Iridium Short Burst Data Service Developers Guide V3 0

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Iridium Short Burst Data Service

Developers Guide

Release 3.0

March 9, 2012

Iridium Proprietary and Confidential © Iridium Satellite LLC

This document requires a valid Non-Disclosure Agreement with Iridium or an authorized Iridium Value

Added Reseller or an authorized Iridium Value Added Manufacturer.

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Revision History

Version

Date

Reason

1.0

June 1, 2003

First Commercial Release

1.1

August 24 2005

Updated Network Features:

 ISU-ISU SBD

 Optional reporting of geographic location on email

messages

 MTMSN unique for each ISU

 Session status fields generated by the Iridium Gateway

Additional Documentation

 Multiple MT-SBD destinations in a single email

 Multiple MT-SBD payloads in a single email

Incorporation of other documentation.

 SBD Troubleshooting Guide

Removal of generic 9522 information

1.2

February 10, 2006

Updated to reflect 9601 SBD Transceiver information and

updates from network updates to the Iridium Gateway to Version

4.1

1.2.1

February 23, 2006

Updated to correct typographical error in 2.1

2.0

March 20 2007

Updated to include IP Socket Information

Updated to include SBD Security Information

Updated to include features up to and including Iridium Gateway

Version 4.2

Removed AT Command Descriptions

2.01

December 5th 2007

Changes Summary:

 Updates to correct typographical errors and

clarifications.

 No functionality changes implemented.

 Minor feature additions

 Revised recommendations and new requirements in

Section 6

Specific Changes:

 New addition: 3.4 Permitted Email address Formats

 New addition: 3.5 Bit Bucket for MO-SBD Messages

 4.1.4.2 Clarifications on SBD Ring Alerts

 Table 5-6 Values correct for ‘Overall Message length”,

and “MT Confirmation Header Message Length”.

Removal of “MT Confirmation IEI” and “MT Confirmation

Length” Fields.

 Table 5-7 – Corrected to show correct table names.

 5.4.2.7 Clarification of epoch reference

 Section 6.0 significantly updated and re-titled from

“Optimal Message Size Selection” to “practical

Considerations and Requirements for SBD Application

Design and Solution Certification.”

2.2

Jun 9th 2008

Changes Summary

 Updated to include multiple DirectIP Destinations

 Updated to include filtering of Mt-SBD Message

Originators

2.3

July 15th , 2010

Changes Summary

 Updated to reflect 9602 SBD Transceiver and 9522B

Transceiver

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 Update to existing sections; 2.1, 2.2, 3.1, 4.1.4, 5.1.2.1,

5.1.3, 5.1.3, 5.2.2

 Update to existing Tables: 0-2, Table 3-1,

 New addition; Section 3.5

2.3.1

October 1, 2010

Changes Summary

 Updates section 2.1, 3.1,3.2, 4.1.4,5.1.2.1

 Update to tables 3-3, 3-4

3.0

March 9, 2012

Complete Reorganization of document

 Inclusion of SBD 5.3 features

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LEGAL INFORMATION, DISCLAIMER AND CONDITIONS OF USE

This Product Developers' Guide ("Guide") and all information for the Iridium Short Burst Data

Service ("Product/Service") is provided "AS IS." The purpose of providing such information is to

enable Value Added Resellers and Value Added Manufacturers (collectively, "Product

Developer(s)") to understand the Product/Service and how to integrate it into a wireless solution.

Reasonable effort has been made to make the information in this Guide reliable and consistent with

specifications, test measurements and other information. However, Iridium Communications Inc.

and its affiliated companies, directors, officers, employees, agents, trustees or consultants

("Iridium") assume no responsibility for any typographical, technical, content or other inaccuracies

in this Guide. Iridium reserves the right in its sole discretion and without notice to you to change

Product/Service specifications and materials and/or revise this Guide or withdraw it at any time.

This Guide is a product provided in conjunction with the purchase of the Product/Service and is

therefore subject to the Product Sales Terms and Conditions set forth at

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and all risks of using the Product/Service specifications and any other information provided in this

Guide.

Your use of this Guide is restricted to the development activity authorized by your Partner

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Table of Contents

1. Introduction ................................................................................................................................. 9

1.1. Purpose ................................................................................................................................. 9

1.2. Scope .................................................................................................................................... 9

1.3. References ............................................................................................................................ 9

1.3.1. Specifically Referenced Documents ............................................................................. 9

1.3.2. Other Useful Documents .............................................................................................. 9

1.4. Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations ........................................................................ 10

1.5. Transceiver Message Size Capability ................................................................................ 11

1.6. What’s New ........................................................................................................................ 11

2. Overview ................................................................................................................................... 12

2.1. Overview of Iridium Satellite Network for Short Burst Data ............................................ 12

2.2. Transceiver Overview ........................................................................................................ 14

3. Email Description ..................................................................................................................... 15

4. Direct Internet Protocol Socket “DirectIP” Interface ............................................................... 15

4.1. DirectIP Overview ............................................................................................................. 15

4.2. MO and MT Message Specifications ................................................................................. 16

4.2.1. Overall Message Structure .......................................................................................... 16

4.3. Information Elements ......................................................................................................... 17

5. ISU- ISU Messages ................................................................................................................... 18

6. Mobile Originated Messages .................................................................................................... 19

6.1. Email MO ........................................................................................................................... 19

6.1.1. Permitted Email Address Formats .............................................................................. 21

6.1.2. Example of a Mobile Originated (MO) Message ....................................................... 21

6.2. DirectIP .............................................................................................................................. 22

6.2.1. Optional MO Receipt Confirmation ........................................................................... 22

6.2.2. Vendor Application Server Unavailable ..................................................................... 22

6.2.3. MO DirectIP Server/Client Requirements .................................................................. 22

6.2.4. MO Information Element Identifiers .......................................................................... 23

6.2.4.1. MO DirectIP Header ............................................................................................... 23

6.2.5. MO Payload ................................................................................................................ 25

6.2.6. MO Location Information ........................................................................................... 25

6.2.7. MO Confirmation Message ........................................................................................ 26

6.2.7.1. MO Confirmation Length ....................................................................................... 26

6.2.7.2. Confirmation Status ................................................................................................ 26

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6.2.8. MO Message Delivery Confirmation Example .......................................................... 27

6.2.9. Successful MO Message Delivery Example ............................................................... 27

6.2.10. Failed MO Message Delivery Example .................................................................. 28

7. Mobile Terminated Messages ................................................................................................... 29

7.1. Email MT ............................................................................................................................... 29

7.1.1. MT-SBD Sequence of Events ..................................................................................... 30

7.1.2. Disposition Notification .............................................................................................. 30

7.1.3. Mailbox Check / Mobile Terminated (MT) Message ................................................. 32

7.1.4. Send MT Ring Alert – No MT Payload ...................................................................... 33

7.1.5. RFC Compliance ......................................................................................................... 34

7.2. DirectIP Deliveries MT ...................................................................................................... 34

7.2.1. MT DirectIP Server/Client Requirements .................................................................. 34

7.2.2. Information Element Identifiers .................................................................................. 35

7.2.2.1. MT DirectIP Header ................................................................................................ 35

7.2.3. DirectIP MT Disposition Flags ................................................................................... 36

7.2.3.1. Allowable combinations of the MT Disposition Flag ............................................. 36

7.2.4. MT Payload ................................................................................................................. 38

7.2.4.1. MT Payload Length ................................................................................................. 38

7.2.4.2. MT Payload ............................................................................................................. 38

7.2.5. DirectIP MT Message Confirmation Message ........................................................... 38

7.2.6. MT Priority ................................................................................................................. 39

8. Mobile Originated and Mobile Terminated Message ............................................................... 41

8.1. Example of a MO & MT Message in Parallel .................................................................... 41

9. SBD Ring Alert for Mobile Terminated Messages and ISU-ISU Messages ............................ 43

9.1. SBD Ring Alert for Mobile Terminated Messages ............................................................ 43

9.2. Ring Alert Registration ...................................................................................................... 43

9.3. Retrieval of a MT-SBD Message using SBD Ring Alert .................................................. 44

9.4. SBD Ring Alert Status Information ................................................................................... 45

10. Field Application Implementation .................................................................................. 46

10.5. SBD Ring Alert: Automatic Registration (+SBDAREG)........................................... 50

11. Optimal Message Size Selection ............................................................................................ 51

11.1. Economic Message Size ................................................................................................. 51

11.2. Technical Message Size ................................................................................................. 51

11.2.1. Mobile Originated Message Size ............................................................................ 51

11.2.2. Mobile Terminated Message Size ........................................................................... 52

12. Iridium Short Burst Data Service Security Features .............................................................. 53

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12.1. Purpose ........................................................................................................................... 53

12.2. Iridium Security Features ............................................................................................... 53

12.3. Authentication Security .............................................................................................. 53

12.4. Iridium Channel Security ............................................................................................ 54

12.5. L-Band Channel Security ............................................................................................ 54

12.6. K-Band Channel Security ........................................................................................... 55

12.7. Gateway to Vendor Application ................................................................................. 55

12.8. Additional Considerations .......................................................................................... 55

13. Basic Trouble Shooting ......................................................................................................... 56

13.1. Hardware Requirements ................................................................................................. 56

13.2. Provisioning .................................................................................................................... 56

13.3. SIM PIN .......................................................................................................................... 56

13.4. Network Registration Status ........................................................................................... 57

13.5. Satellite Signal Strength Indicator .................................................................................. 57

13.6. Power Supply .................................................................................................................. 57

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1. Introduction

1.1. Purpose

The purpose of this document is to provide technical and operational information sufficient for an Iridium

Value Added Reseller or Value Added Manufacturer to be able to develop an integrated data application that

utilizes Iridium’s Short Burst Data Service (SBD). Additional information will be required by the developer for

the AT Commands to be utilized with the transceiver selected for use with SBD.

An overview of the satellite network is provided as well as descriptions of the terminal equipment and the

end to end communications protocol for SBD. This document is intended for use by technical personnel and

assumes a reasonable level of technical skill and familiarity with satellite and/or wireless data applications.

1.2. Scope

This document provides an explanation of:

1. How the Mobile Originated and Mobile Terminated SBD protocol works through an overview and

command descriptions.

2. Specific SBD related AT commands and responses as it relates to Mobile Originated and Mobile

Terminated SBD messages

3. Interface requirements between the Iridium Gateway and the Vendor Application

Additional documents are referenced which provide more specific detail on certain topics and these are

listed in Section 1.3 of this document. This document does not specifically define the provisioning process,

although it does reference it. This document assumes a working knowledge of the Iridium satellite system.

1.3. References

1.3.1. Specifically Referenced Documents

[1] ISU AT Command Reference

[2] 9522A L-Band Transceiver Product Information Guide

[3] 9522B L-Band Transceiver Product Information Guide

[4] 9601 SBD Transceiver Product Developers Guide

[5] 9602 SBD Transceiver Product Developers Guide

These documents are accessible from the Iridium Web Support under Support:

http://www.iridium.com.

1.3.2. Other Useful Documents

These documents are accessible from the Iridium public web site: http://www.iridium.com .

 Data Services Overview: The document includes Frequently Asked Questions (FAQs) for both

Dial-up and Direct Internet Data Services. Both of these services are circuit switched.

 Dial-Up Data User’s Guide: Provides detailed description of the set-up and use of dial-up data

services

 Mobile Terminated Data User’s Guide: Provides a detailed description of the set-up, operation,

and constraints as it relates to terminating data calls.

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1.4. Definitions, Acronyms, and Abbreviations

API

Application Programming Interface

ATC

AT Command

CDR

Call Detail Record

Data Base

DMO

DirectIP Mobile Originated

DMT

DirectIP Mobile Terminated

DSC

Delivery Short Code

DTE

Data Terminal Equipment

ECS

ETC Communications Subsystem

EMO

Email Mobile Originated

EMT

Email Mobile Terminated

ESS

ETC SBD Subsystem

ETC

Earth Terminal Controller

ETS

ETC Transmission Subsystem

Field Application

GPS

Global Positioning System

Information Element

IEI

Information Element Identifier

IMEI

International Mobile Equipment Identity

Internet Protocol

ISU

Iridium Subscriber Unit

LBT

L-Band Transceiver

Message

The complete data transfer between the Vendor Application and the

Iridium Gateway including a head, optional sets of information and the

payload to be transmitted over the air.

MIME

Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions

Mobile Originated

MOMSN

Mobile Originated Message Sequence Number

Mobile Originated Buffer

This is the buffer in the ISU in which an SBD message to be sent from

the ISU to the Iridium Gateway will be stored.

MSN

Message Sequence Number

Mobile Terminated

MTMSN

Mobile Terminated Message Sequence Number

Mobile Terminated Buffer

This is the buffer in the ISU in which an SBD message sent from the

Iridium Gateway to the ISU will be stored.

Payload

The actual user data to be transmitted over the Iridium network

Personal Identification Number

SBD

Short Burst Data

SIM

Subscriber Identity Module

SPNet

Iridium’s proprietary provisioning tool for contracted business partners

SEP

SBD ETC Processor

SPP

SBD Post Processor

UTC

Coordinated Universal Time

Vendor Application

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1.5. Transceiver Message Size Capability

In order to ensure consistency and provide a useful reference, the following table should be consulted for

the maximum message size capabilities of various transceivers:

Transceiver Name

Maximum Mobile Originated

Message Size (Bytes)

Maximum Mobile Terminated

Message Size (Bytes)

Firmware Revision

Recommended

9522A

1960

1890

IS06001

9522B

1960

1890

ST10001

9601

340

270

TD10003

9602

340

270

TA11002

1.6. What’s New

The following features have been added to SBD for DirectIP:

 MO Delivery Confirmation (see Sections 6.2.7 & 6.2.1)

 MT Prioritization of messages for a specific IMEI (see Sections 7.2.3.1.4 & 7.2.3.1.7)

 MT disposition flags added for high priority messages (see Section 7.2.3)

 MT disposition flag allowable combinations (see Sections 7.2.3.1 & 7.2.3.1.6)

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2. Overview

The overview is split into two sections: network and transceiver

2.1. Overview of Iridium Satellite Network for Short Burst Data

Iridium’s Short Burst Data Service (SBD) is a simple and efficient satellite network transport capability to

transmit short data messages between field equipment and a centralized host computing system. The

maximum Mobile Originated (MO) SBD and Mobile Terminated (MT) SBD message sizes are transceiver

specific and are described in Section 1 of this document. [Note that a zero (0) byte MO SBD message is

referred to as a “Mailbox Check.”] (See reference documents [2] and [3] in addition to Section 1.)

The primary elements of the end to end SBD architecture are shown in Figure 2-1. Specifically, the elements

consist of the Field Application (FA), the Iridium Subscriber Unit (ISU), the Iridium satellite constellation, the

Gateway SBD Subsystem (Iridium Gateway) located at the Iridium gateway, the Internet, and the Vendor

Application (VA.) More details on the system architecture are shown in Figure 2-2.

The Field Application represents the hardware and software that is configured by the VAR for specific

applications such as collecting and transmitting GPS location information. The ISU is an Iridium L-Band

Transceiver (LBT) with the SBD feature available in firmware and the service activated on the Iridium

network. The Iridium Gateway is responsible for storing and forwarding messages from the ISU to the

Vendor Application and storing messages from the Vendor Application to forward to the ISU. The ISU

communicates with the Iridium Gateway via the Iridium satellite constellation.

Figure 2-1 Short Burst Data Architecture

The interface between the Vendor Application and the Iridium Gateway uses either standard Internet mail

protocols or an IP Socket type interface to send and receive messages. Mobile terminated messages are

sent to the Iridium Gateway using a common email or IP address, identifying the specific ISU by encoding

the unique ISU IMEI in the subject line of the email or as part of the IP Socket payload. For email the data

message itself is transported as a binary attachment to the email. For IP Socket the data message is part of

the payload. Messages sent to the Vendor Application are delivered to a specific email or IP address that is

configured when the IMEI is provisioned. The delivery address for each IMEI can be changed on-line by the

VAR using the Iridium SPNet provisioning tool.

It is also possible for one ISU to send a message direct to another ISU(s) without the message passing to

the Vendor Application. The second ISU destination IMEI must be programmed on-line by the VAR using

the Iridium SPNet provisioning tool. However, only one delivery type (email or ISU-ISU) is permitted. Up to 5

IP socket addresses/ports for each MO session. As well, the SBD system will support a “mix and match” of

Email/DirectIP/ISUtoISU provisioning a total of 5 unique destinations. The interface between the FA and the

ISU is a serial connection with extended proprietary AT commands. This interface is used to load and

retrieve messages between the ISU and the Field Application.

For a Mobile Originated SBD Message (MO-SBD), the message is loaded into the MO buffer in the ISU

IP Socket

or Email

Field

Application

[FA]

Iridium

Subscriber

Unit

[ISU]

Iridium

Satellite

Constellation

Iridium

Gateway

SBD

Subsystem

[GSS]

Vendor

Application

[FA]

IP Socket

or Email

IP Socket

or Email

Field

Application

[FA]

Iridium

Subscriber

Unit

[ISU]

Iridium

Satellite

Constellation

Iridium

Satellite

Constellation

Iridium

Gateway

SBD

Subsystem

[GSS]

Vendor

Application

[FA]

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using the +SBDWB or +SBDWT AT Commands, a message transfer session between the ISU and the

Iridium Gateway is initiated using the AT Command +SBDI[X]. For a Mobile Terminated SBD Message (MT-

SBD), the ISU can either initiate a Mailbox Check using the AT Command +SBDI to check whether a MT

message is queued at the Iridium Gateway; or the ISU can use the (suitably configured) “Ring Alert” or

“Automatic Notification” capability to be told when a MT message is queued at the Iridium Gateway. The ISU

must then retrieve the MT-SBD message from the Iridium Gateway by issuing the +SBDI[X] command.

When the message is received from the Iridium Gateway it can be retrieved from the MT buffer in the ISU by

the Field Application using the +SBDRB or +SBDRT AT Commands. Additionally a MT-SBD message can

also be retrieved in the same network transaction by the ISU when a MO-SBD message is sent from the

ISU.

Figure 2-2 SBD System Architecture

Messages are transferred between the ISU and the Iridium Gateway using a reliable transport mechanism

that ensures the message is delivered error free. If the ISU was not able to send or receive messages, an

indication is passed to the FA via the serial interface.

The MO and MT message buffers in the ISU will maintain messages as long as the ISU is powered on.

Once a message is transferred from the FA to the MO buffer in the ISU, it will remain there even after it is

successfully sent to the Iridium Gateway. If a MT message is received at the ISU from the Iridium Gateway,

it will remain in the MT buffer even after the FA reads it. The buffers in the ISU will be cleared only when

either given an explicit command (+SBDD) or when the ISU is power cycled or is overwritten with new data.

The MT buffer will be cleared when a SBD session is initiated.

All MO and MT messages between the VA and the Iridium Gateway are routed to the Internet by default.

Iridium offers additional cost options for Virtual Private Network (VPN) and leased line routing of email or IP

Socket messages to provide additional security, capacity and/or redundancy if required for the application.

ISU-ISU SBD messages remain entirely within the Iridium network infrastructure, however it should be noted

that they pass through the Iridium gateway and do not transfer directly from one ISU to another.

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2.2. Transceiver Overview

The following Iridium transceivers are capable of Short Burst Data Service.

L-Band Transceiver

SBD Transceiver

9522A

9601

9522B

9602

Developers should consult the appropriate developers guide document for the transceiver hardware.

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3. Email Description

Applications that utilize SBD will communicate to the Iridium network via the Iridium Gateway interface. This

interface utilizes email or IP Socket interfaces for the transfer of data messages to and from the Vendor

Application. This section describes how to utilize the Iridium Gateway interface in both Mobile Originated

and Mobile Terminated cases. Mobile Terminated messages are messages originated by the Vendor

Application (or another ISU), that are sent to the Field Application. Mobile Originated messages are

messages originated by the Field Application that are sent to either the Vendor Application or to another

ISU.

In the case of ISU-ISU SBD messages, the originating message from the first IMEI is a Mobile Originated

Message. Once received and processed in the Iridium Gateway the message then becomes a Mobile

Terminated Message with respect to the second ISU.

For ISU’s provisioned to use email, each MO or MT message the VA will receive an email for each session

that reaches the Iridium Gateway regardless of any message transfer, unless one or both of the ISUs are

provisioned to send to another ISU, in which case only the ISU provisioned to send to an email address will

receive email notifications.

This section describes in more detail the operation of Mobile Terminated, Mobile Originated in email mode.

‘ISU to ISU’ mode, which is independent of email or IP Socket, is described separately in Section 5.

4. Direct Internet Protocol Socket “DirectIP” Interface

DirectIP is a socket-based delivery mechanism for Mobile Originated and Mobile Terminated SBD

Messages. The name references the basic concept of directly connecting to a distant IP address for data

delivery and reception. This section of the SBD Developers Guide is the DirectIP interface control document

between the Iridium Gateway and the Vendor Application(s). It does not provide details of the DirectIP

processing within the Iridium Gateway.

The Vendor Application interface to DirectIP requires software development by the applications developer.

Iridium does not provide finished software, reference code, or applications software support for the Vendor

Application. Applications developers will need to develop software to handle both Mobile Originated and

Mobile Terminated DirectIP Connections.

4.1. DirectIP Overview

DirectIP is an efficient method of transferring SBD data between the Iridium Gateway and the Vendor

Application. DirectIP provides lower delivery latency than the existing email protocol. It consists of a

specialized socket-oriented communications protocol that utilizes direct connections between the Iridium

gateway SBD subsystem and the Vendor Application.

Similar to SBD processing of MO and MT e-mail messages, DirectIP is composed of separate MO and MT

Iridium Gateway components. The MO DirectIP component acts as a client to the Vendor MO DirectIP

server application. The MT DirectIP component acts as a server to the vendor MT DirectIP clients. In other

words, the Iridium Gateway MO component seeks to establish a connection to the vendor server for MO

transfers while the Iridium Gateway MT component actively listens for connections from the vendor clients

for MT transfers. In either direction, clients only attach to the server when they are delivering data.

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Both MO DirectIP and MT DirectIP protocols utilize bi-directional TCP/IP socket connections. The MO

DirectIP protocol only delivers SBD MO messages from the Iridium Gateway client to the vendor server. No

acknowledgement is expected from the server. In contrast, the MT DirectIP protocol delivers SBD MT

messages from the vendor client to the Iridium Gateway server, and a confirmation is passed from the

server back to the client indicating the success or failure of the processing of the message.

The specific TCP/IP ports and IP addresses for both MO and MT DirectIP are provided to authorized VARs

in a separate document available from their Iridium account manager.

4.2. MO and MT Message Specifications

4.2.1. Overall Message Structure

The overall message structure for both MO and MT DirectIP is shown in Table 4-1. When a connection is

first established, the receiving application will receive three bytes. The first is a general DirectIP protocol

revision number (this document describes revision 1). The following two bytes indicate the number of bytes

that make up the body of the message that is made up of some number of information elements.

Table 4-1 Overall Message Format

Field Name

Data Type

Length (bytes)

Range of Values

Protocol Revision Number

char

Overall Message Length

unsigned short

Information Elements

Related to Message

variable

DMO: See Section Table 6-3

DMT: See Section Table 7.1-3

4.2.1.1. Message Length

The message length value indicates the number of bytes that make up the body of the message being

transferred following the initial three bytes. This enables the receiving end to know deterministically when all

bytes transferred have been received. This is particularly relevant when multiple receives over the socket

are required to read in the entire message.

Iridium GSS

Client

Iridium GSS

Server

Vendor

Application

Server

Vendor

Application

Client

Mobile Originated SBD

Mobile Terminated SBD

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4.2.1.2. Byte Alignment

The entire message transfer will be treated as a byte stream. This enables the various data types contained

within the message to be transferred with no consideration given to the byte alignment of the data types.

This also allows for the compacting of the fields to the appropriate sizes. Multi-byte fields are transmitted in

network byte order (big endian). For example the four-byte field 0x0a0b0c0d is transmitted as follows:

byte address 0 1 2 3___

bit offset 01234567 01234567 01234567 01234567

binary 00001010 00001011 00001100 00001101

hex 0a 0b 0c 0d___

4.3. Information Elements

To maintain maximum flexibility within the protocol, all data to be transferred has been segmented into

information elements (IEs). Those IEs currently defined are shown in detail in Sections 6.2.4 & Section

7.2.2. The general format of each IE is the same and is shown in Table 4-2.

Table 4-2 Information Element General Format

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Range of Values

Information Element ID (IEI)

char

DMO: See Table 6-3

DMT: See Table 7.1-3

Information Element Length

unsigned short

Variable

Information Element Contents

variable

DMO: See Section 6.2.4

DMT: See Section 7.2.2

4.3.1.1. Information Element Identifiers

Each IE begins with a 1-byte information element identifier (IEI) that uniquely defines the following 2+N

bytes. A complete list of the IEs and their associated IEIs is shown in sections 6.2.4 & 7.2.2.

4.3.1.2. Information Element Length

The two bytes following the IEI give the length of the IE in bytes following the initial three bytes. While the

length for all currently defined IEs other than the MO and MT payloads may be represented with a 1-byte

field, a 2-byte field is used for consistency across all IEs.

The primary goal for including the length field in every IE as a standard is to allow for new IEs in the future

that may or may not be recognized by a Vendor Application based the vendor’s upgrade path. If the

application does not recognize an IE, it will know that it can read the next two bytes as a length and then

skip that number of bytes before checking for the next IEI.

4.3.1.3. Parsing Information Elements

Once an entire message has been received, a parser will step through the bytes. The first will be an IEI

followed by two bytes representing the number of bytes in the IE following the length. How to interpret these

bytes is dictated by the IE type as indicated by the IEI. Once they are parsed, and if there are additional

bytes received in the overall message, the next IEI may be checked, etc. If there are too many or too few

bytes received as determined by the parser, the overall message will be dropped. For MT message

processing, an error will be returned in the confirmation message.

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5. ISU- ISU Messages

Messages from ISU #1 are to a second ISU (ISU #2) without leaving the Iridium network. [See Figure 5-1.]

This option requires provisioning by the Value Added Reseller through SPNet. ISU #1 can be provisioned to

send the same MO-SBD message to up to five ISUs. Note that there is an ability to deliver a MO-SBD

message to up to 5 DirectIp delivery destinations. It is also, possible to mix and match email, ISU, SSD-

SSD and direct IP destinations for MO-SBD messages.

ISU-ISU SBD messages are billed twice. Once as a MO-SBD message to the initiating ISU IMEI and once

as a MT-SBD message to the terminating ISU IMEI.

The MO-SBD message from ISU #1 is placed into the MT-SBD queue of ISU #2 when it has been received

by the Iridium Gateway. The MO-SBD message is never delivered to the Vendor Application as no email

address can be programmed for the Vendor Application. No SBD session descriptors are delivered to either

the originating or terminating ISU. However if ISU #2 is provided to send MO-SBD messages to a VA, then

the mailbox check or sending of a MO-SBD message will cause an email message indicating the mailbox

check or the transmission of the MO-SBD message to the Vendor Application. There are five error

conditions that can occur in ISU-ISU SBD messaging as shown in below.

Table 5-1 Mobile Originated Message Email Message Field Description

Error Condition

Action

Message size = 0 bytes

MT-SBD message will not be queued and will be deleted

Message Size >270 bytes when ISU #2 is

a 9601 or 9602 SBD Transceiver

MT-SBD message will not be queued and will be deleted

Message size >1890 bytes when ISU #2 is

a 9522, 9522A or 9522B LBT

MT-SBD message will not be queued and will be deleted

Destination ISU MT queue > 50 messages

If the destination ISU MT queue is full the MT-SBD

message will not be queued

Destination ISU is not provisioned

If the destination ISU is not provisioned the MT-SBD

message will not be queued

Figure 5-1 SBD Call Routing for ISU-ISU Messages

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6. Mobile Originated Messages

6.1. Email MO

Messages sent from the ISU to the Iridium Gateway are processed at the Iridium Gateway where they are

immediately formatted and sent to the destination email address that was provisioned with the ISU IMEI.

The message sent to the Vendor Application from the ISU will be carried as a binary attachment to an email

from the Iridium Gateway to the Vendor Application. The binary attachment is encoded using standard

MIME Base64 encoding as defined in RFC 2045. Unlike Mobile Terminated messages sent to the Iridium

Gateway, Mobile Originated messages sent to the Vendor Application carry additional information in the

email message body. This information includes the Mobile Originated Message Sequence Number

(MOMSN), the time of the session, the session status, the message size, and ISU specific geo-location

information. The format of such an email message is provided in Figure 6-1, details of the email message

fields are provided in Table 6-1. Note that it is possible to tell the Iridium Gateway not to send the

geographic location fields on a device by device basis. This is achieved by using SPNet and un-checking

the “Include Geo-Data” box for the specific ISU IMEI. An example of an email message with no geo-location

information is shown in Figure 3-6.

A MO-SBD message may be sent to up to five email destinations. The five destinations are programmed

into the Iridium Gateway by using the SPNet provisioning tool available to Value Added Resellers. Note that

there is an ability to deliver a MO-SBD message to up to 5 Direct IP delivery destinations and it is possible

to mix delivery types. [See also Section 5 “ISU to ISU Messages.”]

Figure 6-1 Mobile Originated Email Message Showing Geolocation information

From: sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com

Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 12:49 PM

Subject: SBD Msg From Unit: 304050607080903

MOMSN: 23

MTMSN: 0

Time of Session (UTC): Tue Aug 13 16:51:04 2002

Session Status: 00 - TRANSFER OK

Message Size (bytes): 351

Unit Location: Lat = 59.372463 Long = 75.309806

CEPradius = 3

Message is Attached.

From: sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com

Sent: Friday, July 8, 2005 00:12 AM

Subject: SBD Msg From Unit: 300003000210150

MOMSN: 652

MTMSN: 644

Time of Session (UTC): Fri Jul 8 00:12:55 2005

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Figure 6-2 Mobile Originated Email Message without Geolocation information

Table 6-1 Mobile Originated Message Email Message Field Description

Field Name

Description

From

This field identifies the sender of the email message as the SBD Service. This field normally

contains “sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com”

Sent

This field provides the time at which the message was emailed from the Iridium Gateway to the

Vendor Application. The timestamp is in UTC.

Subject

This field provides the ISU IMEI of the unit that sent the MO message.

MOMSN

This is the Message Sequence Number set by the ISU when the message was sent from the ISU

to the Iridium Gateway. The value is an integer in the range 0 to 65,535 and is incremented each

time an SBD session is successfully completed between the ISU to the Iridium Gateway. It is a

wrap around counter which will increment to 0 after reaching 65535.

MTMSN

This is the Message Sequence Number used by the Iridium Gateway when the message was sent

from the Iridium Gateway to the ISU. The value is an integer in the range 0 to 65,535 and is

incremented each time the Iridium Gateway forwards a message to a particular ISU. It is a wrap

around counter which will increment to 1 after reaching 65535. It will have a value of zero (0) if no

MT message transfer attempt occurred to the specific ISU.

Time of

Session

This field provides the UTC timestamp of the ISU session between the ISU and the Iridium

Gateway. A text string is sent with the following format: “DDD MMM dd HH:MM:SS yyyy”.

Value

Description

DDD

Day of the week (Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat)

MMM

Month of the year (Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec)

Day of the month (01 to 31)

Hour (00 to 23)

Minute (00 to 59)

Second (00 to 59)

yyyy

Year

Session

Status

There are seven possible results of the SBD session which are described below:

Session Status

Description

00 - Transfer OK

The SBD session between the ISU and the Iridium Gateway

completed successfully.

01 - MT Message Too Large

The MT message queued at the Iridium Gateway is too large to be

transferred within a single SBD session

10 - SBD Timeout

The SBD Session timed out before session completion

12 - MO Message Too Large

The MO message being transferred by the ISU is too large to be

transferred within a single SBD session

13 - Incomplete Transfer

A RF link loss occurred during the SBD session

14 - SBD Protocol Error

An ISU protocol anomaly occurred during the SBD session

15 - SBD Denial

The ISU is not allowed to access the system

Message Size

This field provides an indication of the size, in bytes, of the attached message in decoded form.

This is not the length of the MIME encoded data.

Unit Location

These fields are optional at the time that the ISU is provisioned. These fields provide the

geographic location of the ISU. The latitude and longitude provide a center point and the CEP

Radius provides the radius (measured in Kilometers) around the center point within which the unit

is located. This reported position is accurate (within the reported circle) 80% of the time. Note that

activating or deactivating the inclusion of the ISU location can only be accomplished via SPNet. It

cannot be controlled by or from the ISU and is enabled by default.

Unit Latitude

This field provides the geographic latitude of the ISU measured in degrees.

Positive represents north, negative represents south. When GEO location

data is provisioned to “off” the latitude the field is not included in the email.

Unit Longitude

This field provides the geographic longitude of the ISU measured in degrees.

Positive represents east, negative represents west. When GEO location data

is provisioned to “off” the longitude the field is not included in the email.

CEPRadius

This field provides an estimate of the accuracy of the ISU’s location. This

position is reported in Kilometers. When GEO location data is provisioned to

“off” the CEPRadius the field is not included in the email.

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6.1.1. Permitted Email Address Formats

The following formats of email address are permitted for Mobile Originated messages:

 Name@domain.com

o E.g. iridiumDBDProcessor@Iridium.varname.com

 Name@IP_address.com

o E.G. IridiumSBDProcessor@172.16.254.1

Note that Iridium encourages the use of Name@domain.com. Use of Name@IP_address is discouraged as

per the relevant RFC2821.

6.1.2. Example of a Mobile Originated (MO) Message

The FA will load a Mobile Originated message into the ISU, initiate a SBD session, evaluate and act on the

results of the SBD session (Table 6-2). Finally, the Iridium Gateway will forward the MO message to the

Vendor Application. (Figure 6-3)

Table 6-2 FA to ISU Interface, MO Message

To ISU (from DTE)

To DTE (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDWB=351

The FA instructs the ISU that it will write a 351 byte

message into the ISU.

READY

The ISU informs the FA that it is ready to receive the

message

Binary transfer

The FA sends the 351 byte message followed by the

two byte checksum to the ISU. This transfer is not

echoed.

0

The ISU will send a zero result code to the FA

indicating that the message was loaded without error.

AT+SBDIX

The FA instructs the ISU to initiate an SBD transfer.

+SBDI: 1, 23, 0, -1, 0, 0

The ISU informs the FA that the message was sent

successfully using MOMSN 23. No MT message

was received and no MT messages are queued.

AT+SBDD0

The FA instructs the ISU to clear the message from

the Mobile Originated buffer.

0

The ISU informs the FA that the message buffer was

cleared successfully.

From: sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com

Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 12:49 PM

Subject: SBD Msg From Unit: 304050607080903

MOMSN: 23

MTMSN: 0

Time of Session (UTC): Tue Aug 13 16:51:04 2002

Session Status: 00 - TRANSFER OK

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Message Size (bytes): 351

Unit Location: Lat = 59.372463 Long = 75.309806

CEPradius = 3

Message is Attached.

Figure 6-3 VA to Iridium Gateway Interface, MO Message

6.2. DirectIP

Upon the completion of an SBD session between the IMEI and the Iridium Gateway, the Iridium Gateway

opens a socket, connects to the Vendor Application, and delivers the MO message including SBD session

descriptors. Messages to the same Vendor Application are delivered in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) manner so

that they are delivered in the same sequence that they are received by the Iridium Gateway. All other

messages destined for the same Vendor Application are queued behind the first message while it is being

delivered. Only one message is delivered per socket connection. Once a socket connection is established,

a single MO message is delivered, and then the socket is closed. This sequence is repeated for every MO

message queued for delivery to the vendor server.

6.2.1. Optional MO Receipt Confirmation

SSDs delivering to a vendor server may be provisioned in the GSS to require an application layer

acknowledgement, or confirmation message, from the server back to the gateway before the delivery is

marked as ‘Delivered’. While extremely rare, it is possible that a message could be marked as ‘Delivered’ in

the SBD system, but the message was not received by the vendor. This issue is due to the way operating

systems and other network elements pass messages over TCP/IP. If a vendor uses the application layer

acknowledgement, the SBD system connects and sends a message to the vendor’s server. The SBD

system will then wait for a confirmation message. If a confirmation, message is received indicating success,

the message is marked as Delivered. If the confirmation message is not received, or is invalid, this indicates

failure, the message is requeued for delivery.

6.2.2. Vendor Application Server Unavailable

If the initial attempt to connect to the vendor application times out, the subsequent MO message delivery will

not take place and subsequent connection attempts will be made. A retry scheme has been implemented to

back off delivery attempts to unreachable servers. Retries will occur after 1, 5, 10, 20, 30, 60, 120, 240, and

360 seconds with the maximum of 360 seconds used for every retry thereafter. Connection attempts

continue to be made for up to 12 hours. Each individual message has a lifetime of 12 hours starting at the

time that the payload was received at the Iridium Gateway. If it is not able to be delivered within this lifetime,

it will be marked as “DirectIP_Timeout” in the SBD database and removed from the delivery queue.

Up to 10,000 messages may be queued for a specific Vendor Application. If this limit is exceeded, payloads

will be deleted from the front of the queue (the “oldest” payloads.)

6.2.3. MO DirectIP Server/Client Requirements

MO Iridium Gateway Client Requirements

A. The client will seek to establish a TCP/IP socket connection to the IP address and port provisioned

for the originating IMEI.

B. Once connected, the client will transmit the MO payload and close the socket connection.

C. If no connection is established, the client will implement the retry scheme outlined in Section 6.2.2.

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D. Once the message has been transmitted, the client will close the socket connection. No

acknowledgement from the server will be expected.

MO Vendor Server Requirements

A. The server will listen for TCP/IP socket connections on a specific port. This specific port is what has

been specified during provisioning.

B. Once connected, the server will receive the entire MO message before parsing.

C. The server will allow the Iridium Gateway client to close the socket connection.

a. Client Side (DMO process at IST)

i. Open connection (a socket connection)

ii. Send data over socket

iii. Close connection (close the socket)

b. Server Side (Customer App)

i. Accept Connection

ii. Read header body

iii. Close socket. (This action allows the socket to be returned back into available use)

iv. A common TCP/IP ‘best practice’ is to close the socket connection from both sides.

6.2.4. MO Information Element Identifiers

Table 6-3 summarizes the IEIs for the information elements passed within the DirectIP protocol.

Table 6-3 MO Information Elements

Information Element

IEI Value

Described In

MO Header IEI

0x01

Section 6.2.4.1

MO Payload IEI

0x02

Section 6.2.5

MO Location Information IEI

0x03

Section 6.2.6

MO Confirmation IEI

0x05

Section 6.2.7

6.2.4.1. MO DirectIP Header

The information in this header is required as part of every DirectIP MO message delivery. It includes all of

the information necessary to uniquely identify the SBD MO message. It also includes the overall SBD

session status and identifier (MTMSN) for the associated MT message delivery, if any.

Table 6-4 MO DirectIP Header IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length (bytes)

Range of Values

MO Header IEI

char

See Table 6-3

MO Header Length

unsigned short

CDR Reference (Auto ID)

unsigned integer

0 - 4294967295

IMEI

char

ASCII Numeric Characters

Session Status

unsigned char

See Table 6-5

MOMSN

unsigned short

1 – 65535

MTMSN

unsigned short

0 – 65535

Time of Session

unsigned integer

Epoch Time

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6.2.4.1.1. MO Header Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte. Even though the length is fixed, the

field is included as a standard across all IEs and to allow for maximum flexibility for future enhancements.

6.2.4.1.2. CDR Reference

Each call data record (CDR) maintained in the Iridium Gateway Database is given a unique value

independent of all other information in order to absolutely guarantee that each CDR is able to be

differentiated from all others. This reference number, also called the auto ID, is included should the need for

such differentiation and reference arise.

6.2.4.1.3. IMEI

The IMEI is the equipment identifier, unique to each Iridium field device, of the IMEI originating the MO

message. It is a 15-digit number represented here in ASCII format.

6.2.4.1.4. Session Status

This field provides an indication of success of the SBD session between the IMEI and the Iridium Gateway

associated with the over-the-air payload delivery. The possible values are shown in Table 6-5. If the status

was unsuccessful, no payload will be included in the MO message.

Table 6-5 SBD Session Status Values

Value

Description

The SBD session completed successfully.

The MO message transfer, if any, was successful. The MT

message queued at the Iridium Gateway is too large to be

transferred within a single SBD session.

The MO message transfer, if any, was successful. The reported

location was determined to be of unacceptable quality. This

value is only applicable to IMEIs using SBD protocol revision 1.

The SBD session timed out before session completion.

The MO message being transferred by the IMEI is too large to

be transferred within a single SBD session.

An RF link loss occurred during the SBD session.

An IMEI protocol anomaly occurred during SBD session.

The IMEI is prohibited from accessing the Iridium Gateway.

6.2.4.1.5. MOMSN

This is the mobile-originated message sequence number (MOMSN) associated with the SBD session. This

value is set by the IMEI and transmitted to the Iridium Gateway as part of every SBD session. It is

incremented by the IMEI after every successful session.

6.2.4.1.6. MTMSN

This is the mobile-terminated message sequence number (MTMSN) associated with the SBD session. This

value is set by the Iridium Gateway at the time that an MT message is queued for delivery and is unique to

each IMEI. It is then sent to the IMEI as part of the MT payload transfer. If an MT payload transfer was

attempted, the MTMSN will be included in the header regardless of the success of the session. If the

session failed, the payload is still queued for delivery. If no MT delivery attempt was made in the session,

this value will be zero.

6.2.4.1.7. Time of Session

This field provides a UTC timestamp of the IMEI session between the IMEI and the Iridium Gateway in the

format of an epoch time integer. The epoch time is the number of seconds since the start of the UNIX

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epoch at 1/1/1970 00:00:00.

Format: epoch time integer

Resolution: 1 second

6.2.5. MO Payload

This information element includes the actual MO payload delivered from the IMEI to the Iridium Gateway

during the SBD session identified in the header. In an MO message delivery related to an empty mailbox

check (EMBC) session or a failed session, no payload will be included.

Table 6-6 MO Payload IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length (bytes)

Range of Values

MO Payload IEI

char

See Table 6-3

MO Payload Length

unsigned short

All others: 1 – 1960

9601, 9602:1-340

MO Payload

char

1 – 1960

Payload Bytes

6.2.5.1. MO Payload Length

This field indicates the number of the bytes in the MO payload.

6.2.5.2. MO Payload

This is the actual content of the MO payload. The maximum MO payload size is transceiver specific. See

Section 1 for further information

6.2.6. MO Location Information

The location values included in this IE provide an estimate of the originating IMEI’s location. The inclusion

of this information in an MO message delivery is optional. Whether or not it is included is established when

the IMEI is provisioned and may be changed at any time via SPNet. The CEP radius provides the radius

around the center point within which the unit is located. While the resolution of the reported position is given

to 1/1000th of a minute, it is only accurate to within 10Km 80% of the time.

Table 6-7 MO Location Information IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Range of Values

MO Location Information IEI

char

See Table 6-3

MO Location Info Length

unsigned short

Latitude/Longitude

Double

See Table 6-8

CEP Radius

unsigned integer

1 – 2000

6.2.6.1. MO Location Information Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte. Even though the length is fixed, the field

is included as a standard across all IEs and to allow for maximum flexibility for future enhancements.

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6.2.6.2. MO Latitude and Longitude

The latitude and longitude provide a center point of the estimated location and are derived from the LGC

coordinates output from the CPLD exchange during the SBD session.

Table 6-8 MO Location Data Format

MSB LSB

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7

NSI EWI 1

Reserved & Format Code: 0 (all other values are reserved)

NSI: North/South Indicator (0=North, 1=South)

EWI: East/West Indicator (0=East, 1=West)

Decimal Range: 0 to 90

Hex Range: 0x00 to 0x5A

Decimal Range: 0 to 180

Hex Range: 0x00 to 0xB4

Location Data Format

Byte

Number

Description & Allowed Values

Bit Position

Reserved

Format Code

Latitude (degrees)

Latitude (thousandths of a minute, MS-Byte)

Decimal Range: 0 to 59,999 (unsigned integer, American notation)

Hex Range: 0x0000 to 0xEA5F

Latitude (thousandths of a minute, LS-Byte)

Longitude (degrees)

Longitude (thousandths of a minute, MS-Byte)

Decimal Range: 0 to 59,999 (unsigned integer, American notation)

Hex Range: 0x0000 to 0xEA5F

Longitude (thousandths of a minute, LS-Byte)

Resolution: thousandths of a degree

6.2.6.3. CEP Radius

The CEP radius provides the radius (in Kilometers) around the center point within which the IMEI is located

with an 80% probability of accuracy.

6.2.7. MO Confirmation Message

This IE forms the application layer acknowledgement, or confirmation, that may optionally be returned from

the MO DirectIP vendor server to the Iridium Gateway. If the SSD is provisioned to enable confirmation, this

message must be returned to the Iridium Gateway for the delivery to be successful. See section 6.2.1 for

more information and section Error! Reference source not found. for an example message.

Field Name

Length (in Bytes)

Range of Values

MO Confirmation IEI

See section 6.2.7

MO Confirmation Length

Confirmation Status

1 (Success) or 0

(Failure)

6.2.7.1. MO Confirmation Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte.

6.2.7.2. Confirmation Status

This field indicates the failure or success of the message receipt by the MO DirectIP vendor server.

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6.2.8. MO Message Delivery Confirmation Example

Table 6-9 gives an example of an application layer acknowledgement, or confirmation, from the MO DirectIP

vendor server.

Table 6-9 MO DirectIP Message Confirmation Example

Field Name

Length (Bytes)

Value

Protocol Revision Number

Overall Message Length

MO Confirmation IEI

0x05

MO Confirmation Length

Confirmation Status

6.2.9. Successful MO Message Delivery Example

Table 6-10 gives an example of a byte stream for a typical MO DirectIP message following a successful

SBD session. Note that the IMEI has been provisioned such that the geolocation information is not included

in the message.

Table 6-10 MO DirectIP Message Delivery Example – Successful SBD Session

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Value

CODE

Protocol Revision

Number

char

Overall Message

Length

unsigned

short

104

0068

MO Header IEI

char

0x01

MO Header Length

unsigned

short

001C

CDR Reference

(Auto ID)

unsigned

integer

1234567

0012D687

IMEI

char

300034010123450

333030303334303

130313233343530

Session Status

unsigned char

0 (Transfer OK)

MOMSN

unsigned

short

54321

D431

MTMSN

unsigned

short

12345

3039

Time of Session

unsigned

integer

1135950305

(12/30/05 13:45:05)

43B539E1

MO Payload IEI

char

0x02

MO Payload Length

unsigned

short

MO Payload

char

Payload Bytes

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6.2.10. Failed MO Message Delivery Example

Table 6-11 gives an example of a byte stream for an MO DirectIP message following a failed SBD session

due to an incomplete transfer. Note that no payload is included.

Table 6-11 MO DirectIP Message Delivery Example – Failed SBD Session

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Value

CODE

Protocol

Revision

Number

char

Overall

Message

Length

unsigned

short

MO Header

IEI

char

0x01

MO Header

Length

unsigned

short

CDR

Reference

(Auto ID)

unsigned

integer

1301567

0013DC3F

IMEI

char

300034010123450

333030303334303

130313233343530

Session

Status

unsigned

char

13 (Incomplete

Transfer)

MOMSN

unsigned

short

54322

D432

MTMSN

unsigned

short

0000

Time of

Session

unsigned

integer

1135950325

(12/30/05 13:45:25)

43B539F5

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7. Mobile Terminated Messages

In order to send a MT message from the Vendor Application to the Field Application, the Vendor Application

must send the message to the Iridium Gateway where it will be queued for delivery awaiting contact from the

ISU to retrieve it. The message will remain in the queue for up to five (5) days awaiting contact from the ISU

to retrieve it. After five days all MT message for the destination IMEI is removed from the queue

automatically by the Iridium Gateway. The Iridium MT purge script runs once a day at 00:06:14. If the script

encounters a message that has been queued that is older than five days, then all MT messages for that

IMEI are deleted.

There are two methods for the ISU to retrieve a queued MT messages from the Iridium Gateway. The

methods are hardware and firmware dependant. For specific capabilities consult the firmware release notes

for the particular ISU type. Iridium recommends using the latest release of firmware available in order to

provide the best performance and compatibility to the functionality described herein.

The first method, called “Polling,” is universal to all ISUs that are capable of SBD. In this method the

mailbox check command is sent from the Field Application to the ISU. The ISU contacts the Iridium Gateway

and transfers the MT message if one is queued.

The second method, called “Automatic Notification”. In this method the Iridium Gateway automatically

notifies the ISU that a message is queued at the Iridium Gateway. Note that the MT message is not

automatically delivered to the ISU. The application designer has to program the Field Application to respond

in an appropriate manner to the Automatic Notification.

7.1. Email MT

Figure 7.1-1 provides an example MT email message. MT messages must follow the formatting rules

outlined below:

 The ISU must be provided in SPNet to send Ring Alerts. If this is not done the Iridium Gateway will not

send Ring Alerts even if new MT messages are queued by the Host and/or the ISU is suitably

configured.

 Messages sent to an ISU from the Host are sent to the email address: data@sbd.iridium.com

 Placing at least one, and up to a total of four, IMEI(s) into the subject line of the email identifies the

destination ISU(s).

o If there is more than one destination IMEIs then list the additional IMEIs on the subject line

separated with a single space between each IMEI.

 White listing may be used to restrict the originator of MT-SBD messages to particular IMEIs. This

restriction will fork for email and Direct IP.

 The message must contain a properly formatted sender (“From:” address), otherwise the message will

be dropped by the Iridium Gateway.

 The data message to the ISU must be carried as an attachment to the email:

o The attachment name must have a ‘.sbd’ file name extension: E.g. ‘importantdata.sbd’

o File names must be 80 characters or less. (Including the .sbd extension.)

o File names are not case sensitive.

 The maximum size of the binary message (not the Base64 version) is ISU specific

and is between one byte and the maximum MT message size stated in Section 1

 The Iridium Gateway will reject message sizes that are too large for a particular ISU

type.

o The attachment must use standard Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Base64

encoding as defined in RFC 2045.

 Multiple messages may be queued by a single email by including the additional separate attachments in

the email message, subject to the maximum number of messages permitted in the queue.

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o Note that if one of the attachments has an incorrect extension (something other than.sbd), while

others are correct (.sbd) then an error indication email will be sent for the invalid extensions

o A single email with multiple attachments creates a MT-SBD message for each attachment. In

other words – one email with ten attachments creates ten entries for the destination ISU.

 The message body plays no role in the message transfer process; any information contained in the body

will be discarded. It is recommended that this item be left blank.

 A maximum of 50 messages may be in any ISU’s queue at any one time regardless of whether they

were sent as an individual message with attachment or a single message with multiple attachments. The

Iridium Gateway will reject any message over this limit.

o A single email with multiple attachments creates a MT-SBD message for each attachment. In

other words – one email with ten attachments creates ten entries for the destination ISU.

Figure 7.1-1 Mobile Terminated Email Message

7.1.1. MT-SBD Sequence of Events

 Customer sends a MT message to an ISU using DIP, email or another ISU.

 Message is received at the gateway.

 SBD system queues message for delivery to IMEI and RA is issued to ISU

o If no response for the remote ISU in ~20 seconds a second RA is issued.

 ISU receives RA and initiates a session back to the gateway using the +SBDIXA command to

retrieve message.

 Response code received at the destination ISU will indicate whether or not additional messages are

waiting.

7.1.2. Disposition Notification

The Iridium Gateway validates each MT message upon receipt and returns a disposition notification email to

the MT message originator. The format of this email is shown in Figure 7.1-2 and the definition of the email

header and body descriptors is shown in Table 7.1-1. A sample success notification is shown in Figure

7.1-3. If there is more than one destination ISU a disposition notification email will be sent for each

destination ISU. If the Vendor Application attempts to queue more than 50 messages for delivery at the

Iridium Gateway, a rejection notice email similar to Figure 3-4 will be sent to the message originator (From

address).

To: data@sbd.iridium.com

From: VA@VendorDomain.com

Subject: 304050607080903

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Figure 7.1-2 MT-SBD Email disposition notification message field layout

Table 7.1-1 SBD-MT disposition notification email header and message body field descriptors

Field Name

Description

This field will have one of the following values:

SBD Mobile Terminated Message Queued for Unit: <ISU IMEI>

Error: SBD Mobile-Terminated Message Not Queued for Unit: <ISU IMEI>

Field Value

Description

(No IMEI specified)

No IMEI provided in the subject line of the email sent to the

Iridium Gateway.

(Invalid IMEI specified)

The IMEI in the subject line of the email sent to the Iridium

Gateway was not in the proper format. Additional information

can be found in the reason code in the body of the message

Actual IMEI

The actual 15 digit IMEI of the destination ISU is returned if it

was validated.

Additional text expanding on the queuing disposition in the subject line. It will have one

of the following values:

The following mobile-terminated message was queued for delivery:

The following mobile-terminated message was not queued for delivery:

IMEI

The hardware identification number of the unit to which the message was to be queued.

Field Value

Description

(none specified)

No IMEI provided in the subject line of the email sent to the Iridium

Gateway.

Received IMEI

The IMEI was received by the Iridium Gateway. In the case of

Success, this is the 15 numeric-digit IMEI of the ISU. In the case of

Error, this is the invalid Alpha-numeric string received by the Iridium

Gateway.

Time

The timestamp, in UTC, when the acknowledgement was sent from the Iridium

Gateway.

Attachment Filename

The filename of the attachment received by the Iridium Gateway.

Attachment Size

The size of the attachment received by the Iridium Gateway.

<Reason & Descriptive

Text>

One of the following values will be displayed:

The MTMSN is XX, and the message is number N in the queue

To:

VA@VendorDomain.com

From:

techops@iridium.com

Subject: <Result Description>: <ISU IMEI>

IMEI: <IMEI number>

Time: <Date>

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Reason: IMEI length (M) is invalid – must be 15 characters.

Reason: The IMEI (300xxxxxxxxxxxx) is not provisioned on the SBD

system.

Reason: No attachment with a ‘.sbd’ file extension was found

Reason: Payload size is too large (max size allowed is XXXX bytes).

Reason: Mobile-termination message queue for the IMEI is full (max of 50

allowed).

To: VA@VendorDomain.com

From: sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com

Subject: SBD Mobile-Terminated Message Queued for Unit 300001001247240

The following mobile-terminated message was queued for delivery:

IMEI: 300001001247240

Time: Mon Oct 27 17:24:29 2003

Attachment Filename: TestFile518chars.sbd

Attachment Size: 518 bytes

The MTMSN is 6870, and the message is number 12 in the queue

Figure 7.1-3 Mobile Terminated Email Message – Successful Queuing Notice

To: VA@Vendordomain.com

From: sbdservice@sbd.iridium.com

Subject: Error: SBD Mobile-Terminated Message Not Queued for Unit:

300001001247240

The following mobile-terminated message was not queued for delivery:

IMEI: 300001001247240

Time: Mon Oct 27 17:23:30 2003

Attachment Filename: TestFile518chars.sbd

Attachment Size: 518 bytes

Reason: Mobile-termination message queue for the IMEI is full (max of 50

allowed).

Figure 7.1-4 Mobile Terminated Email Message - Rejection Notice

7.1.3. Mailbox Check / Mobile Terminated (MT) Message

The Iridium Gateway does have the ability to notify the ISU that a Mobile Terminated message is waiting for

it at the Iridium Gateway (Refer to Section 9.1.) The FA is required to perform a Mailbox Check by initiating

an SBD session with an empty MO buffer. If a MT message is waiting for the ISU at the Iridium Gateway,

the MT message is transmitted to the ISU.

In this scenario, a MT message is sent from the Vendor Application to the Iridium Gateway (Figure 7.1-5.)

The FA will initiate a SBD session, evaluate the results of the SBD session, and read the MT message from

the ISU (Table 7.1-2). After the SBD session completes, the Iridium Gateway sends an email message to

the Vendor Application indicating the disposition of the SBD session (Figure 7.1-6).

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Figure 7.1-5 VA to Iridium Gateway Interface, Mailbox Check / MT Message

Figure 7.1-6 Iridium Gateway to VA Interface, Status Message.

Table 7.1-2 FA to ISU Interface, Mailbox Check / MT Message

To ISU

(from DTE)

To DTE (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDD0

The FA instructs the ISU to clear the send buffer.

AT+SBDIX

The FA instructs the ISU to initiate an SBD transfer.

+SBDI: 0, 498, 1, 237, 561, 2

The ISU informs the FA that no MO message was

sent and a 561 byte MT message was successfully

received with MTMSN 237. Two additional MT

messages are queued.

AT+SBDRB

The FA instructs the ISU to transfer the MT message.

Binary transfer

The ISU sends a two-byte length indicator followed

by the 561 byte message followed by the two byte

checksum to the FA.

7.1.4. Send MT Ring Alert – No MT Payload

Additional features related to MT deliveries have been introduced using the ‘Disposition Flags’ in the MT

Header Information Element for the DirectIP. These features will not be available when using other means

of queuing MT messages such as email or ISU to ISU messaging. One of the disposition flags triggers a RA

for an attached device. When this flag is set, the Iridium Gateway is directed to send a RA to the given IMEI

even though no new MT payload is being queued.

The ISU must meet the conditions for the RA; if the Ring Alert option is selected, the ISU is configured to

From: <Iridium SBD Service (Tempe, AZ)>

Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 12:49 PM

Subject: SBD Msg From Unit: 304050607080903

MOMSN: 498

MTMSN: 237

Time of Session (UTC): Tue Aug 13 16:51:04 2002

Session Status: 00 - TRANSFER OK

Message Size (bytes): 0

To: Data@SBD.Iridium.com

From: VA@VendorDomain.com

Subject: 304050607080903

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receive Ring Alerts and it is attached. If these conditions are satisfied, the Iridium Gateway sends a single

RA to the device. If either of these conditions is not met, no ring alert will be sent. If a ring alert is sent, and

an MT payload is already queued, that payload will be delivered when the ISU retrieves the MT-SBD

message. This flag has no alternate effect if a new MT payload is included, and the message will be

processed normally.

7.1.5. RFC Compliance

The following is a list of the principle relevant RFC’s governing the e-mail messages received and sent by

the EmailMT process. All e-mail clients connected to EMT are expected to conform to these standards, and

EMT conforms to the relevant standards when sending diagnostic e-mails in response to SBD messages.

 2045: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part One: Format of Internet Message Bodies

 2046: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Two: Media Types

 2047: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Three: Message Header Extensions for

Non-ASCII Text

 2048: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Four: Registration Procedures

 2049: Multipurpose Internet Mail Extensions (MIME) Part Five: Conformance Criteria and Examples

 2183: Communicating Presentation Information in Internet Messages: The Content-Disposition

Header Field

 2231: MIME Parameter Value and Encoded Word Extensions: Character Sets, Languages, and

Continuations (Obsoletes RFC 2184)

 2821: Simple Mail Transfer Protocol (Obsoletes RFC 821)

 2822: Internet Message Format (Obsoletes RFC 822)

7.2. DirectIP Deliveries MT

When an MT message is to be queued, the Vendor Application client opens a socket, connects to the

Iridium Gateway server, and delivers the MT message with disposition (see Section 7.2.6.5). The Iridium

Gateway server then parses the message, inserts the payload into the database, and sends a confirmation

message back to the Vendor Application.

Once the Iridium Gateway server has inserted the payload into the database, a different process within the

Iridium Gateway queues the payload for delivery and assigns an MTMSN to each. If the payload is first in

the queue, it is marked as “Queued” and is ready for immediate delivery. Otherwise, it is marked as

“Pending.”

7.2.1. MT DirectIP Server/Client Requirements

MT Iridium Gateway Server Requirements

A. The server will listen for TCP/IP socket connections on a specific port.

B. Once connected, the server will receive the entire MT message before parsing.

C. The server will validate the message to ensure it meets the following criteria:

I. IMEI is of a valid format and is provisioned

II. All other input values in the MT header are valid

III. Payload length does not exceed the specified maximum (See Section 1)

IV. Iridium Gateway resources are available (the given IMEIs MT queue, overall number of active

MT users)

D. The server will send a confirmation message indicating the success or failure of processing the

message.

E. The server will terminate the socket connection once the confirmation message is sent.

F. If the connection fails at any point prior to sending the confirmation message, the MT message will

be dropped.

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MT Vendor Client Requirements

A. The client will seek to establish a TCP/IP socket connection to the IP address of the Iridium

Gateway MT DirectIP server on a specified port.

B. Once connected, the client will transmit the MT payload and wait for the confirmation message.

C. Once the confirmation message has been transmitted / received, the client will allow the server to

close the socket connection.

7.2.2. Information Element Identifiers

Table 7.1-3 summarizes the IEIs for the information elements passed within the DirectIP protocol.

Table 7.1-3 DirectIP MT Information Elements

Information Element

IEI Value

Described In

MT Header IEI

0x41

See Section 7.2.2.1

MT Payload IEI

0x42

See Section 7.2.5

MT Confirmation Message IEI

0x44

See Section 7.2.6

MT Message Priority

0x46

7.2.2.1. MT DirectIP Header

The information in this header is required as part of every DirectIP MT message delivery.

7.2.2.1.1. MT Header Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte. Even though the length is fixed, the field

is included as a standard across all IEs and to allow for maximum flexibility for future enhancements.

Table 7.1-4 MT Header IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Range of Values

MT Header IEI

char

See Section 7.2.2.1

MT Header Length

unsigned short

Unique Client Message ID

char

From client (not MTMSN)

IMEI (User ID)

char

ASCII Numeric Characters

MT Disposition Flags

unsigned short

Bit Map: See Section 7.2.3

7.2.2.1.2. Unique Client Message ID

The vendor client will include a 4-byte message ID unique within its own application. This value is not used

in any way by the Iridium Gateway server except to include it in the confirmation message sent back to the

client. This is intended to serve as a form of validation and reference for the client application. The data type

is specified to be characters. However, from the client’s perspective, the four bytes may be a character

string, an integer, etc.

7.2.2.1.3. IMEI

The IMEI is the equipment identifier, unique to each Iridium field device, of the MT message destination

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IMEI. It is a 15-digit number represented here in ASCII format.

7.2.3. DirectIP MT Disposition Flags

Additional features related to MT deliveries are available using MT DirectIP. These features will not be

available through other means of queuing MT messages such as email. They are flagged using the MT

disposition field in the MT header and are described in the following sections. The disposition field itself is a

2-byte bit map with 16 available flags. Those flags defined are shown in Table 7.1-5.

Table 7.1-5 DirectIP MT Disposition Flags

Disposition Flag

Value

Description

Flush MT Queue

Delete all MT payloads in the SSD’s MT queue

Send Ring Alert – No MTM

Send ring alert with no associated MT payload (normal ring alert rules

apply)

Update SSD Location

Update SSD location with given lat/lon values

High Priority Message

Place the associated MT payload in queue based on priority level

Assign MTMSN

Use the value in the Unique ID field as the MTMSN

7.2.3.1. Allowable combinations of the MT Disposition Flag

Flush MT

Queue

Send Ring Alert

no payload

Assign

MTMSN

Payload

High

Priority IE

LAC/Cel

l ID IE

Flush MT Queue

n/a

Send Ring Alert no payload

n/a

Assign MTMSN

n/a

Payload IE

n/a

High Priority IE

n/a

LAC/Cell ID IE

n/a

*Note that the shaded cells indicate these combinations have to exist. For example, if we have the Assign

MTMSN flag we are required to have the payload IE or it is a protocol error.

7.2.3.1.1. Flush MT Queue

When this flag is set, all payloads in the MT queue for the given IMEI are deleted. This provides an

integrated method to administer MT queues.

When a payload is included in the MT message, it will be queued after the currently queued payloads, if any,

have been deleted. This enables the Vendor Application to maintain a queue depth of one, overwriting any

previous payload queued.

7.2.3.1.2. Send SBD Ring Alert – No MT Payload

When this flag is set, the Iridium Gateway is directed to send a SBD Ring Alert to the specified IMEI within

the bounds of normal SBD Ring Alert processing even though no new MT message is being queued. The

bounds refer to the IMEI’s SBD Ring Alert enable flag and SBD Network Registration (attach/detach) status.

If SBD Ring Alerts are enabled for this IMEI, and it is attached 9location is know), A Ring Alert will be sent to

the field device, followed by a 2nd ring 20 seconds later (ie. Normal Ring Alert rules apply.) For normal MT

SBD Ring Alerts two SBD Ring Alerts are sent.

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If either of these conditions are not met, no SBD Ring Alert will be sent. If a SBD Ring Alert is sent, and an

MT payload is already queued, that payload will be delivered when the IMEI retrieves the MT-SBD

message. This flag has no alternate effect if a new MT payload is included, and the message will be

processed normally. If a MT-SBD Message is included, the MT-SBD message delivery will fail with a

protocol error. Note that excessive use of this feature could result in restrictions being implemented. This

feature should not be used to compensate for poor Field Application design or situations where the IMEI

may be frequently powered off. In such cases the Field Application should cause a Mailbox check to occur

by executing a +SBDIX command with an empty send buffer. See the Section 9 for more details.

7.2.3.1.3. Update SSD Location

When this flag is set, the location of the SSD is updated in the SSD table of the database. A lat/lng pair or

LAC/Cell ID pair must be included in the inbound message. If a lat/lng pair is provided, the LAC and Cell ID

values must then be derived (this is not yet supported). When coupled with another flag triggering a ring

alert, forced or not, the location will be updated first so that the ring alert is sent as directed.

7.2.3.1.4. High Priority Message

When this flag is set, the delivered payload will be placed in MT queue for the given SSD based on a priority

level included in a separate information element (see section 5.11). Any payload currently queued with lower

priority will be superseded, though not deleted. For details regarding this feature, see section 2.5.

7.2.3.1.5. Assign MTMSN

When this flag is set, the GSS will use the value in the Unique ID field in the message header as the

MTMSN for the associated MT message payload. Because the MTMSN is a 16-bit field, the Unique ID (a

32-bit field) must be between 1 to 65,535. Any value not in this range will cause the MT delivery to fail with

an MTMSN out-of-range error.

The MTMSN normally used is an internally maintained value for each IMEI independent of all other IMEIs.

When the assign MTMSN flag is not used, the GSS will use this value for the given IMEI incremented by

one. When this flag is used, the assigned MTMSN only affects the associated MT message. The internally

tracked value remains unchanged and will be used for all subsequent messages when the flag is not set.

7.2.3.1.6. Combining Disposition Flags

Disposition flags may be combined to trigger multiple actions within a single MT message delivery.

However, there are only two combinations. Flush MT Queue / Send Ring Alert (No MTM) and Flush MT

Queue / Assign MTMSN. The Send Ring Alert and the Assign MTMSN flags may not both be set. The

reason is that the Send Ring Alert requires that there not be an MT payload and the Assign MTMSN

requires that there be an MT payload.

7.2.3.1.7. Message Prioritization

MT message prioritization allows the vendor to set the priority of the incoming MT payload relative to the

other MT payloads already queued for the associated SSD. When received, payloads with a priority

specified will be placed in front of payloads with lower priority but not in front of payloads with equal or

higher priority. Payloads of equal priority will be treated in a first-in-first-out (FIFO) manner. When another

MT message is to be queued for delivery over the air, the GSS selects the oldest message with the highest

priority.

7.2.4. Message Prioritization

Five priority levels are supported. They are priority one (P1) through priority five (P5) with one being the

highest priority and five being the lowest. MT payloads received by the GSS from all other sources other

than MT DirectIP will be assigned P5. MT payloads received via DirectIP with no message priority specified

or with an invalid priority level will also be assigned P5. If the MT queue for the SSD is full, the handling of

the payload depends on the priority level of the new payload and that of the payloads in the queue. If the

new payload is lower priority than all other payloads in the queue, it will be rejected. Otherwise, the oldest

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payload (i.e. first in the FIFO) of the lowest priority present in the queue will be deleted, even if the lowest

priority matches the new priority received. For example, if the queue is full with all payloads assigned P1, a

new P1 payload will bump the oldest P1 payload from the queue. Note that if this feature is utilized, the

MTMSN of payloads transmitted to the SSD may no longer be in numeric sequential order. The MTMSN is

assigned at the time that the payload is added to the MT queue and not when it is transmitted to the SSD. If

a payload is received that is placed in front of lower priority payloads in the queue, it will have a higher

MTMSN that the lower priority payloads that are delivered afterwards. Use of this feature is invoked by

including an MT Priority information element (see section 7.2.7).

7.2.5. MT Payload

This information element includes the actual MT payload to be queued and delivered over the air to the

destination IMEI. This inclusion of this IE in the MT delivery is optional based on the disposition flags

included in the header.

Table 7.1-6 MT Payload IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length (bytes)

Range of Values

MT Payload IEI

char

See Section 7.2.5

MT Payload Length

unsigned short

1 – 1890

MT Payload

char

1 – 1890

Payload Bytes

7.2.5.1. MT Payload Length

This field indicates the number of the bytes in the MT payload.

7.2.5.2. MT Payload

This is the actual content of the MT payload. The MT payload size is transceiver dependent. See Section 1

for details.

7.2.6. DirectIP MT Message Confirmation Message

A confirmation message indicating the status of the processing of the MT message is sent to the vendor

client from the Iridium Gateway for every MT message received.

Table 7.1-7 MT Confirmation Message IE

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Range of Values

MT Confirmation Message IEI

char

See Section 7.2.6

MT Confirmation Msg Length

unsigned short

Unique Client Message ID

integer

From Client (not MTMSN)

IMEI (User ID)

char

ASCII Numeric Characters

Auto ID Reference

unsigned integer

0 – 4294967295

MT Message Status

short

Order of message in IMEI’s queue

or error reference (see 7.2.6.5)

7.2.6.1. MT Confirmation Message Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte. Even though the length is fixed, the field

is included as a standard across all IEs and to allow for maximum flexibility for future enhancements.

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7.2.6.2. Unique Client Message ID

This field is the unique client IE sent in the MT header in the message sent to the Iridium Gateway. This is

intended to serve as a form of validation and reference for the client application.

7.2.6.3. IMEI

The IMEI is the equipment identifier, unique to each Iridium field device, of the MT message destination

IMEI. It is a 15-digit number represented here in ASCII format.

7.2.6.4. Auto ID Reference

This value provides a unique reference for identifying the MT payload within the SBD database. It is

assigned at the time that the payload is inserted into the database as a new record, but prior to the record

being queued for delivery and the MTMSN is assigned. This reference is passed instead of the MTMSN in

order for the Iridium Gateway server to remain independent of all other Iridium Gateway processes and to

allow the socket connection to be closed as soon as possible. This value will be zero when there is an error

in processing the message.

7.2.6.5. MT Message Status

This field is the status value that is returned with every confirmation indicating that the overall MT message

was received and validated and that the payload was queued successfully or that a failure occurred. If

successful, the value is a positive number indicating the order of the received payload in the IMEI’s

associated MT message queue. If not successful, the value will be a negative number serving as an error

code specifying the problem detected. Table 7.1-8 shows the possible status values including the error

codes. Note that the last two error values (-8 and -9) only apply when the “Send Ring Alert” disposition flag

has been set.

Table 7.1-8 MT Message Status

Status

Description

1 – 50

Successful, order of message in the MT message queue

Successful, no payload in message

-1

Invalid IMEI – too few characters, non-numeric characters

-2

Unknown IMEI – not provisioned on the Iridium Gateway

-3

Payload size exceeded maximum allowed

(See Section 1)

-4

Payload expected, but none received

-5

MT message queue full (max of 50)

-6

MT resources unavailable

-7

Violation of MT DirectIP protocol error

-8

Ring alerts to the given IMEI are disabled

-9

The given IMEI is not attached (not set to receive ring alerts)

-10

Source IP address rejected by MT filter

-11

MTMSN value is out of range (valid range is 1 – 65,535)

7.2.7. MT Priority

This IE allows a user to set a priority level for an incoming MT message. See section 7.2.3.1.7 for more

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details.

Table 7.1-9 MT Priority IE

Field Name

Bytes (length)

Range of Values

MT Priority IEI

See Section 7.2.2

MT Priority Length

Priority Level

1-5 (5 is default)

7.2.7.1. MT Priority Length

This field specifies the number of bytes in the IE following this byte.

7.2.7.2. Priority Level

This field sets the priority of the message relative to the other messages within the MT queue for the

associated SSD. Values from 1 to 5 are valid. Any other priority level will be considered invalid, and a

priority of 5 (lowest) will be assigned to the message. The message will not be rejected.

7.2.7.3. DirectIP MT Message Delivery Example

Table 7.1-10 gives an example of a byte stream for a typical MT DirectIP message delivery.

Table 7.1-10 MT DirectIP Message Delivery Example

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Value

CODE

Protocol Revision Number

char

Overall Message Length

unsigned short

0061

MT Header IEI

char

0x41

MT Header Length

unsigned short

0015

Unique Client Message ID

char

“Msg1”

4D736731

IMEI (User ID)

char

300034010123450

333030303334303

130313233343530

MT Disposition Flags

unsigned short

0x0000

0000

MT Payload IEI

char

0x42

MT Payload Length

unsigned short

MT Payload

char

Payload Bytes

0x00 X70

Table 7.1-11 shows one potential confirmation response. This example assumes that the given IMEI

already had 49 MT message queued (max of 50).

Table 7.1-11 MT DirectIP Message Confirmation Example

Field Name

Data Type

Length

(bytes)

Value

CODE

Protocol Revision Number

char

Overall Message Length

unsigned short

3128

0C38

MT Confirmation Message IEI

char

0x44

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MT Confirmation Message

Length

unsigned short

1925

0785

Unique Client Message ID

integer

“Msg1”

4D736731

IMEI (User ID)

char

300034010123450

333030303334303

130313233343530

Auto ID Reference

unsigned

integer

58473

0000E469

MT Message Status

short

0032

8. Mobile Originated and Mobile Terminated Message

When the Field Application needs to send a Mobile Terminated data message and the Vendor Application

needs to respond with a Mobile Originated Message, the following scenario assumes that the MT Message

is waiting at the Iridium Gateway before the MO message is sent.

8.1. Example of a MO & MT Message in Parallel

In this scenario, the Vendor Application will send the MT message to the Iridium Gateway (Figure 8-1); the

FA will load the MO message into the ISU, initiate an SBD session, evaluate the results of the SBD session,

and read the Mobile Terminated message from the ISU (Table 8-1). Finally the Vendor Application will

receive the MO message (Figure 8-2).

Figure 8-1 Vendor Application to Iridium Gateway Interface, MT Message

Table 8-1 FA to ISU Interface, Mobile Originated and Mobile Terminated

To ISU (from DTE)

To DTE (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDWB=351

The FA instructs the ISU that it will write a

351 byte message into the ISU.

READY

The ISU informs the FA that it is ready to

receive the message

Binary transfer

The FA sends the 351-byte message

followed by the two byte checksum to the

ISU. This transfer is not echoed.

0

The ISU will send a zero result code to the

FA indicating that the message was loaded

without error.

AT+SBDI

The FA instructs the ISU to initiate an SBD

transfer.

+SBDI: 1, 2173, 1, 87, 429, 0

The ISU informs the FA that the message

To: Data@SBD.Iridium.com

From: VA@VendorDomain.com

Subject: 304050607080903

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was sent successfully using MOMSN 2173.

A 429-byte message was received using

MTMSN 87. No additional messages are

queued.

AT+SBDD0

The FA instructs the ISU to clear the

message from the send buffer.

0

The ISU informs the FA that the message

buffer was cleared successfully.

AT+SBDRB

The FA instructs the ISU to transfer the

received message.

Binary transfer

The ISU sends a two-byte length indicator

followed by the 429 byte message followed

by the two byte checksum to the FA.

Figure 8-2 VA to Iridium Gateway Interface, MO Message

From: <Iridium SBD Service (Tempe, AZ)>

Sent: Tuesday, August 13, 2002 12:49 PM

Subject: SBD Msg From Unit: 304050607080903

MOMSN: 2173

MTMSN: 87

Time of Session (UTC): Tue Aug 13 16:51:04 2002

Session Status: 00 - TRANSFER OK

Message Size (bytes): 351

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9. SBD Ring Alert for Mobile Terminated Messages and ISU-

ISU Messages

The Iridium Short Burst Data service is a fully acknowledged protocol that confirms the delivery of the

messages between the ISU and the Iridium Gateway. By design, Mobile Originated messages are fully

acknowledged as the ISU is in full control of the transmission. For Mobile Terminated messages the protocol

does not permit the Iridium Gateway to send an unsolicited MT-SBD message to an ISU as the ISU may not

be ready or available to receive such a message and acknowledge it. Each time the Iridium Gateway

receives a MT-SBD message for an ISU, it is queued at the Iridium Gateway until the ISU requests delivery.

A capability of notifying the ISU that it has a queued MT-SBD message waiting for it has been implemented

and that capability is called SBD Ring Alerts.

To provide a more optimal solution, Iridium implemented the SBD Automatic Notification feature in SBD

Iridium Gateway Version 4.1. This feature notifies the ISU that a MT-SBD message has been queued for it

at the Iridium Gateway. It does not automatically deliver the MT-SBD message. The actual notification is

called a SBD Ring Alert (RA). The application developer will need to implement an appropriate algorithm in

the Field Application to process the SBD Ring Alert and then initiate a SBD session to receive the queued

message.

9.1. SBD Ring Alert for Mobile Terminated Messages

This section provides basic examples of how to configure the ISU. Please also consult the relevant AT

Command set documentation for more detailed information. SBD Automatic Notification requires both

the correct configuration of the ISU through use of AT Commands and the activation of this feature

at the time of provisioning through the use of SPNet.

9.2. Ring Alert Registration

To implement the SBD Ring Alert feature there are a number of implementation steps required:

1. The ISU must have the firmware revision that supports this feature. See Section 1.5. These

versions can be downloaded from the Iridium For Partners web site if required.

2. In the SPNet provisioning database, the SBD Ring Alert option needs to be selected in the

provisioning screen for the ISU. This option indicates to the Iridium Gateway that SBD Ring

Alerts are intended to be used with this ISU. NOTE: In the majority of the instances where it is

reported that “ring alerts are not working,” it is due to not selecting the Ring Alert option in

SPNet for the ISU.

3. The Field Application is required to execute AT commands to configure the ISU to listen for SBD

Ring Alerts and then the ISU has to complete SBD Network Registration which notifies the

Iridium Gateway that the ISU is ready to receive SBD Ring Alerts.

a. The Field Application executes +SBDMTA command to configure the ISU to listen for SBD

Ring Alerts sent from the Iridium Gateway. Failure to complete this step will result in the ISU

not listening for SBD Ring Alerts as this is the default setting. To configure the ISU to

receive the SBD Ring Alert the command is: AT+SBDMTA=1.

b. The Field Application next executes the +SBDREG command which will attempt to

complete the SBD Network Registration. SBD Network Registration performs two functions.

First it notifies the Iridium Gateway that the ISU is configured and ready to receive SBD

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Ring Alerts and second it provides the required geo-location coordinates so that the Iridium

Gateway knows where to route the SBD Ring Alert(s). To complete the SBD Network

Registration the command is: AT+SBDREG.

The table below describes the following: The FA verifies its registration state, performs a registration in order

to be able to receive automatic notifications, and enables automatic notification indications.

To ISU (from FA)

To FA (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDMTA=1

Tell the ISU to listen for (enable) SBD Ring

Alerts.

AT+SBDREG?

Query the ISU SBD Network Registration status

+SBDREG:0

ISU has not completed SBD Network

Registration, ie it is detached.

AT+SBDREG

Tell the ISU to register for SBD Ring Alerts

+SBDREG:2,0

ISU is now registered for SBD Ring Alerts

AT+SBDREG?

Query the ISU SBD Network Registration status

+SBDREG:2

ISU is registered for SBD Ring Alerts

9.3. Retrieval of a MT-SBD Message using SBD Ring Alert

The ISU must send a MO-SBD message in order to retrieve the MT-SBD message queued at the Iridium

Gateway. The MO-SBD may simply be a ‘mailbox check’ which has a zero-byte message payload or a valid

MO-SBD message (i.e. payload size greater than zero bytes.) Either one will cause the next MT-SBD

message queued at the Iridium Gateway, if there is one, to be delivered to the ISU and retrieve the status

information from the Iridium Gateway.

If the application is configured to use the SBD Automatic Notification, the +SBDIX and +SBDIXA commands

must be used to initiate the MO-SBD message. To respond to a SBD Ring Alert the Field Application should

use the +SBDIXA command to retrieve the MT-SBD message. If the Field Application is sending an

unsolicited MO-SBD message, the +SBDIX command is used. [Note: The +SBDI command can still be

used, however, it also ‘detaches’ or stops SBD Ring Alerts being sent from Iridium Gateway.]

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In the table below: The FA verifies its registration state. Upon receiving a SBD Ring Alert the FA initiates an SBD

session to receive an MT message.

To ISU (from FA)

To FA (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDREG?

Query the ISU SBD Network Registration status

+SBDREG:2

ISU is registered for SBD Ring Alerts

…

Vendor Application sends an MT message to the

Iridium Gateway. Iridium Gateway sends a SBD Ring

Alert to ISU

+SBDRING

ISU indicates an incoming message. The RI line also

toggles.

AT+SBDIXA

FA initiates an SBD session in response to the SBD

Ring Alert

+SBDIXA:0,23,1,237,90,2

ISU informs FA that a 90-byte message was

successfully received with MTMSN 237, and that two

further MT messages are queued at the Iridium

Gateway

AT+SBDRB

FA retrieves the received message from the ISU

9.4. SBD Ring Alert Status Information

During a SBD message transfer, status information is transferred between the Iridium Gateway and the ISU.

This status information is retrieved from the ISU by using the +SBDSX command which returns six values:

MO flag, MOMSN, MT flag, MTMSN, RA flag and number of messages waiting at the Iridium Gateway. The

parameters MO flag, MOMSN, MT flag, MTMSN are the same as those returned by the +SBDS command.

The new parameters are the RA flag and the messages waiting. The RA flag indicates whether the ISU

received a SBD Ring Alert from the Iridium Gateway that has not been answered. The messages waiting

value is the number of MT messages queued at the Iridium Gateway waiting to be delivered. This

information can be used by the Field Application to retrieve the queued messages.

This status information is updated every time there is a SBD session between the ISU and the Iridium

Gateway. The commands that initiate an SBD session are: +SBDI, +SBDIX[A], +SBD[A]REG, +SBDDET.

The +SBDSX command can be properly used following any of these commands.

9.4.1. Automatic MT Ring Alert Implementation

The SBD service is a fully acknowledged protocol that confirms the delivery of the messages between the

ISU and the gateway. To insure this, the gateway does not send unsolicited MT-SBD messages to an ISU

that may not be acknowledged. The MT-SBD messages are queued at the gateway until the ISU requests

delivery of them.

Prior to the release of SBD 4.1, the ISU did not receive any notification that a MT-SBD message was

queued at the gateway. In order to determine if a message was queued for delivery, the remote ISU sent a

MO-SBD message or a ‘mailbox check’, a MO-SBD message with a 0-byte payload, and then checked the

return status from the gateway to determine if a MT-SBD message was delivered and whether more

messages were waiting. This made it cumbersome for applications that required asynchronous MT-SBD

messaging.

To mitigate this, Iridium implemented the Automatic Ring Alert notification feature in the SBD 4.1 release.

This feature does not deliver the MT-SBD message but notifies the ISU that a MT-SBD message has been

queued for delivery at the gateway. The application, if it is configured to handle the RA, can then initiate a

SBD session and receive the queued message.

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9.4.2. Automatic MT Ring Alert Notification

When the gateway receives a MT-SBD message, and the destination device is configured for the RA and

attached to the network, the gateway sends a RA signal to the device. If the device does not respond in

approximately 20 seconds, a second RA is sent. If the ISU does not respond to the second RA, no further

RAs will be sent until another MT-SBD is queued for this device.

If a subsequent MT-SBD message is received for this ISU, the RA process repeats itself. However, the

gateway does not send a subsequent RA if the MT-SBD is received within 10 seconds of the previous MT-

SBD.

9.4.3. Retrieving MT-SBD Message by the RA

The gateway queues a MT-SBD message for the ISU and send the RA signal. The ISU receives the RA

and sends an unsolicited response to the application. This response is either SBDRING in Verbose Mode

or “124” in Numeric Mode. The Ring Indicator pin is also asserted.

The application interprets the response and initiates a SBD session with the +SBDIXA command. The “A”

suffix indicates this is a response to the RA signal and cancels the second RA to prevent a possible race

condition.

If the application has a MO message to send, it moves the data into the transmit buffer prior to issuing the

AT command. If the application has nothing to send and just wants to retrieve the queued message, it

clears the MO transmit buffer before initiating the session, i.e. a ‘mailbox check’.

The response codes from the +SBDIXA command indicate if there are additional MT-SBD messages waiting

to be retrieved. If there are messages queued for delivery to this device, the application can initiate a SBD

session and retrieve them.

10. Field Application Implementation

10.1. Power Up

 On power up, the Field Application configures the ISU to receive the SBD Ring Alert with the

+SBDMTA command.

 This should be followed by a 0 byte Upload, which will update the geo location of the device in the

database for future Ring Alerts. Additionally, this action would download any MT messages that are

in queque, and provide with current queue depth.

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10.2. Automatic SBD Ring Alert Notification

When the Iridium Gateway receives a MT-SBD message and the destination ISU is configured to listen for

SBD Ring Alerts, and the ISU has successfully completed SBD Network Registration, the Iridium Gateway

sends a SBD Ring Alert to the ISU. If the ISU does not respond in approximately 13 seconds, a second SBD

Ring Alert is sent. If the ISU does not respond to the second SBD Ring Alert, no further SBD Ring Alerts are

sent until another new MT-SBD is queued for this ISU.

If a subsequent MT-SBD message is received for this ISU, the SBD Ring Alert process repeats itself.

However, the Iridium Gateway will not send a SBD Ring Alert if the subsequent MT-SBD is received within

10 seconds of the receipt of the previous MT-SBD.

9601 Power Up

Auto

Notification

AT+SBDMTA=1

AT+CSQ >0

Wait

Loop

AT+SBDREG

OK?

Message

Waiting?

9601 Power Up Process

YES

Process

Complete

Process

Complete

Page 2

AT+CSQ > 0

AT+SBDIX

Status OK

Wait Loop

Move MT-SBD

From ISU

To Application

And Process

Another Msg

Waiting

Process

Complete

YES

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Note that while the transfer of MO or MT SBD messages is via a reliable (duplex) protocol, SBD Ring Alerts

are sent on a simplex channel. If the ISU is turned off or is blocked from seeing the satellite, then a

SBD Ring Alert will not be received by the ISU and the Iridium Gateway has no knowledge of

whether an ISU eventually received a specific SBD Ring Alert or not.

10.3. Retrieving MT-SBD Message from the Iridium Gateway when notified by

the SBD Ring Alert

The Iridium Gateway queues the MT-SBD message for the ISU and sends SBD Ring Alert. The ISU

receives the SBD Ring Alert and sends an unsolicited response to the Field Application. This response is

either SBDRING in Verbose Mode or “2” in Numeric Mode. The Field Application interprets the response

and initiates a SBD session with the +SBDIXA command. The “A” suffix indicates this is a response to the

SBD Ring Alert.

If the Field Application has a MO-SBD message to send, it moves the data into the transmit buffer prior to

issuing the AT command. If the Field Application has nothing to send and just wants to retrieve the queued

MT-SBD message, it clears the MO transmit buffer before initiating the session. The response codes from

the +SBDIXA command indicate if there are additional MT-SBD messages waiting to be retrieved.

Applications where the ISU will move significant distances fairly quickly (e.g. aircraft) and applications where

the ISU will move through an environment where the ISU may not always have a good view of the sky (e.g.

cities, mountainous regions) should use the Automatic SBD Network Registration capability if a high degree

of reliability/low latency of delivered MT-SBD messages is desired.

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Respond to SBD Ring Alert Notification to

Retrieve MT-SBD Message

Unsolicted

SBDRING

Received

MO-SBD

Send

Move Data to ISU

Transmit Buffert Clear ISU

Transmit Buffert

AT+CSQ > 0

Initiate SBD

Session /w

AT+SBDIXA

Move MT-SBD

Message to

Application

Process MT-SBD

Message

MT-SBD

Queued

WAIT

DONE

YES

YES NO

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10.4. Power Down

1. Before turning the ISU off, the Field Application should tell the Iridium Gateway not to send

any further SBD Ring Alerts. The Field Application will need to issue the +SBDDET to the

ISU which will tell the Iridium Gateway to “stop sending SBD Ring Alerts” or DETach from

the Iridium Gateway.

2. When the response code for +SBDDET indicates a successful detach the ISU can be

powered off.

3. At power up the method described in Section 10.1 should be used to restart the Iridium

Gateway sending SBD Ring Alerts.

10.5. SBD Ring Alert: Automatic Registration (+SBDAREG)

In order for the ISU to receive the SBD Ring Alert Notification, the Iridium Gateway must have the current location

of the ISU. This location is updated by the SBD Network Registration and each time a SBD session takes place.

For fixed location ISUs and ISUs that do not travel more than approximately 225 kilometers between SBD

sessions, the +SBDREG command is sufficient. If the ISU is mobile and can possible move more than 225

kilometers between SBD sessions, the +SBDAREG command should be used f This command is issued after the

ISU has successfully attached to the Iridium Gateway, either via the +SBDREG or +SBDIX commands. The

+SBDAREG runs a passive geo-location algorithm which estimates the distance the ISU has moved since the

previous SBD session. If the result indicates the ISU has moved ‘too’ far, the ISU automatically issues an updated

SBD Network Registration.

9601 Power Down Process

AT+SBDDET

OK?

AT*F

STOP

YES

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The FA verifies its registration state and enables automatic registration using the “Ask” mode.

To ISU (from FA)

To FA (from ISU)

Description

AT+SBDREG?

Query the ISU registration status

+SBDREG:2

ISU is registered

AT+SBDAREG=2

FA sets the automatic registration to “Ask” mode

…

ISU is moved

+AREG:0,0

ISU notifies FA that it needs to register

AT+SBDREG

FA instructs the ISU to register

+SBDREG:2,0

Registration is successful

11. Optimal Message Size Selection

There are two primary factors that affect optimal message size: Economic and technical.

11.1. Economic Message Size

The developer should take into account the minimum billable message size of the service plan that the ISU

will be activated with on the Iridium network. E.g. For a minimum billable message size of 10 bytes, any

message actually sent with less than 10 bytes will be billed at 10 bytes regardless of the actual number of

bytes sent below 10. Note that this is a minimum and not an increment. E.g. for a minimum billable message

size of 10 bytes all messages over 10 bytes will be billed at the exact number of bytes transmitted.

The developer should maximize the use of these bytes, and can do so in a number of ways. E.g. the

business requirement is to report position every ten minutes. The position information in this case is fifteen

bytes. The developer could therefore collect an intermediate position every five minutes and transmit both

positions at the required ten-minute intervals to provide more detailed positioning information.

11.2. Technical Message Size

Each type of message whether MO or MT is broken into segments for actual transmission. The length of the

segment relative to the absolute message length depends on whether it is a MO or MT message. Between

each segment additional signaling and network overhead occurs. If optimizing for minimal latency or power

consumption then the minimal number of message segments should be used.

Important: See Section 1.5 for message size limits that are dependent on the transceiver type.

11.2.1. Mobile Originated Message Size

First user data segment size

70 bytes

Subsequent user data segment size

135 bytes

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E.g. for a 1960 byte message there will be one segment of 70 bytes and 14 segments of 135 bytes

E.g. for a 71 byte message there will be one segment of 70 bytes and one segment of 1 byte.

11.2.2. Mobile Terminated Message Size

User data segment size

135 bytes

E.g. for a 1890 byte message there will be 14 segments of 135 bytes

E.g. for a 71 byte message there will be one segment used.

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12. Iridium Short Burst Data Service Security Features

12.1. Purpose

The purpose of this section is to provide information sufficient for an Iridium Value Added Reseller to be able

to understand the basic security features of Iridium’s Short Burst Data Service. It is assumed that the reader

is familiar with the Iridium system and Short Burst Data.

12.2. Iridium Security Features

The Iridium System supports the GSM-specified algorithm A3 for authentication security, but not algorithms

A5/A8 for channel encryption. Table 12-1summarizes the security features explicitly designed into the

Iridium system. Note that A3 is only used in transceivers using a SIM card.

Table 12-1 Baseline Iridium Security Features

Authentication

A3 (128-bit Key)

Equipment Anti-Theft Validation

Global Equipment Identity Register

Anonymity (User location confidentiality)

TMSI based

Signaling Message Confidentiality

Not Available

12.3. Authentication Security

Note that Authentication Security is only applicable to Iridium Subscriber Units (ISUs) that utilize a SIM card.

The 9601 and 9602 SBD Transceiver do not utilize a SIM card and thus this section is not applicable to it.

The Iridium authentication process is adapted without change directly from the GSM specifications. The

GSM algorithm A3 is used to encrypt authentication information transmitted over the air interface.

 Authentication encryption

o Designed to prevent ISU cloning fraud

o GSM encryption algorithm A3 is executed on SIM card to generate Signed Result (SRES)

response based on the following inputs

 Secret key parameter stored in SIM card

 RAND parameter supplied by network

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12.4. Iridium Channel Security

SBD uses the signaling channel and is afforded some security by the limited distribution of the air interface

and feeder link interface specifications. The Iridium Air Interface Specification is made available only to

Iridium Subscriber Unit (ISU) manufacturers. Feeder link interface specifications are not distributed outside

of the original manufacturer.

Figure 12-1 identifies the opportunities for surreptitious monitoring of Iridium bearer channels. An

eavesdropper could, in principle, monitor L-band uplink and downlink channels, or K-band uplink and

downlink feeder link channels.

 L-Band Channels

o Uplink, from ISU to Space Vehicle (SV)

o Downlink, from SV to ISU

 K-Band Channels

o Uplink, from gateway to Space Vehicle (SV)

o Downlink, from SV to gateway

12.5. L-Band Channel Security

To successfully monitor an L-band channel, an eavesdropper must be located within the transmit range of

the ISU being monitored, approximately 10 to 30 km from the transmitting ISU. ISU downlink L-Band

transmissions could be received over a much wider area. A single SV beam covers an area of about 400 km

in diameter. As long as the eavesdropper is within the coverage area of a common beam, downlink L-Band

transmissions could be received.

Fortunately, the complexity of the Iridium air interface should make the challenge of developing an Iridium L-

Band monitoring device very difficult and probably beyond the reach of all but the most determined

adversaries. Among the complications are:

 Large, continually changing Doppler shifts

 Frequent inter-beam and inter-SV handoffs

 Time-division multiplexed burst mode channels

 Complicated modulation, interleaving and coding

Figure 12-1 Iridium Link Monitoring Opportunities

Gateway

Iridium

Constellation

ISU

K-Band

Downlink L-Band

Downlink

Monitor

L-Band

Uplink

K-Band

Uplink

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12.6. K-Band Channel Security

To successfully monitor a K-band feeder link channel, a fairly sophisticated monitoring device must be

located in the general proximity of an Iridium gateway. The receiver must have a high-gain antenna capable

of tracking SVs as they move from horizon to horizon.

Again, the complexity of the feeder link interface poses a formidable technical challenge for prospective

eavesdroppers. The cost of the monitoring device alone would be a strong deterrent. Among the technical

complications are

 Large, continually changing Doppler shifts

 High capacity, 3.072 Mbps channels

 High-gain tracking antenna required

 Must reacquire new SV every 10 minutes

12.7. Gateway to Vendor Application

While this document focuses on the Iridium network, security should be looked at from an end-to-end

solution perspective. SBD communications to and from the Iridium Gateway can be protected by two

additional cost items:

(A) Virtual Private Network and/or

(B) Private leased line communication

12.8. Additional Considerations

Depending on the level and sensitivity of the information being communicated the application developer may

require additional security. Any additional security measure would require encrypting the information before

transmitting to the destination point. This is referred to generically as application level encryption and

requires the developer to select and implement an encryption method that provides the required level of

security for the application. Any increase in the size of the actual information being sent due to the

encryption is not distinguished by the Iridium network from normal user data and the Iridium network will rate

the total size of the data message sent.

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13. Basic Trouble Shooting

13.1. Hardware Requirements

Table 13-1 lists the available hardware that supports SBD. Firmware versions can be determined by issuing

AT+CGMR to the transceiver.

Table 13-1 Hardware Firmware compatibility

L-Band Transceiver

Product Number

Transceiver

“Code Name”

Minimum Firmware revision

(see note)

Requires Valid SIM

Card?

9522

Sebring

SAC03xx [where xx are integers]

Yes

9522A

Daytona

IS05001

Yes

9522B

LBT Transceiver

ST09005

Yes

9601

SBD Transceiver

TD05002

9602

SBD Transceiver

TA10003

Note: The minimum firmware revision will not support every SBD feature. Developers are advised to use the

most recent firmware revision available.

13.2. Provisioning

L-Band Transceivers require two key items in order to be operational on the Iridium Network:

 The IMEI (a 15 digit number beginning with 30 that identifies the hardware device) must be correctly

provisioned in Iridium’s SPNet with a valid destination defined (email address, another ISU’s IMEI or IP

Address), to which the MO-SBD messages are to be sent.

 A correctly provisioned SIM card must be installed in the LBT (9522, 9522A or 9522B.=).or the 9555 and

9505A handsets. This can be one of two flavors:

o Any standard Iridium SIM card where the LBT will be used for voice and other data services

o A SBD “Register only” or “Automatic Check” SIM for LBTs that will be just used for SBD

 The 9601 and 9602 SBD Transceiver does not require a SIM card.

It is important to check that both the IMEI and SIM are properly provisioned. Without verifying these items there is

little value in continuing troubleshooting. It is also important to verify that the SIM you are checking on in SPNet is

the same SIM that is physically installed in the LBT.

13.3. SIM PIN

This section does not apply to 9601/9602 transceivers as they do not use a SIM card.

Iridium SIM cards are typically created without the PIN activated. The application developer should take this into

account in the development of the Field Application.

In order to verify that the SIM does not have a PIN utilize the following command: AT+CPIN as described in [1]. If

the SIM has a PIN it will require the developer’s application to input this PIN correctly via AT Command. If this PIN

is not input, the LBT will not be able to register, place calls, or receive calls. Furthermore, if the PIN is input 3 times

incorrectly the SIM will become “blocked”. To unblock the SIM requires sending the AT Command with the PIN1

Unblocking Key (PUK1). The PUK1 is an 8-digit sequence that can be provided by the SP/VAR. The application

developer can use “AT+CPIN?” to determine what code the SIM is waiting for or expecting.

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In order to turn off the PIN use the following command: AT+CLCK as described in [1]. However Iridium

recommends that developers not remove the PIN unless the commercial Field Application will be design to detect

and remove the PIN. Commercial SIM cards are issued with the PIN activated.

13.4. Network Registration Status

For the 9522B LBT the following should be checked, it does not apply to the 9601 or 9602. Check the registration

status by issuing the check registration status command: AT+CREG as detailed in [1]. In order to use the Iridium

network a SIM based ISU must be registered with a gateway (telephony registration.) If an ISU is not registered

then many of the AT commands and functions of the ISU will be inoperable. Registration cannot be disabled. If the

unit is not registered:

 Check the provisioning of the SIM on SPNet

 Power the unit off, wait 10 seconds, power the unit on again and reissue the +CREG command

 If the unit still has not registered, ensure that an antenna is connected correctly and that it has clear

line of sight to the sky through 360 degrees azimuth. Then proceed to the “Satellite Signal Strength

Indicator” section

13.5. Satellite Signal Strength Indicator

Issue the AT+CSQ command as detailed [1] and observe the response.

Signal strength of 0 indicates that:

 Either the antenna is not connected properly;

 The signal loss in the antenna cable, connectors is too high resulting in excessive signal loss.

o Ensure that the cable length, type and design frequency is appropriate for Iridium.

 Iridium operates between 1616 and 1625 MHz

 The entire RF loss of the antenna installation (including cable, connectors and lightning

arrestors) shall not exceed 3dB.

 The antenna does not have a clear view of the sky. The optimal view is 360 degrees of azimuth and

above 8 degrees of elevation.

 Interference from a local high power L-Band transmitter. E.g. an Inmarsat terminal.

Signal strength of 1 or higher should permit an SBD call to be made. Check signal strength over a period of 10 to

20 minutes to characterize the received signal strength for your antenna location. If you consistently see:

 A signal strength of 4 or higher you appear have a good installation.

 A varying signal strength ranging from 0/1 to 4/5 then your antenna location appears to have partial line of

sight blockage. Identify the blockage and determine if you can relocate the antenna.

It is recommend that development, demonstration and test platforms have high quality installations with optimal

line of sight conditions. Having an ideally located antenna removes the possibility that poor signal strength causes

application issues and enables more rapid application debugging.

13.6. Power Supply

It is critical that an appropriate power supply is utilized. While an ISU can turn on using only a portion of the

specified maximum current, registration and transmission of data messages will not occur if the transceiver

cannot draw enough current from the power source. An under rated power supply can cause erratic

behavior when using SBD. Ensure that your power supply can supply the specified peak maximum current

for the transceiver that you are using. Check the power supply while operating the transceiver by using an

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Short Burst Data Developers Guide V3.0

ammeter and volt meter.

Iridium Short Burst Data Service Developers Guide V3 0

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