Wio LTE GPS Tracker Board Comes with a 4G Modem, Supports Espruino Firmware (JavaScript Programming)

Seeed Studio launched Wio GPS tracker with a 2G GSM module a few months ago, and while it should work in some countries, others are phasing out 2G networks, and only support 3G or 4G. The company has now launched an update with Wio LTE board with the same form factor, and most of the same features except they replaced the 2G/Bluetooth/GNSS module with a 4G LTE/GNSS module, and Atmel SAMD21 ARM Cortex M0+ microcontroller by an STMicro STM32 ARM Cortex-M4F MCU.

Wio LTE board specifications:

MCU – STMicro STM32F405RG ARM Cortex M4F MCU @ 168 MHz with 1MB flash, 192+4KB SRAM
Storage – micro SD slot
Connectivity via Quectel EC21-A (America) module
- LTE Cat.1 modem:
  - FDD LTE: B2/B4/B12 WCDMA: B2/B4/B5
  - AT Command: 3GPP TS27.007 and enhanced AT Commands
  - Data – LTE-FDD Max 10Mbps(DL) Max 5Mbps (UL)
  - NanoSIM card
  - 2x u.FL antenna connectors
- GNSS – GPS/BeiDou/GLONASS/Galileo/QZSS with 1x u.FL GNSS antenna connector
Audio – 3.5mm audio jack with mic and stereo audio
Expansion – 6x Grove Connectors (2x Digital, 2x Analog, 1x UART, 1x I2C)
USB – 1x micro USB port for power and firmware update
Misc – RGB LED, LTE power button, MCU reset button
Power Supply – 5V via micro USB port, 2-pin JST 1.0 header for battery
Dimensions – 54.7mm x 48.2mm

When I reviewed Wio GPS Tracker, the instructions provided to use with the Arduino IDE did not work very well. So let’s hope they will come up with a better and up-to-date getting started guide for Wio LTE board in their Wiki. Alternatively, the new board also supports Espruino for JavaScript programming for the I/Os, micro SD card, 4G, SMS, and GPS, and shown in Espruino Wio LTE page.

Seeed Studio is now taking pre-order for Wio LTE US Version for $97.50 plus shipping. Quectel also has other EC21 modules like EC21-E (EMEA, Korea, Thailand, India), EC21-AUT (Australia), and others, so I’d expect Seeed Studio to also launch variants of Wio LTE board that work in other countries.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

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.