User's Manual

Integrator’s Task ___________________________________________ Boomer-III User Manual & Integrator’s Guide
Copyright Wavenet Technology © October 2003 12 BM310012WT05
Plan the Product and Create the Design
To plan the product and create the design, perform the following steps:
 Develop a usage model.
 Develop a message model.
 Define a service strategy.
 Investigate and obtain regulatory approval.
Develop a Usage Model
The usage model answers the question, “How will the end product be
used (portable or mobile; 8 hours, 7 days a week; and so on)?”
Perhaps the most important enabler of success is a clear determination
of how the final product is to be used. This steers the development
process, because all design considerations drive toward meeting the
needs of the final user. For example, design issues related to a mobile
device, such as alternator noise and vibration, are completely different
from considerations required for a fixed-point telemetry application
powered by a solar panel. Defining what is and what is not important to
the end user helps to make the critical engineering trade-off decisions
that are inevitable in every product design.
Develop a Message Model
The message model defines how many messages are sent/received and
how often. To create the message model, determine how much and
how often data will be sent in each of the uplink (terminal to network)
and downlink (network to terminal) directions.
Answer the question, “Is there a requirement for the terminal to be on
and able to receive 8 hours a day, or does the user turn the unit on only
when making a query to the Enterprise Server Application?” The
answer has a direct bearing on the battery size and capacity
requirement for powering the device. The amount of data sent and
received is relevant in calculating the cost of airtime and deciding on
which type of network connection to use. In short, the message model
is required source data for making many engineering design decisions,
especially in calculating such values as sleep time versus wake time
and in determining battery capacity requirements.
For additional information, refer to section “Message Traffic Model”
on page 44. The typical approach to creating the model is to define the
peak and average network throughput requirements based on input
from the user. Wavenet Technology is able to provide current
consumption figures for each of the various modes of operation
(receive and transmit, for example) and explain the functionality of the
network Power Save protocol.
The network throughput of the host/terminal depends on many factors
in addition to the raw throughput of the radio channel. For example, in
addition to the overhead involved in forward error correction and