We’ve seen a bunch of IoT boards with 2G connectivity recently including Orange Pi 2G-IoT, Wio GPS, and Nadhat, but while in some countries 2G will still work for many years, those boards are already obsolete – or soon will be – in many other countries. However, finding low cost 3G / 4G boards is more difficult, and while one solution is to use 3G or 4G USB dongles, “OpenH – Open Hardware” – part of KLiP Industries – has designed two boards with 4G connectivity provided by Quectel modules.
OpenH PULSAR Board
PULSAR board is compatible with Arduino Zero and features the following specifications:
- MCU – Atmel/Microchip SAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ MCU (the as the one used in Arduino Zero)
- Connectivity
- 4G LTE Cat M1 modem with GPS (Quectel BG96-NA); No external antennas required
- Bluetooth and NFC
- Security – Dedicated management CPU with crypto engine
- Power Supply 10W digital power supply and battery charger with direct solar input
- FCC and Carrier certified
The board can work in standalone mode, but if needed, a Raspberry Pi Zero can optionally be mounted to the board. PULSAR is designed for low-bandwidth projects up to 200 kbps, support OTA firmware updates, and can work with the cloud provider of your choice.
OpenH QUASAR Raspberry Pi HAT Board
If your project needs more bandwidth, you can use QUASAR boards instead on a Raspberry Pi 2/3 board:
- Connectivity
- Cat 4 or Cat 1 4G LTE modem with GPS (Quectel EC25 / Quectel EC21?)
- Bluetooth and NFC
- Expansion connectors
- Security – Dedicated management CPU with crypto engine
- Power Supply – 25W digital power supply and battery charger with direct solar input
- FCC and Carrier certified
You’ll get up to 150 Mbps bandwidth using LTE Cat 4 module, and just like the other board is can support OTA firmware update, and popular cloud services like Amazon Web Service (AWS) IoT, Azure IoT Hub, IBM BlueMix, Google Cloud for IoT, ThingSpeak, etc…
Installation and IP67 Enclosure
OpenH explains Bluetooth and NFC are for installation and maintenance, and they appears to have a mobile to access the serial console, authorize access, reboot the board, check GPS coordinates…. over Bluetooth, as shown above using QUASAR board.
Many such long range IoT projects are designed to be placed outdoor, so the company also offer Rubicon IP67 weatherproof enclosure that works with both 4G boards, as well as Raspberry Pi, Arduino, BeagleBone, etc.. and is high enough for one or more add-ons board thanks to a selection of shallow or deep covers. The photo above shows the case with a Raspberry Pi board (left) and Beaglebone Black + PRUDAQ cape (right).
The downside is that the board are not available yet, pricing is unknown, and documentation is very limited right now. If you are interested, you can register your email on openh.io website by clicking on Pre-order Now button. Rubicon IP67 enclosure is available now for $35 plus shipping.
Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.
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