MultiTech Dragonfly

The MultiConnect® Dragonfly offers developers an FCC and carrier certified solution that makes connecting sensors and other edge-of-network devices quick and easy.

Overview¶

The MultiConnect® Dragonfly™ cellular SoMs are complete, ready-to-integrate processing and communications devices that offer developers the functionality of a SoM with the convenience of an onboard cellular radio all in one compact design. With its integrated Cortex M4 processor, developers can host their application and have access to a full suite of interfaces for connecting sensors or other remote assets.

Dragonfly also comes with an ARM mbed compatible software library for even faster development. This powerful suite of hardware and software products greatly reduces your time to market and makes your Internet of Things (IoT) device a reality today.

Key Benefits¶

• End device certified by leading carriers
• Family of cellular options include 4G-LTE, 3G HSPA+, 3G EV-DO and 2G 1xRTT
• Developer friendly to integrate, quick to deploy and scale assets
• Long solution lifecycle reduces redesign time and cost

Features¶

• Lightweight SoM ideal for most IoT applications
• On-board GNSS or GPS for fast and accurate location fix (3G models)
• Arm® Mbed™ OS enabled
• Multiple I/O interfaces for connecting most any “Thing”
• Design in or retrofit

Dragonfly Pinout Diagram¶

The pinout diagram above shows the commonly used interfaces and their locations. In addition to their stated functions, all GPIO pins (PA_*, PB_*, PC_*) can also be used as DigitalIn and DigitalOut interfaces.

Dragonfly Features¶

• STM32F411RET Processor
  • High performance ARM® Cortex™-M4 Core
  • 96MHz, 128kB RAM, 512kB Flash
  • SPI (2)
  • I2C (2)
  • UART (2) - 1x 8-pin TX/RX/RTS/CTS/DCD/DTR/DSR/RI, 1x 2-pin TX/RX
  • PWM (15)
  • ADC (12 bit ADC with 12 channels)
  • GPIO (up to 31)

• Telit Cellular Radio
  • Connected to Processor via UART
  • TCP & UDP Sockets
  • SMS Messaging
  • GPS Location (on some radios)

• Power
  • 3.3V to 5V external power
  • Current (active): Refer to product device guide
  • Current (sleep): 6mA (radio off)
  • Maximum of 25 mA output current sourced by any IO pin
  • Maximum of 120 mA output current sourced by sum of all IO pins
  • All IO pins are 3.3v tolerant
  • 29 5V tolerant IO pins (see Dragonfly Pinout Diagram)
    • Internal pullup and pulldown resistors cannot be used on 5V tolerant GPIO pins when pin voltage is greater than VDD + 0.3V. See warning box above

Cellular Stack (MTSCellularInterface)¶

The MTSCellularInterface library implements the mbed-os CellularInterface for the cellular radios on MultiTech Dragonfly devices. MTSCellularInterface provides TCP and UDP sockets, SMS messaging capabilities, and GPS location*. After cloning this repository, run the setup script (setup.sh or setup.bat) to generate the version header and clone required dependencies. The library can be cloned from GitHub.

* Not all radios support GPS. GPS location requires a lock on GPS satellites, which may not be possible indoors.

Example Programs¶

Import our example programs to get up and running quickly and easily, then modify them to create your own solution using the Dragonfly!

Most radios require an APN string to be set before the radio can be used. The APN can be set in the source of the specific example you're using. The SMS example also needs a phone number to send/receive SMS messages to/from.

Old Cellular Stack (MTSAS)¶

This old cellular stack is not compatible with mbed-os. Consider using MTSCellularInterface instead!

Old Example Programs¶

These old example programs use the deprecated MTSAS library which is not compatible with mbed-os. Consider using Dragonfly-Examples and MTSCellularInterface instead!

Factory Firmware¶

The Dragonfly ships from the factory pre-loaded with AT Passthrough Firmware. This firmware implements serial passthrough and provides direct access to the cellular radio via the external serial port on the MTUDK2. It is available here.

Offline IDE¶

It is possible to compile for the Dragonfly and debug them on the Dragonfly using the Eclipse IDE. See our wiki page for more information.

MTS Bootloader¶

"target_overrides": {
    ...
    "<TARGET_NAME>": {
        "target.bootloader_img": "mbed-os/tools/bootloaders/MTS_DRAGONFLY_F411RE/bootloader.bin"
    },
    ...

The Dragonfly includes a bootloader which allows applications to be upgraded OTA (Over The Air) or via serial without the need for a developer board. See the wiki page describing how the bootloader can be used for more information.

Technical Reference¶

Developer kit¶

• MTUDK2 Developer Kit home page
• Legacy MTUDK2 Developer Kit home page

Documentation¶

• Dragonfly Datasheet
• Dragonfly Developer Page
• Dragonfly device guides and AT command guides are specific to the radio type and can be found here.

Data Sheets¶

• STM32F411RE Web Page
• STM32F411RE Datasheet
• STM32F411RE Reference Manual
• STM32F411RE Errata Sheet

Interface Firmware¶

The MTUDK2 uses the same ST-Link interface firmware as many of the ST Nucleo boards. The latest interface firmware and instructions for upgrading can be found here.

Getting Started with mbed¶

1. Connect your microcontroller to a PC¶

Use the USB lead to connect your mbed to a PC. The status light will come on, indicating it has power. After a few seconds of activity, the PC will recognise the mbed Microcontroller as a standard USB drive.

Windows XP example	Mac OS X example

2. Click the MBED.HTM link to get logged in¶

Go to the new USB Drive, and click MBED.HTM to open it in a web browser.

If you do not have an mbed account, choose "Signup", and create your mbed Account. Otherwise, log in with your normal username and password.

This will give you access to the website, tools, libraries and documentation.

PC Configuration¶

Your mbed Microcontroller can appear on your computer as a serial port. On Mac and Linux, this will happen by default. For Windows, you need to install a driver:

From a host PC to communicate with mbed you will need a terminal application. This allows the mbed Microcontroller to print to your PC screen, and for you to send characters back to your mbed.

• Terminals - Using Terminal applications to communicate between the Host PC and the mbed Micrcontroller

Some terminal programs (e.g. TeraTerm) list the available serial ports by name. However, if you do need to know the identity of the serial port so that you can attach a terminal or an application to it:

	Windows		Mac		Linux
	Find the identity of the COM port by opening ''Device Manager''. To do this navigate ''Start -> Control Panel -> System -> Hardware -> Device Manager''.		To find the device name under Mac OS X, use the command ''ls /dev/tty.usbmodem*''		To find the device name under Linux, use the command ''ls /dev/ttyACM*''

On both Mac and Linux PCs, the port with the higher number will be the USB serial debug port. For example, if you have Linux and get ports /dev/ttyACM0 and /dev/ttyACM1, ttyACM1 will be the debug port and ttyACM0 the AT command/secondary port.

Downloading A program¶

1. Save a program binary (.bin) to the Platform¶

Download the appropriate "Hello World!" binary:

• MTS_DRAGONFLY_F411RE: mbed-os-example-blinky_mts_dragonfly_f411re.bin

Note: the source code for this program will be seen in the next section.

Save the program binary file to your mbed Microcontroller Disk, just like you would with a normal USB disk. The Status LED will flash as the PC writes the file to the Microcontroller disk. The file is now consumed.

2. Press the Reset Button¶

When the Reset Button in pressed, the microcontroller will be reset and the last programmed application will begin to run.

3. Hello World!¶

The Microcontroller is now running the program; flashing LED1 forever! If you reset the Microcontroller, or disconnect and reconnect the power, the program will simply restart.

Hello World!¶

[Repository '/teams/mbed-os-examples/code/mbed-os-example-blinky/' not found]

In its current state, the program will blink the D3 LED on a MTUDK2 board.

Where Next¶

Follow the guide to creating your own programs using the online compiler

• Create your own program

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Questions

1 answer

Can not get GPS Fix Adriaan Kooderings Clemens
7 years, 2 months ago

Dragonfly, MTS

0 answers

Is it possible to use GPS and Cellular Data simultaneously? miao zhicheng
7 years, 4 months ago

Dragonfly, MTS

1 answer

Remote firmware updating OTA from MTS Dragonfly? Amod Amatya
7 years, 8 months ago

Firmware over the air, MTS Dragonfly, OTA

2 answers

Is it possible to use an external IP stack with Dragonfly using PPP ? Hasnain Virk
7 years, 9 months ago

Dragonfly, MTS

2 answers

Do this board has any mbed client example Suraj Pal
7 years, 10 months ago

Dragonfly, MTS

See more related questions