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Overview
The Botletics SIM7000 LTE CAT-M/NB-IoT shield uses the new LTE CAT-M and NB-IoT technology and also has integrated GNSS (GPS, GLONASS and BeiDou/Compass, Galileo, QZSS standards) for location tracking. There are multiple SIM7000-series modules that cater to different regions around the world, and luckily SIMCOM has made it really easy to identify: SIM7000A (American), SIM7000E (European), SIM7000C (Chinese), and SIM7000G (Global). Currently NB-IoT is supported in many countries around the world but unfortunately not in the US, although it's scheduled to be commercially available in the near future (2019) and regardless, we can still use the LTE CAT-M functionalities!
To use the shield, simply plug the shield into an Arduino, insert a compatible SIM card, attach the LTE/GPS antenna, and you're good to go!
Introduction
With the emergence of low-power IoT devices with cellular connectivity and the phase-out of 2G (with only T-mobile supporting 2G/GSM until 2020), everything is moving toward LTE and this has left many people scrambling to find better solutions. However, this has also left many hobbyists facepalming with legacy 2G technology like the SIM800-series modules from SIMCOM. Although these 2G and 3G modules are a great starting point, it's time to move forward and SIMCOM recently announced their new SIM7000A LTE CAT-M module at a developer's conference. How exciting! :)
![At&t sim card for gps tracker At&t sim card for gps tracker](http://sc02.alicdn.com/kf/HTB1ziugaiLrK1Rjy1zd761nnpXaU/Battery-Powered-sim-card-micro-vehicle-GPS.png)
The amazing part of all of this is that SIMCOM made it extremely easy to migrate from their 2G and 3G modules to this new module! The SIM7000-series use many of the same AT commands which minimizes the software development by miles! Also, Adafruit already has a wonderful FONA library on Github that can be used to introduce this new SIM7000 into the party!
What is LTE CAT-M?
LTE CAT-M1 is considered the second-generation LTE technology and is lower-power and more suitable for IoT devices. NarrowBand IoT (NB-IoT) or 'CAT-M2' technology is a Low-Power Wide Area Network (LPWAN) technology specifically designed for low-power IoT devices. It is a relatively new technology that is, unfortunately, not yet available in the US, although companies are working on testing and building the infrastructure. For IoT devices using radio technology (RF) there are several things to keep in mind: Power consumptionBandwidthRangePacket size (send lots of dataCostEach of these have tradeoffs (and I won't really explain them all); for example, large bandwidth allows devices to send lots of data (like your phone, which can stream YouTube!) but this also means it's very power-hungry. Increasing the range (the 'area' of the network) also increase power consumption. In the case of NB-IoT, cutting down the bandwidth means that you won't be able to send much data, but for IoT devices shooting morsels of data to the cloud this is perfect! Hence, 'narrow'-band technology, ideal for low-power devices with little amounts of data but still with long range (wide area)!
The Botletics SIM7000 Shield for Arduino
The shield that I've designed uses the SIM7000-series to enable users to have extremely low-power LTE CAT-M technology and GPS at the tip of their fingers! The shield also sports an MCP9808 I2C temperature sensor, great for at least measuring something and sending it via a cellular connection.
- The shield is open source! Yay!
- All documentation (EAGLE PCB files, Arduino code, and detailed wiki) can be found here on Github.
- To see which SIM7000 version is most suitable for you, please see this wiki page.
- The Botletics SIM7000 shield kit can be purchased here on Amazon.com