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Cowbell Gateway Specification (v1)

Role: Tier 2 Herd Aggregator / Mobile Gateway Design Philosophy: "Gravity-Balanced Split-Architecture"

1. Mechanical Architecture

The Cowbell uses the animal's neck geometry and gravity to maintain antenna orientation and balance.

Base Unit (Ventral / Bottom)

  • Housing: IP69K-rated Polycarbonate/Stainless Steel.
  • Components:
    • Battery: 10Ah - 15Ah Primary Li-SOCl2 (acts as the main counterweight).
    • Processing: Edge AI MCU (nRF5340 or similar) for cluster management.
      • Head (Top): Sky-facing Dorsal unit for Antennas + Swappable NTN Plugin.
    • Cost Target: < $100 USD (Base) / +$45 (NTN Module).
    • Strategic Flexibility: Modular uplink allows "Late-Binding" to a satellite provider, reducing inventory risk and ensuring hardware longevity across evolving NTN standards.
    • Radios: LTE-M/NB-IoT, WiFi 6, LoRa (Gossip Mesh).
    • Interface: Rugged bottom-side service port for maintenance.

Head Unit (Dorsal / Top)

  • Housing: Low-profile, UV-stabilized sleek enclosure.
  • Components:
    • GNSS Antenna: High-gain patch for GPS/Galileo.
    • Terrestrial Antennas: Integrated 4G/WiFi/LoRa.
    • Modular Port: IP69K expansion interface (Dorsal/Top) for snapping on the NTN Satellite Plugin. This interface is Provider-Agnostic, allowing for multi-constellation support (Skylo, Sateliot, Myriota) through simple module swaps.

The Collar Strap (The Bus)

  • Material: Overmolded Thermoplastic Polyurethane (TPU).
  • Integrated Harness: 4-wire or 6-wire electrical bus (VCC, GND, Data+, Data-) molded directly into the strap to protect against abrasion, snagging, and "meat-shielding".

2. Connectivity Stack

  • Mesh (Downlink to Members): 915 MHz (Mercosur) Gossip Mesh utilizing the Trickle Algorithm.
  • Backhaul (Uplink to Cloud):
    • Priority 1: Terrestrial Cellular (LTE-M).
    • Priority 2: Opportunistic Wi-Fi (at digital troughs).
    • Priority 3 (Expansion): NB-NTN Satellite (via Dorsal Plugin).

3. Maintenance Cycle

  • Interval: 12 months.
  • Operation: Field-swappable battery pack located in the Ventral Base unit. Designed for one-handed replacement in the chute.
  • Snap-On Dorsal Module: Contains the satellite-specific modem (e.g., Skylo/Sateliot) and high-gain L-band antenna.
  • Strategic Agility: The modular design allows the platform to pivot between satellite providers as the NTN market matures, ensuring the base Cowbell units do not become obsolete as new constellations (e.g., Starlink Direct-to-Cell) become available.
  • Authentication: Mutual mTLS handshake between the Cowbell Base and the NTN Plugin to ensure authentic hardware integration.