Monarch Go Pi HAT Adds LTE Cat M1 Connectivity to Raspberry Pi Board

After introducing Renesas ZMOD4410 Indoor Air Quality HAT for Raspberry Pi earlier this month, Avnet is back with another Raspberry Pi HAT namely Monarch Go Pi HAT that adds LTE Cat M1 connectivity to Raspberry Pi boards and other compatible SBC’s with a 40-pin GPIO header.

The expansion board gets its name from Sequans Monarch Go LTE-M modem itself based on the Sequans Monarch GM01Q LTE IoT module that supposed to support both LTE Cat M1 (eMTC) and NB-IoT. The solution is certified by various operators in North America, Europe, and Asia, and ships with a Verizon ThingsSpace IoT SIM.

Monarch Go Pi HAT specifications:

• LTE IoT Connectivity
  • Sequans Monarch Go LTE modem with  Cat-M1 (& NB-IoT?) connectivity
  • Pre-installed Verizon ThingsSpace IoT SIM
• USB – Micro USB port for debugging and programming
• Expansion
  • MikroElektronika shuttle click site with 3.3V I/O:  I2C, SPI, GPIO, UART
  • Voltage I/O translator – 1.8V to 3.3V
• Dimensions – Raspberry Pi HAT Compatible

The kit includes Monarch Go Pi HAT fitted with Monarch Go LTE modem, and ships with screws & standoffs, and a Quickstart card. The Pi HAT is also compatible with Monarch Go-GPS modem adding GPS navigation, which can be purchased separately and shown fitted to the expansion board in the photo below.

Target applications include asset tracking, remote monitoring, embedded kiosk, and IoT platform enablement. I could not find documentation specific to the Pi HAT, but the documentation should be similar to the one for the Sequans module itself. I could not access it in time for this article, since it requires registration and approval from an administrator…  I got access pretty quickly… The docs include mechanical files, technical documents, Python scripts, and video tutorials. Note that the very first time you log in to the website, you’ll be greeted with a pop-up informing you of the terms and conditions and that you’ll be considered to have agreed to an NDA by going any further.

The official price for Monarch Go Pi HAT is $72.95 with Monarch Go modem, but it’s listed for $53.33 on Avnet’s own store. You could also purchase Monarch Go and Go-GPS modems separately for $38 and $44.67 respectively. Visit the product page and/or read the announcement for further information.

Via LinuxGizmos

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.

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