AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 Starter Kit - Getting started
UBX-21042016 - R02
Overview
Page 4 of 20
C1-Public
1
Overview
SARA-R5 Starter Kit provides access to AWS IoT Core and AWS IoT
services over a cellular LTE-M (also known as LTE Cat M1) connection. The kit includes a u-blox AWS
IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 module mounted on a
SparkFun MicroMod Asset Tracker Carrier Board
into
which a Sparkfun MicroMod processor board can be inserted, allowing the module to be used with
many different microprocessors.
⚠
VERY IMPORTANT
: you MUST complete the setup procedures of sections
the endpoint connecting to your development account. The process used in this prototype version
is for the evaluation phase only and will be simplified in the commercial release.
⚠
IMPORTANT: this starter kit is for evaluation purposes only; it is NOT suitable for production use.
The module included in the kit has not been provisioned for commercial use and supports limited
features. Please see section
for the supported features.
⚠
PLEASE BE PATIENT: cellular is not like Wi-Fi, many radio bands must be searched, more than one
network might need to be tried, all before a connection to the AWS service can even be attempted.
Please be patient, response times can be long, especially for commands such as
AT+CONNECT
,
AT+SEND
and
AT+DISCONNECT
.
2
Hardware description
This evaluation kit is based upon the standard SparkFun MicroMod Asset Tracker Carrier Board but
has the following critical differences:
•
the SARA-R5 module mounted on the board is a SARA-R510S, not a SARA-R510M8S, and hence
the board (a) does NOT include GNSS functionality (and so is not provided with a GNSS antenna)
and (b) does NOT power on automatically (see section
for the module power-on procedure),
•
the SARA-R5 module mounted on the board is loaded with
AWS IoT ExpressLink firmware
and
hence offers the AWS IoT ExpressLink AT interface and NOT the usual u-blox AT interface,
•
because of the above, the example code provided by SparkFun does not apply; instead see the
AWS IoT ExpressLink example code here:
https://github.com/aws/iot-expresslink
•
the kit includes a Thingstream SIM card,
•
the
SIG_INT
(G5/bus 5/pin 73) signal of the MicroMod connector is connected to the
GPIO3
pin of
the SARA-R5 module.
2.1
Data sheet
The product description for the u-blox AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 Starter Kit can be found on the
of the Sparkfun website.
Documentation for the u-blox SARA-R5 cellular module can be found on the
u-blox web site. All the information found there applies to the u-blox AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5
module
except
the AT command manual; the
AWS IoT ExpressLink programmers manual
the SARA-R5 AT command manual.
The hardware (pins, voltages, timings, power-on procedure etc.) of the u-blox SARA-R5 module and
the u-blox AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-R5 module is the same, with the following exceptions:
•
the UART flow control lines,
RTS
and
CTS
, are NOT used,
•
the
EVENT
pin, as defined by AWS IoT ExpressLink, is pin
GPIO3
of the AWS IoT ExpressLink SARA-
R5 module and is available on the
SARA_INT
(G5/bus 5/pin 73) signal of the MicroMod connector
on the board,
•
the baud-rate of the UART is fixed at 115200.
