNC M18QWG) .............................................................................. 14

3.2 Expansion Connector ........................................................................................................ 16

3.3 2x6 Pin Peripheral Connector ............................................................................................ 21

3.4 WNC Module Interfaces ..................................................................................................... 22

3.4.1 SIM Interface (3FF Micro-SIM Connector) .................................................................. 22

3.4.2 USB Interface ............................................................................................................ 23

3.4.3 UART1 Interface ........................................................................................................ 25

3.4.4 UART2 – Software Debug UART Interface (3-pin header) .......................................... 25

3.4.5 Voltage Level Translation (1.8V / 3.3V) ...................................................................... 26

3.4.6 ADC / Ambient Light Sensor (JP2) ............................................................................. 27

3.4.7 3D Accelerometer Sensor (LIS2DW12) ...................................................................... 28

3.4.8 Pushbutton Switches (Reset, User, Boot) ................................................................... 29

3.4.9 LED Status Indicators (Power, WWAN, User) ............................................................. 30

3.4.10 PCM / I2S Digital Audio Interface ............................................................................... 31

3.4.11 Ethernet SGMII Interface ............................................................................................ 32

3.4.12 User GPIO ................................................................................................................. 33

3.5 Power Regulation .............................................................................................................. 34

3.5.1 VIN ............................................................................................................................ 34

3.5.2 3V8 (VCC) ................................................................ ................................................. 34

3.5.3 1V8_VREF (VREF) .................................................................................................... 36

3.5.4 VCC_UIM_SIM (UIM_VCC) ....................................................................................... 36

3.5.5 3V3 ............................................................................................................................ 36

3.7 WNC Module Power Control and State Interfaces .............................................................. 37

Page 4

3.8 Antennas ........................................................................................................................... 39

3.8.1 LTE Antennas (Primary, Diversity).............................................................................. 39

3.8.2 GPS Antenna ............................................................................................................. 40

4 Specifications and Ratings ..................................................................................... 42

4.1 Absolute Maximum Ratings ............................................................................................... 42

4.2 Recommended Electrical Operating Conditions ................................................................. 42

4.3 Power Consumption .......................................................................................................... 42

4.4 RF Characteristics ............................................................................................................. 43

4.5 Networking and Carrier ...................................................................................................... 43

4.6 GNSS Receiver Performance ............................................................................................ 44

4.7 Environmental ................................................................................................................... 44

4.8 Mechanical ................................................................ ........................................................ 45

5 Certifications ........................................................................................................... 47

5.1 RoHS Compliance ............................................................................................................. 47

5.2 Regulatory and Network Certifications ............................................................................... 47

5.2.1 Certification Documents ................................ ................................ ............................. 47

5.2.2 CE-RED: EMC Testing ............................................................................................... 47

5.2.3 CE-RED: Radio Testing ............................................................................................. 47

5.2.4 Electrical Safety Certification ...................................................................................... 47

6 Shipping, Handling and Storage ............................................................................ 48

6.1 Shipping ............................................................................................................................ 48

6.2 Handling ............................................................................................................................ 48

6.3 Storage ............................................................................................................................. 48

7 Safety Recommendations ...................................................................................... 48

8 Ordering Information ............................................................................................... 49

8.1 LTE System Board Accessories ......................................................................................... 49

8.1.1 Expansion Connector Options for Custom User Board ............................................... 49

8.1.2 Pulse FPC Antenna Options ....................................................................................... 49

9 Contact Information ................................................................................................ 51

10 Technical Support ................................................................................................... 51

11 Disclaimer ............................................................................................................... 51

12 Appendix A – LTE IoT Breakout Carrier ................................................................ 52

Page 5

Figures

Figure 1 – Global LTE IoT Starter Kit Contents ............................................................. 9

Figure 2 – LTE IoT System Board – Block Diagram .................................................... 12

Figure 3 – LTE IoT System Board – Feature Identification ......................................... 13

Figure 4 – Global LTE Cat.4 IoT System Board........................................................... 13

Figure 5 – Internal view of the similar WNC M18Q2 series module ............................ 14

Figure 6 – Use Cases for Avnet LTE IoT Boards ......................................................... 15

Figure 7 – 3D View of Samtec ERF8 / ERM8 Connector Pair..................................... 16

Figure 8 – Expansion Connector Polarization .............................................................. 17

Figure 9 – Expansion Connector Board Stack Profile-View ........................................ 17

Figure 10 – Expansion Connector Pin Numbering ....................................................... 20

Figure 11 – 2x6 Peripheral Connector Board Edge-View ............................................ 21

Figure 12 – USB Interface Drivers Enumerate on Windows Host Computer ............. 24

Figure 13 – Board Detail Showing Light Sensor (U3) .................................................. 27

Figure 14 – CODEC Interface Using PCM or I2S ........................................................ 31

Figure 15 – Sleep and Power Control of WNC Module ............................................... 38

Figure 16 – Detail of U.FL Antenna Connectors .......................................................... 39

Figure 17 – GPS Antenna Circuit Diagram .................................................................. 40

Figure 18 – Mechanical Details (1 of 2) ........................................................................ 45

Figure 19 – Pulse FPC Antenna Options ..................................................................... 50

Figure 20 – LTE IoT Breakout Carrier (plus Click Modules) ........................................ 52

Page 6

Tables

Table 1 – Summary of Key Specifications for LTE System Board .............................. 11

Table 2 – J1 Expansion Connector Pinout (Inner Row) ............................................... 18

Table 3 – J1 Expansion Connector Pinout (Outer Row) .............................................. 19

Table 4 – 2x6 Pmod Peripheral Connector Pinout ....................................................... 21

Table 5 – SIM Card Interface Connections .................................................................. 22

Table 6 – WNC USB Interface Connections ................................................................ 23

Table 7 – USB Logical Interfaces Reported by Windows Device Manager ................ 24

Table 8 – Software Debug UART Header (J9) ............................................................. 25

Table 9 – ADC Input Source Selector (JP2)................................................................. 27

Table 10 – LIS2DW12 Interrupt Outputs ...................................................................... 28

Table 11 – Pushbutton Switch Functions ..................................................................... 29

Table 12 – LED Indicator Functions ............................................................................. 30

Table 13 – PCM / I2S Digital Audio Interface Pins ...................................................... 31

Table 14 – GPIO Signals Available on Expansion Connector ..................................... 33

Table 15 – GPIO Signals Assigned Local Functions ................................................... 33

Table 16 – Summary of LTE System Board Voltages ................................................. 34

Table 17 – Control and State Signals ........................................................................... 37

Table 18 – WAKEUP_IN and WAKEUP_OUT ............................................................. 37

Table 19 – FPC Antenna Options from Pulse .............................................................. 39

Table 20 – Absolute Maximum Ratings ........................................................................ 42

Table 21 – Recommended Electrical Operating Conditions ........................................ 42

Table 22 – Power Consumption ................................................................................... 42

Table 23 – TX Power and RX Sensitivity ..................................................................... 43

Table 24 – Networking and Carrier Characteristics (Europe Operation) .................... 43

Table 25 – GNSS receiver performance ...................................................................... 44

Table 26 – Environmental Characteristics .................................................................... 44

Table 27 – Mechanical Characteristics......................................................................... 45

Table 28 – Certified Pulse Antennas ............................................................................ 47

Table 29 – Ordering Information ................................................................................... 49

Table 30 – Height options for Samtec ERM8 Expansion Connector .......................... 49

Table 31 – FPC Antenna Options from Pulse .............................................................. 49

Table 32 – Contact Information .................................................................................... 51

Page 7

Terminology

Abbreviation

Definition

AC

Alternating Current

CE

European Conformity (Conformité Européene)

DC

Direct Current

ETSI

European Telecommunications Standards Institute

FCC

Federal Communications Commission

GND

Ground

GPIO

General Purpose Input / Output

I/O

Input / Output

IoT

Internet of Things

I2C

Inter-Integrated Circuit

JTAG

Joint Test Action Group

MEMs

Micro-Electro-Mechanical Systems

LTE

Long Term Evolution

N/A

Not Applicable

N/C

Not Connected

PIN

Personal Identification Number

Pmod

Peripheral module (Digilent Inc. trademark)

SIM

Subscriber Identity Module

SoC

System on Chip

SoM

System on Module

SPI

Serial Peripheral Interface

UART

Universal Asynchronous Receiver/Transmitter

UIM

User Identity Module

USB

Universal Serial Bus

Vref

Voltage reference

WCDMA

Wideband Code Division Multiple Access

WNC

Wistron NeWeb Corporation

Page 8

1 Introduction

The Global LTE IoT Starter Kit is a next-generation System-on-Module IoT solution, enabling the design
of cellular connected edge devices, for operation in Europe.

Powered by AT&T IoT services available through Avnet, this kit provides a complete development
environment for sensor-to-cloud applications and services.

Designed to be used for both prototyping and production, the slim form-factor LTE System Board with it’s
regional certifications and pre-registered Micro-SIM card for AT&T M2X service (included in the kit), as
well as versatile expansion options, together provide a high level of enablement that facilitates easy IoT
deployment and reduction in overall risk.

The Starter Kit features a small (79.5 mm x 30 mm) LTE System Board built around a Wistron NeWeb
(WNC) M18QWG global LTE Cat-4 modem module. The M18QWG module provides cellular modem
functionality plus an applications processor core dedicated for user applications, eliminating the need for
an external host processor. A rich set of embedded system peripherals, controllable through the user’s
application code, are easily accessible via a 60-pin expansion connector and 2x6 peripheral module
header. This enables easy system customization with application specific sensors and I/O interfaces
through the addition of user-created or off-the-shelf plug-in boards. The LTE System Board includes
ambient light, temperature and accelerometer sensors onboard, for out-of-box demonstration examples.

User application code runs directly on the M18QWG module, leveraging the OpenEmbedded software
framework for Linux application development. A Software Development Kit (SDK) specific to the
M18QWG module provides the necessary API calls to access hardware peripherals and system
resources. Application code built with the SDK is loaded into the M18QWG module through a USB
interface on the development board eliminating the need for external proprietary JTAG cables.

Cloud application development is supported by AT&T’s M2X Data Services and Flow Designer.

- M2X is a cloud-based, fully managed data storage service for connected machine-to-machine
(M2M) devices

- Flow Designer provides a visual editing environment for the design of connected applications,
enabling IoT developers to rapidly create and deploy innovative new applications.

Design goals of this LTE IoT Starter Kit included the following:

- Provide a versatile prototyping- and production-ready (cost-optimized) platform for development
and productized custom applications using WNC M18QWG Cat.4 cellular modem and GPS, for
deployment Globally via AT&T’s partner LTE networks

- Provide hardware expansion examples using:

- PmodTM-compatible peripheral boards,

- Custom breakout board

- Provide reference designs that accelerate development of applications for popular use cases

- With the provided AT&T SIM starter pack, demonstrate the use of:

- AT&T M2X and Flow Designer

- Additional 3rd party cloud services such as AWS, Watson IoT, and Azure

Page 9

1.1 Kit Info

Part Number: AES-ATT-M18QWG-SK-G
Price: $139.00 USD
Kit URL: http://cloudconnectkits.org/product/global-lte-starter-kit
Buy Page: AES-ATT-M18Q2FG-SK-G

1.2 Items Included in the Kit

• LTE System Board (p/n: AES-ATT-M18QWG-M1-G )

• Pulse FPC antennas (LTE Primary Antenna, GPS Antenna, LTE Diversity Antenna)

• Micro-SIM card (100K data points on AT&T M2X IoT platform services plus 200 SMS messages,

good for 60 days from activation)

• Universal AC/DC power supply with regional adaptors (5V @ 2.5A)

• USB Cable for programming and debug)

Figure 1 – Global LTE IoT Starter Kit Contents

Page 10

2 Block Diagram and Features

This section summarizes the features of the development board, followed by functional descriptions.

2.1 List of Features

The following features are supported:

2.1.1 LTE System Board

 M18QWG Global LTE SoC Module
 Ambient Light Sensor
 3-Axis Accelerometer
 Temperature Sensor
 USB Interface
 60-pin High-density Expansion Connector (1.8V levels)
 2x6 Peripheral Module Connector (3.3V levels)
 Power Regulation

2.1.2 WNC M18QWG Global Module

 Supports Global LTE bands 1/2/3/5/7/8/20/28/38/40
 Cat-4 LTE (up to 150/50 Mbps Download/Upload)
 2G/3G Fallback
 GPS
 Based on Qualcomm MDM9207

o ARM® Cortex™ A7 Quad Core
o One of the A7 cores is dedicated for User Application

 Rich Peripheral Features

2.1.3 Pulse Electronics LTE + GNSS Antennas

 Three antennas implemented as two foldable FPC antenna-assemblies
 2G/3G/4G MIMO
 GNSS (GPS, Glonass)
 Antenna interface to the LTE System board is via three space-efficient U.FL connectors

2.1.4 Expansion Interfaces for System-Level Prototyping

Two interfaces facilitate the adding of custom hardware to the LTE System board:
System expansion interface (1.8V I/O) is a 60 pin expansion connector (Samtec ERF8 /

ERM8 series) on the underside of the system board. WNC module peripherals are accessible
via this interface at 1.8V signalling levels, if 3.3V (or 2.5V) levels are required by the user’s
custom circuitry, then voltage translator devices must be added to the user’s board.

Pmod™-compatible interface (3.3V I/O) is 6x2 pin connector facilitates an easy to use
interface via I2C or SPI peripherals, for access to a wide range of Pmod™ peripheral boards.
The relaxed pitch of this connector and low pin count of these interfaces also permits wiring-in
other 3.3V expansion boards (eg. MikroElektronika Click modules or Grove sensor boards) for
prototyping system-level solutions

Page 11

Table 1 – Summary of Key Specifications for LTE System Board

Product Parameter

Relevant Characteristics

MSRP

$99 @ 100+ units

Description

Embedded LTE and GPS system board offering two modes of operation:

- Host mode

- Modem mode (aka Slave mode. No Avnet support for this mode currently)

Application Interface

WNC API (Host mode only)
WNC AT Commands

Cellular Technology

LTE Cat.4, bands 1/3/7/8/20/28/38/40 (up to 150/50 Mbps DL/UL)
WCDMA, bands 1/8, 3GPP release 8
GSM, E-GSM 900, DCS 1800

GNSS Location Tracking

GPS, GLONASS (-162 dBm tracking sensitivity)

Peripheral Interfaces

HS USB 2.0 w/ PHY, SGMII, HSIC, UARTs (4 wire and 2 wire),
SDC1/SPI1, I2C/SPI2, USIM, GPIOs, ADC, PCM/I2S, JTAG

Power Consumption

See datasheet (utilizes power-efficient ARM Cortex-A7 technology)

Supply Voltage

4.5 V to 16 V DC

Expansion Interfaces

Pmod™-compatible connector (3.3V levels, 2x6 pin, 2.54 mm pitch)
SAMTEC ERM8 60pin connector (1.8V levels, 2x30pin, 0.8 mm pitch)

End-Device Certified

Regulatory and network certifications planned for Europe only

Data Service

Starter SIM includes:

- 100K data points on AT&T M2X service,

- 200 SMS messages,

- good for 60 days from activation
Data Interface

N/A in Host mode

Dimensions (mm)

79.5mm x 30 mm

Warranty

1 year

Page 12

2.2 LTE IoT System Board Block Diagram

Figure 2 – LTE IoT System Board – Block Diagram

Page 13

2.3 Location of Key Components

Figure 3 – LTE IoT System Board – Feature Identification

Figure 4 – Global LTE Cat.4 IoT System Board

Page 14

3 LTE System Board Functional Description

The following sections describe the key functional blocks on the AT&T LTE IoT System Board

3.1 LTE Modem Module (WNC M18QWG)

The M18QWG is a SoC modem module from Wistron NeWeb Corporation (WNC) that provides
Cat.4 LTE cellular wireless connectivity plus GNSS location tracking, as well as a full-featured
application processor subsystem with peripheral interfaces and functions uniquely designed to
address the power/performance/cost constraints of IoT and M2M applications.

The quad-core ARM Cortex A7 applications processor on this module is based on Qualcomm’s
MDM9207 architecture and offers (OFDMA-related) software based signal processing capabilities
that significantly exceeds the efficiency of traditional ARM based communications processors.

Host mode: The WNC module will normally operate in “host mode”, where one of the ARM
Cortex A7 cores in the on-module Qualcomm MDM device is reserved for use as the system
processor for user applications. (The other three A7 cores are dedicated to the modem functions).

Modem mode: WNC module operation in “slave mode” (as a peripheral to an external processor
interfaced to the WNC module via USB interface) is not currently supported

The M18QWG also provides system peripheral interfaces and library support for these,
(eg. USB 2.0, I2C, SPI, SGMII, PCM, HSIC, UIM, UART*, SDIO*)

Refer to the next section pinout listing of the 60 pin Expansion Connector (Samtec ERF8) for
detail regarding the M18QWG module I/O that is accessible to the User

Documentation for the M18Q2 series WNC North America module that shares similar functionality
is available at the FCC certification website https://fccid.io/NKRM18Q2

Figure 5 – Internal view of the similar WNC M18Q2 series module

Page 15

Figure 6 – Use Cases for Avnet LTE IoT Boards

…

Page 16

3.2 Expansion Connector

The peripheral interfaces of the WNC M18QWG module are made available to the developer for
custom system design via the board’s 60 pin Expansion Connector.

This is interface is implemented using a 2x30 pin, 0.8mm pitch, Samtec ERF8 series connector,
providing a robust, space-efficient and economical stacking solution that is especially attractive for
cases where small overall physical size of the final product is vital.

Figure 7 – 3D View of Samtec ERF8 / ERM8 Connector Pair