Actinius launches nRF9160 SoM and XBee module with NB-IoT, LTE Cat-M, and GPS

Last year, Actinius launched Icarus IoT Board equipped with nRF9160 SiP providing GPS & NB-IoT connectivity in Adafruit Feather form factor. The company is now back with more compact Nordic Semi nRF9160 hardware, namely the tiny 28×18.5mm Icarus SoM with built-in eSIM, as well as Icarus Bee XBee module that incorporates Icarus SoM plus a nano-SIM slot, as well as an RGB LED and a user button.

Icarus SoM

The module comes with the following specifications:

SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9160-SICA system-in-package with Arm Cortex-M33 MCU, 1024 KB flash, 256 KB SRAM, and LTE-M (eMTC), NB-IoT, and GPS connectivity
Storage – 64Mbit SPI flash
On-board eSIM
Antennas – 2x u.FL connectors for LTE and GPS
Sensor – Accelerometer
I/Os – 2x 20 castellated holes with GPIOS, I2C, SWD, Reset, SIM card signals, and power pins
Supply Voltage – 3.3V
Dimensions – 28 x 18.5 mm

The multi-layer module is designed to help customers simplify their design and bring products faster to market as they can make two-layer carrier boards for the module. Icarus SoM’s symbol and footprint can be found on SnapEDA for a variety of EDA tools from Altium to KiCad to Target 3100!.

There’s no information about pricing, nor availability for the module at this time, how there’s a devkit already for sale: Icarus Bee.

Icarus Bee nRF9160 XBee Module

Specifications:

Icarus SoM NB-IoT, eMTC, GPS module
Nano SIM card slot that can make use of the dual-SIM selection circuit
I/Os
- 2x 10-pin Xbee headers
- Various test points
Misc – Button, RGB LEDs
Power Supply – Via Xbee header or external DC power (see 3x solder pads on the bottom of the board)
Dimensions – 32.5×28 mm

By default, Icarus Bee ships with the latest firmware from Nordic Semi, as well as MCUboot bootloader, and the Serial LTE Modem Application Firmware from Nordic. It also includes certificates compatible with the company’s online IoT Platform Actinius I/O. You’ll find resources to get started on the documentation website.

Icarus Bee is available now and in stock for 59.50 Euros excluding VAT.

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.