Particle, the manufacturer of the popular Photon, created a kit to add both GSM and GPS tracking abilities to their Electron device! This kit has everything you need to create a location tracker for your most valuable possessions.
The new Asset Tracker v2 shield has new improvements and features over the first versions including:
- Improved GPS performance
- Smaller enclosure for space-constrained tracking application
- Expandable with Grove, Seeed’s huge library of sensors and firmware libraries
- Capable of receiving 3 GNSS (GPS, Galileo, GLONASS, BeiDou) concurrently
- Added low noise amplifier and a bandpass filter for improved performance with the on-board antenna
The Asset Tracker Kit comes with a Particle SIM card that comes with three free months of Particle’s 1MB monthly data plan for IoT devices. While there are 2G and 3G version, it’s recommended to get the 3G version as some US carriers are planning to sunset some of their 2G networks.
There are two versions of the Electron. One version is for North and South America and Australia (850/1900 MHz) while the other version is for Europe/Asia/Africa (900/1800/2100 MHz), so make sure you order the correct version.
Specifications:
- STM32F205 ARM Cortex M3 microcontroller
- 1MB flash, 128K RAM
- Cellular modem: U-Blox SARA U-series (3G) or G-series (2G)
- 36 pins total: 28 GPIOs (D0-D13, A0-A13), plus TX/RX, 2 GNDs, VIN, VBAT, WKP, 3V3, RST
- Based on 72-channel u-bloxM8 engine
- GPS/QZSS L1 C/A, GLONASS L10F, BeiDou B1I, Galileo E1B/C, SBAS L1 C/A: WAAS, EGNOS, MSAS, GAGAN
- Update rates: Single GNSS: up to 18 Hz, 2 concurrent GNSS: up to 10 Hz
- Position accuracy of 2.5 m
- Sensitivity of -167 dBm
- Acquisition times: cold starts=26s, aided starts=2s, reacquisition=1s
- On-board ROM
- Anti-spoofing and anti-jamming technologies
- Two quick connect grove sensor ports
- Built-in 3 axis IMU
- On board ceramic GPS antenna with LNA and bandpass filter
- Ability to switch between on-board antenna or external-active antenna
- Operating temperature of –40° C to 85° C
- Board dimensions: 4.06" x 1.42" x 0.3" (0.5" including headers)
Kit Contents:
- Three months of Particle’s 1MB monthly data plan
- Particle Electron PCB
- Weatherproof enclosure
- Asset Tracker Shield PCB
- Particle SIM card
- Li-Po battery (2000mAh)
- USB cable
- Breadboard
- Pinout reference card
- Components for a sample product
Basic Data Charges:
Particle’s 1MB monthly data plan:
-
Three months included with kit
- $2.99/month for 1MB (thousands of messages)
- No contracts, cancel anytime
- $0.99/each additional MB
If you are just looking/want to know more about the Electron without the GPS Kit, check this article out:
Add 3G cellular connectivity to your next project with Particle’s Electron 3G Kit
