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NULLWEAR — Operations Manual (for the depot / quartermaster / asset manager)

Audience: equipment-locker quartermasters, depot technicians, asset managers, agency procurement officers, and anyone responsible for the lifecycle of NULLWEAR units in service.

Table of contents

  1. Receipt and intake
  2. Asset registration
  3. Issue to officer
  4. Daily operations
  5. Charging infrastructure
  6. Periodic checks
  7. Fault handling
  8. Returns and refurbishment
  9. End-of-life
  10. Inventory and reporting
  11. Security
  12. Suppliers and replacements

1. Receipt and intake

When a shipment of NULLWEAR/P, /V or /S devices arrives from the contract manufacturer:

  1. Verify the carton against the packing list. Each carton typically contains 25 × NULLWEAR/P units in individual moulded blisters.
  2. Inspect 5 random units per carton for cosmetic damage. Reject the carton if damage is observed in more than one of the five.
  3. For each unit, scan the laser-etched serial number into the agency asset-management system using the supplied USB barcode/QR scanner. Do not skip this step — the asset system is the source of truth for which device belongs to which officer.
  4. Place all units on the receiving-bench charging dock for 4 hours. New units ship at ~70% state-of-charge per IATA dangerous-goods rules; bring them to 100% before issue.
  5. After charging, run the intake acceptance procedure in docs/12-acceptance-test-procedure.md on a 5% sample of every shipment. Reject the shipment if more than 1% of the sample fails.

2. Asset registration

Each NULLWEAR unit must be registered in the agency asset-management system with the following minimum fields:

Field Source
Serial number Laser-etched on rear of unit
MFG date Inside cover of unit blister
MFG batch Inside cover of unit blister
Variant /P, /V or /S
Firmware revision Read via USB-CDC during intake test
Issued to Officer badge number, on issue
Issue date On issue
Last charge cycle Auto-updated by the dock if equipped
Last fault report On fault report
Status InStock / Issued / Charging / FaultRMA / EndOfLife

For agencies with no existing asset system, a CSV-backed register at minimum is acceptable. A reference SQLite schema is in docs/asset-schema.sql (TBD).

3. Issue to officer

When issuing a unit:

  1. Verify the officer's identity and shift status in the agency duty roster.
  2. Select an InStock unit from the charged-and-tested rack.
  3. Update the asset record: Status → Issued, Issued to → badge number, Issue date → today.
  4. Brief the officer on the User Manual (docs/08-user-manual.md). For a fleet roll-out, this can be a 5-minute group briefing during shift handover; no formal certification is required.
  5. Hand over the unit, the supplied belt clip, and a copy of the User Manual.
  6. Confirm the LED is green when the officer presses the button.

4. Daily operations

A NULLWEAR/P device requires no daily intervention from the depot once issued. The officer is responsible for:

  • Wearing it on shift.
  • Returning it to the dock at end of shift.
  • Reporting fault states.

The depot is responsible for:

  • Maintaining the dock infrastructure (see §5).
  • Logging returned units.
  • Monitoring overall fleet health (see §6).

5. Charging infrastructure

NULLWEAR/P charges over USB-C at 5 V / 500 mA. Acceptable charging sources:

  • The integrated NULLWEAR dock (preferred) — installs alongside the existing Axon body-camera dock; auto-detects unit attachment; logs charge cycles to a central depot dashboard via Ethernet.
  • A standard USB-C wall charger — any compliant 5 V / ≥ 1 A USB-C power source. Hands-off, but does not log to the asset system.
  • A standard USB-C cable from a laptop — only for diagnostic/intake use. Not for routine end-of-shift charging.

Charging time: from empty (≤ 5% SoC) to 100% in ≤ 60 minutes. From 50% to 100% in ≤ 30 minutes (typical end-of-shift case). The unit may safely remain on the dock indefinitely; the charger automatically holds at 100% with no overcharge.

Do not use PD (USB Power Delivery) chargers above 5 V negotiated voltage. The unit will protect itself but charging will be slower.

6. Periodic checks

Cadence Check
Daily Dock health: confirm all dock ports are powered and reporting status.
Weekly Random functional sample: select 5 units from the dock, run the abbreviated functional test in §12.4 of the ATP.
Monthly Asset reconciliation: confirm all unit serials physically present match the asset system. Investigate discrepancies same-day.
Quarterly Field-test sample: select 10 units in service, run the field-testing protocol in docs/10-field-testing-protocol.md on each, report results.
Annually Full fleet acceptance re-test of a 1% random sample. Battery wear assessment.

7. Fault handling

When a fault report comes in from an officer:

Reported fault Action
LED red rapid blink Receive unit; tag as FaultRMA; issue replacement; transmit unit to depot for diagnosis.
LED off after charge cycle Same.
Cosmetic damage but functional Visual assessment; if in-tolerance, return to service; if out-of-tolerance, RMA.
Officer suspects unit is not protecting them Run the field-testing protocol against the unit (see docs/10-field-testing-protocol.md) immediately. If PAR < 0.95, RMA.
Lost / stolen Immediately update asset system: Status → Lost or Stolen. Notify the agency security officer. Issue replacement.

For depot diagnosis of an RMA unit:

  1. Connect the unit via USB-C to a depot diagnostic computer.
  2. The unit enumerates as a USB-CDC serial port. Open at 115200 baud.
  3. Type ? and press Enter. The unit will print its firmware version, build date, recent statistics, and recent fault log.
  4. Cross-reference fault log entries with the firmware-known fault table in docs/11-troubleshooting.md.
  5. If recoverable (battery deep-discharge, firmware-corrupt), reflash via the USB-C bootloader and re-test.
  6. If unrecoverable (RF chain fault, mechanical damage), tag for end-of-life processing.

8. Returns and refurbishment

Units that fail in service but have repairable defects should be returned to the contract manufacturer for refurbishment under the supply contract. Refurbishment scope:

  • Battery replacement (battery is not field-serviceable; depot-level replacement is also not supported because of the potting compound).
  • Enclosure replacement (only if the original was sealed in a way that allows the PCB to be transferred).
  • Firmware reflash to current revision.
  • Re-acceptance test per docs/12-acceptance-test-procedure.md.

A refurbished unit is re-issued under the same serial number. The asset record is updated with the refurbishment date.

9. End-of-life

A NULLWEAR unit reaches end-of-life when:

  • Battery has reached 80% capacity retention (typically 500 charge cycles ≈ 2 years of daily use, depending on shift pattern); and
  • A refurbishment cycle is uneconomical or impractical; or
  • The firmware revision is no longer supported by the current production stream.

End-of-life processing:

  1. Update asset system: Status → EndOfLife.
  2. Discharge the battery to ≤ 30% SoC for safe transport.
  3. Bag and label per AS/NZS 5377 (lithium battery e-waste).
  4. Send to an authorised e-waste recycler. Retain the certificate of disposal.
  5. Issue a replacement unit to the same officer.

Expected service life: 7+ years with one mid-life refurbishment.

10. Inventory and reporting

Monthly reporting cadence to agency leadership:

Metric Target
Units in active issue (depends on agency)
Units in stock ≥ 5% of active fleet
Units in RMA ≤ 2% of active fleet
Field-test PAR (rolling 90-day average) ≥ 0.99
Mean time between fault reports ≥ 1000 days
Charge-cycle distribution (histogram) Distributed across fleet
Fleet age distribution Distributed

Quarterly reporting to the National Coordination Committee (TBD) on:

  • Aggregate PAR.
  • Aggregate fault rates and RMA reasons.
  • Any field observations of attempted attacker adaptation.

11. Security

NULLWEAR contains no operational, classified, or personally-identifying information. It is not in itself a security-controlled item. However:

  • The firmware is signed with the agency's MCUboot key. Do not leak signing keys.
  • The fleet asset register is operationally sensitive: it links serial numbers to badge numbers, and could in principle be used by an adversary to map officer identities. Treat the asset register as PROTECTED.
  • The fault log stored in NVM on the unit contains nothing identifying, only RF event statistics.
  • The dock infrastructure Ethernet network should be segmented from general agency LAN; treat the dock VLAN as a privileged management network.

Do not connect a NULLWEAR unit to any untrusted USB host. The unit will resist firmware modification by signature check, but the supply chain is the principal threat surface.

12. Suppliers and replacements

Reference suppliers (refer to the supply contract for current authorised vendors):

  • Primary CM: domestic Australian (or NZ / UK / US / Canada) — do not use Chinese contract manufacturers for this project.
  • Battery cell: PowerStream PGEB0042530 or domestically-sourced 200 mAh LiPo with PCM.
  • nRF5340 SoC: Nordic Semiconductor (direct or via Mouser / Digi-Key / element14).
  • RF front-end: Skyworks SKY66112-11.
  • Chip antenna: Johanson 2450AT43A100.
  • Enclosure tooling: domestic Australian injection-mould house.

For full BoM see docs/05-hardware-spec.md.

For replacement orders: agency procurement should retain an authorised stock of ~10% of active fleet. Lead time for new manufacture is 8–12 weeks; refurbished units can typically be turned around in 2 weeks.

For technical issues with the unit itself, see docs/11-troubleshooting.md. For acceptance testing of new shipments, see docs/12-acceptance-test-procedure.md. For operational verification in the field, see docs/10-field-testing-protocol.md.