Iridium Pilot - Signal Strength

5: TROUBLESHOOTING
52 Iridium Pilot User Manual
Power Diagnosis
Check power (multimeter may be useful)
• BDEpowerLEDshouldbeamberwhenBDEswitchedOFFbutpowersupplied.Ifnotcheckpowersupply
input to BDE is between 100/240VAC into AC PSU which in turn should be providing 24VDC or between
11VDC and 32VDC if using DC supply.
• WhenBDEisswitchedonpowerLEDshouldgogreen.Ifitdoesn’tthentheinternalpowercircuitryofthe
BDEisbroken,replaceBDE.*initialstart-upLEDwillbeamberwhichindicatespowertotheunitjustnot
switched “on”.
Note: If the power LED is amber it means some power is being provided to the BDE, but not necessarily
enough. A voltmeter can be used to check this.
ADE/BDE Communications
A ashing red status light indicates the BDE is unable to communicate with the ADE.
1. Disconnect both ends of the ADE/BDE cable and test with an Ethernet cable tester.
• WillneedtobuildanadaptercabletoconverttheADEcableendtoRJ45foreasiertesting.
2. Inspect cable for damage. Frayed or spliced cables should be replaced.
3. Inspect ADE and BDE ports for damage.
4. Disconnect power and test input levels.
5. Replace in order- BDE, ADE, and cable; retesting setup after each component is swapped.
Signal Strength
Check signal strength LED or the signal strength indicator on the status web page.
Make a voice or data call from the Iridium Pilot unit to double check.
Observe the signal LED status over time. Does the LED change color frequently? Is there a pattern? Is the signal
LED red for longer than 5 to 10 minutes?
It could be that the install location suers from intense RF interference or physical obstructions within line of
sight to the sky.
Site Survey Tool
• SiteSurveyTool–ThisapplicationputstheIridiumPilotunitintoatestmodeandthenproceedstorecord
the noise level on all possible channels.
• NeedstorunonaWindowsPConthesamesubnetastheISU(i.e.192.168.0.xxx)
• CopytheexeanddlltoafolderyoucreateonthePCdesktop,itwillstoretheresultsinthesamedirectory.
• BrowsetodirectoryandselectSurveyTool.exetorun.
• TheprogramneedstoknowtheIridiumPilotIPaddress,youwillbeabletoselectthedefaultIPaddressor
enter an alternative.
• Oncethesurveybegins,graphdatawillbegintopopulate.Thereare251channelstotestsoitcantake
several minutes.
Note: If you do not stop or allow the survey tool to complete, the Iridium Pilot unit will be left in test mode.
You need to power cycle the unit to force it out of test mode.