GW16103 miniPCI-express micro-SD/USB/micro-SIM Adatper

The GW16103 miniPCI-express Adapter is a miniPCI-express form-factor card that provides the following;

• micro-SIM socket (for use with miniPCI-express form factor cellular modems that do not have an on-board SIM socket)
• micro-SD card reader (for additional storage)
• a miniPCI-express socket to pass through the card-edge miniPCI-express signals. USB is provided here as well from an on-board USB switch
• USB micro-AB connector providing a USB host socket (host only, not OTG or device mode) with 700mA of 5V power

​GW16103 Product Specifications and Datasheet and Manual

Booting with the GW16103 - U-Boot & Linux

Note that the GW16103 provides a 'USB micro-SD reader/writer' so this is treated as a USB Mass Storage device much like a USB flash stick - it is not a micro-SD host controller from the processors point of view. This means that you treat it as if you were booting from a USB device.

Note that the embedded micro-SD reader/writer is the first enumerated device on the bus, thus if you want to boot off of a USB Mass Storage device connected to the GW16103 you will need to alter the default bootloader scripts - see here for details.

Because the GW16103 uses the PERST# signal as reset, PCI must be enabled in the bootloader in order to de-assert the card's reset. This can be accomplished by clearing pcidisable. Run the following commands in the bootloader:

setenv pcidisable
saveenv
reset

SIM socket

Some USB based miniPCI-express form factor cellular modems require a SIM but do not have an on-board SIM socket. A set of pins on card-edge are defined by the miniPCI-express for use for a SIM card data bus and the GW16103 routes these to a micro-SIM connector. Note that cellular modems with on-board SIM card holders do not route the SIM signals to the miniPCI-express card edge (at least none that we know of ) so you must use the on-board card holder on those cards.

micro-SD card reader

A USB based micro-SD card reader provides additional storage via a micro-SD card. This requires the following Linux kernel features (which are part of our standard OpenWrt, Yocto, and Android BSP's:

• CONFIG_USB
• CONFIG_USB_STORAGE
• CONFIG_SCSI

As such the micro-SD will be present on Linux as a /dev/sd<x> where <x> varies depending on USB enumeration order.

USB host connector

The USB micro-AB connector can be used in host mode and provides up to 700mA of 5V power. Note that while the connector is a micro-AB it can not be used in device-mode.

Compatibility

Electrically the GW16103 should be compatible with any device with a miniPCI-express socket providing USB and miniPCI-express signalling, however because it has an additional miniPCI-express connector for pass-through operation it does not conform to the miniPCI-express form factor (the card is a bit longer).

As far as Gateworks products go, the GW16103 is compatible with the following with the specific mechanical interference details noted:

• GW51xx - all miniPCIe sockets supported - (except in Revision B and lower. Incompatible due to interference with the primary power supply, this is resolved in GW5100-C revision)
• GW52xx - all miniPCIe sockets supported
• GW53xx - all miniPCIe sockets supported however there may be interference with GW53xx GPS when used in socket J7 if using the GW16103's USB micro-AB connector
• GW54xx - all miniPCIe sockets supported however there may be interference with GW53xx GPS when used in socket J7 if using the GW16103's USB micro-AB connector
• GW551x - all miniPCIe sockets
• GW16081 - compatible with 3x top-side miniPCIe sockets J6, J4, J1
• GW2380/GW2382 - interference with GSC battery but could be used with some insulating (ie Capton) tape
• GW2391 - interference with JTAG/GPIO connectors when in baseboard socket J3 and possible interference with socket J4 if using GW16103 USB micro-AB