Adafruit FONA 808 Cellular + GPS Breakout Created by lady ada Last updated on 2018-08-22 03:48:34 PM UTC
Guide Contents Guide Contents Overview Obtaining a SIM T-Mobile & TING Some suggestions from FONA users! Pinouts Connectors Antenna ports SIM Connector (on Back) Bottom Breakouts LEDs Other Breakout Pins Assembly Attaching Header Prepare the header strip: Add the breakout board: And Solder! 16 17 17 Attaching Antenna & Battery SIM Card Wiring to USB Wire it up Double Check! 19 19 22 22 24 Test Commands Test Setup Test Send SMS Test Call Wiring to Arduino Wire up Arduino Test Download Adafruit_FONA FONA
Set and Get audio volume Setting Headset or External audio Playing Toolkit Tones PWM Buzzer PWM/Buzzer Phone Calls Make Phone Calls SMS Send and Read SMS GPS (FONA808) GPS Submodule (FONA 808 only) Raw NMEA out FONA 808 vs FONA 800 F.A.Q.
Overview Cellular + GPS tracking, all in one? Oh yes! Introducing Adafruit FONA 808 MiniGSM + GPS, an all-in-one cellular phone module with that lets you add location-tracking, voice, text, SMS and data to your project in an adorable little package. This module measure only 1.75"x1.6" but packs a surprising amount of technology into it's little frame. At the heart is a powerfull GSM cellular module (we use the latest SIM808) with integrated GPS.
Hot starts: 1s (typ.) Warm starts: 28s (typ.) Accuracy: approx 2.5 meters Sounds delicious, right? So we plated this fine module onto a little breakout with all the extras you need to make your next project shine Onboard LiPoly battery charging circuitry so you can take your project on the go. Use any 500mAh+ LiPoly or LiIon battery and recharge over the MicroUSB when necessary. Two LEDs let you know when its charging and done Standard 4-pole TRRS headphone jack.
On its own, this module can't do anything. It requires a microcontroller to drive it! We suggest and use an Arduino but any 3-5V microcontroller with a UART can send and receive commands over the RX/TX pins. You will also need some required accessories to make FONA work. These are not included! SIM Card! A 2G Mini SIM card is required to do anything on the cellular network. (https://adafru.it/fbO) Lipoly Battery - 500mAh or larger! This 500mAh (https://adafru.it/drL)battery, or this 1200mAh (http://adafru.
There's also some recommended accessories. They are not required but chances are you'll want them! TRRS 4-Pole Headset - Any 'iPhone' or 'Android' compatible (but not iPhone original) should work. We tried about 10 different ones, and basically the more expensive once are more comfortable and louder but our official iPhone headset mic did not work. Vibrating motor - the FONA can drive this directly, just solder a mini vibrating motor disc in! (https://adafru.
Obtaining a SIM In order to use the phone parts of FONA you will need a SIM card. Luckily, there's a phone store in every town in America! You can get a pre-paid or post-paid SIM but we kinda like the pre-paid kind. A 2G Mini SIM card is required to use the module. Nearly any cell phone shop can sell you a SIM card. It must be a 2G GSM card. AT&T in the US does not sell these anymore! They are shutting down their GSM network, and only T-mobile sells and supports a GSM network.
Adafruit now sells the TING SIM card, a 2G GSM SIM that works great with all FONAs, and has a great billing system as well, where you only pay what you use! If you don't want to use TING, there are dozens of T-Mobile resellers such as Walmart, SIMPLEMOBILE, etc! Just ask the seller if its AT&T or T-Mobile network. If they get cagey just say your apartment has no AT&T coverage. You do not need to bring in or show your FONA to the Cell Phone store.
voice/sms or a combination for a pretty low price! Hi, just a update to let you know I have just begun to use the Fona, SIM from ROGERS, which is 2G, 3G, ang 4G. I pulled my sim out of my phone, and it works well. So if you have Canadians that want to use that product, let them know it works on the west coast ! You can go to Rogers website and see the coverage map and services. Steve C We haven't tried all of these SIMs so you may need to try it out.
Pinouts There's a lot packed into the FONA MiniGSM, lets go thru all the pins, buttons and indicators and what they do Connectors There's three external connectors along the left side, from the top, a mini JST 2-pin, a microUSB and a headphone jack. JST 2-pin - this is the battery input connector. It works with any of our Lipoly batteries but since the charge rate is 500mA (and the cellular module can spike high current draw!) we suggest our 500mAh (https://adafru.it/drL) or 1200mAh (http://adafru.
Antenna ports Up top is the place where you can plug in your GSM antenna. An antenna is required to use the module for any kind of voice or data communications as well as some SIM commands! You can either use a uFL GSM antenna like this (https://adafru.it/fbL), or use a uFL to SMA adapter (https://adafru.it/fbM) and then an SMA antenna (https://adafru.it/fbN) On the right is a GPS antenna port. This is for a passive 50 ohm GPS antenna only! © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
SIM Connector (on Back) A 2G Mini SIM card is required to use the module. Nearly any cell phone shop can sell you a SIM card. It must be a 2G GSM card. AT&T in the US does not sell these anymore! They are shutting down their GSM network, and only T-mobile sells and supports a GSM network. If you are in another country, chances are you can just ask for a GSM 2G card. For USA customers, we have a known-working TING SIM card which has a great billing system and works very well! (https://adafru.
Bottom Breakouts The most important pins are broken out at the bottom of the board. Not all of these are required, but they are all hella useful These are in rough order of most important (not in linear order like we usually do) These pins are all 3-5V input safe and if they are an output, the logic level is whatever Vio is set to. Vio - THIS IS THE MOST IMPORTANT PIN! This is the pin that you MUST drive with an external voltage from 3V5V to set the logic level converter.
send and receive commands and data. These pins are auto-baud so whatever baud rate you send "AT" after reset or boot is the baud rate is used. RX is into the module, TX is out of the module. RTS - this is the hardware flow control pin. If you turn on flow control on the SIM808 you can use this pin to stop and start data transfer from the SIM808 to your microcontroller RI - this is the Ring Indicator. It is basically the 'interrupt' out pin from the module.
Assembly Attaching Header Prepare the header strip: Cut the strip to length if necessary. It will be easier to solder if you insert it into a breadboard - long pins down © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Add the breakout board: Place the breakout board over the pins so that the short pins poke through the breakout pads And Solder! Be sure to solder all pins for reliable electrical contact. (For tips on soldering, be sure to check out our Guide to Excellent Soldering (https://adafru.it/aTk)). © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
You're done! Check your solder joints visually and continue onto the next steps Attaching Antenna & Battery A battery, GPS antenna and GSM antenna is required! Use any Lipoly or LiIon 3.7V/4.2V battery © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Check polarity for the battery! Snap the uFL connector on, it will click when placed properly SIM Card You must insert a SIM card to do anything but the most basic tests. GPS does work without a SIM but of course you cannot send or receive texts, calls, etc! The SIM card holder is on the back. It holds a verystandard "Mini SIM" Micro SIMs will not work! Make sure you get a "Mini SIM" © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Open by sliding the cover towards the antenna Insert the SIM with the gold pads facing up and the notch on the outer corner Close the hinge down and slide the cover to lock it in place © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Wiring to USB If you have a USB console cable you can wire it up directly and send commands using any Terminal software For Windows, we suggest Putty (https://adafru.it/aUb)- it's free and open source! Wire it up In this example, we're using our USB console cable. You will have to install the PL2303 driver and determine the COM port before you continue. © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Connect to that COM port at 8N1 (8-bit, no parity bit, 1 stop bit) at 9600 baud. You can actually use any baud rate and it will autodetect but 9600 is supported by any terminal program! © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Double Check! 1. 2. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7.
ATI - Get the module name and revision AT+CMEE=2 - Turn on verbose errors (handy for when you are trying out commands!) AT+CCID - get the SIM card number - this tests that the SIM card is found OK and you can verify the number is written on the card Test Setup Some tests to verify the setup AT+COPS? Check that you're connected to the network, in this case T-Mobile AT+CSQ - Check the 'signal strength' - the first # is dB strength, it should be higher than around 5. Higher is better.
AT+CMGF=1 - this will set it to TEXT mode not PDU (data) mode. You must do this because otherwise you cannot just type out the message. AT+CMGS="nnnnnn" - send a text message! You will get a '>' prompt for typing.
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Wiring to Arduino Wire up After soldering headers to the FONA module, plug it into a breadboard. We'll use an UNO, other Arduinos may be different Vio connects to 5V (or, with a 3V logic Arduino, 3V) GND connects to GND Key connects to GND (always on) RX connects to digital 2 TX connects to digital 3 (9 on Leo/Micro, 10 on Mega) RST connects to digital 4 We'll be using software serial to talk to the module. The Mega ('2560 based) can't use Digital 3 for FONA TX, so use digital 10 instead.
Arduino Test The FONA library is under heavy development! This page may change over time! Download Adafruit_FONA To begin reading sensor data, you will need to download Adafruit_FONA Library from our github repository (https://adafru.it/dDC). You can do that by visiting the github repo and manually downloading or, easier, just click this button to download the zip https://adafru.it/dDD https://adafru.
Make sure you have a charged 3.7/4.2V LiPoly or LiIon battery plugged into the JST and an antenna attached © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Once uploaded to your Arduino, open up the serial console at 115200 baud speed to begin the tester sketch © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Make sure you also have Both NL & CR for the serial command sender option. This means when you send data to the Arduino via the console, it will put a newline/return at the end. Using the Test Sketch The test sketch has a menu interface so you can test out just about everything the FONA can do. The menu may change slightly as we add more functionality and update code! Continue onto the next few sections to see what functionality you can test with the sketch © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Hardware Test Battery voltage Lets begin by reading the battery voltage. That's the lipoly battery. This is handy if you need to track when the battery is low! type b into the command window and hit Send You'll see a print-out of the battery voltage in mV, so in this case its 3.726V Check SIM CCID You can verify that the SIM is inserted and correct by reading the CCID, which is the unique identifier printed on it with C © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Network Test Check RSSI (network signal strength) You can ask the FONA for the signal strength with the command i. The reply is a number, but you can convert it to dBm. Try to have the signal strength higher than 5 in order to make calls, SMSs, etc. In this case, I've got a 10 Checking Network Registration If the FONA has good signal it will immediately try to locate a cell tower and register to it.
Audio Settings & Test Set and Get audio volume You can set the audio volume with v and retrieve it with V - its in % so ranges from 0 to 100 Setting Headset or External audio There are two audio paths on the FONA. One is the headset, thru the 3.5mm audio jack. The other is "external" - using the two speaker and mic pins for wiring up external speaker and mic. FM audio, phone calls, tones, etc can be routed to one or the other.
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
PWM Buzzer PWM Buzzer is available on the FONA800 and 808 Breakouts and Shields PWM/Buzzer There is a single PWM output pin that you can use to control a Piezo or a vibrating motor. The datasheet is a little unclear on how to use it in 'PWM' mode where you have full frequency and duty cycle control. In the mode we're using it, you can set the frequency from 1-2000 Hz and it will have 50% duty cycle. The PWM pin is the straight-from-themodule output, 2.8Vpp.
Phone Calls Make Phone Calls OK now we're onto the good stuff. You can make a phone call with FONA pretty easily. Make sure you have the right audio interface selected (external or headset!) before you go forward Make a call with c - the call happens in the 'background'. When you're done then you can hang up with h © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
SMS Send and Read SMS Another easy thing you can do is send and receive SMS messages. Lets start by sending an SMS.
You can read individual SMS's with r And delete SMS's by slot # with d © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Note that before I deleted SMS #2, so if I read them again, that SMS # will be an empty slot. SMS number #3 doesn't "move slots"! © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
GPS (FONA808) GPS Submodule (FONA 808 only) The FONA 808 has a built in GPS module, you can use it for locating yourself in space! You will need to attach a GPS antenna to the uFL connector and make sure the GPS antenna is outside and pointing up to towards the sky Make sure to use a PASSIVE GPS antenna! You can start out by turning on the GPS module with O (capital-o) and query the status of the 'fix' with x. It will take a minute or two to get a fix.
0 - this is the mode (will be 0) 4043.576433 - this is the longitude 7400.316980 - this is the latitude People often get confused because the GPS is working but is "5 miles off" - this is because they are not parsing the lat/long data correctly. Despite appearances, the geolocation data is NOT in decimal degrees. It is in degrees and minutes in the following format: Latitude: DDMM.MMMM (The first two characters are the degrees.) Longitude: DDDMM.MMMM (The first three characters are the degrees.) 58.
When done, you can type in E and 0 instead, which will turn off the output © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
FONA 808 vs FONA 800 We have two different types of GSM modules & shields under the FONA brand name. The FONA 800 (GSM/GPRS) and the FONA 808 (GSM/GPRS + GPS too) © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Here's the key similarities Both have a 2G GSM/GPRS cellular core Both can do voice, data, text Both require a LiPoly battery and GSM antenna © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Both can use a 3.5mm headset Both recharge over the microUSB jack Both have a buzzer driver Here's key differences Size: the SIM808 based FONA breakout is larger. Shields are the same size The 808 has a GPS module integrated as well The 800 has external 8 ohm speaker driver (external audio) whereas the 808 has only headset audio and 32 ohm speaker driver The 800 has an FM tuner for listening to radio © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
F.A.Q.s Is a Lipo Battery required? Can I run the FONA off of a power supply or just the microUSB port? The microUSB (on the shield, in CHARGE mode and powered via USB or DC power) is only used to charge the battery. Without a battery installed it will flicker on and off so it cannot be used to power a FONA minus battery. A 1200mAh+ sized Lithium ion/polymer battery is required, nothing else will be able to easily power the FONA and provide the correct voltage range even during 2 Amp spikes.
My FONA won't turn on/respond! Or it acts flakey and auto-shuts off sometimes! We've noticed a lot of problems that are 'weird' that are a results of using batteries with the wrong polarity.
// Set the preferred SMS storage. // Use "SM" for storage on the SIM. // Use "ME" for internal storage on the FONA chip #define FONA_PREF_SMS_STORAGE "\"SM\"" //#define FONA_PREF_SMS_STORAGE "\"ME\"" Then recompile and upload I'm trying to reset the FONA with my microcontroller/computer and pulling the RESET pin low via a GPIO isnt working? There's a superfluous level shifting diode that we put on the FONA and FONA 808 breakouts - it turns out it isn't necessary and for microcontrollers with weaker outputs
© Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
Handy Commands Here's a quick list of useful commands that may not be directly supported by the library but are handy for many projects! RI on SMS receipt AT+CFGRI=1 The RI pin will pulse low for ~100ms when an SMS is received Factory Reset ATZ will reset the FONA GSM module to its factory default Bluetooth commands Here's a thread if you're interested in the BT support in the SIM800H (https://adafru.
Downloads Datasheets & App Notes: SIM800 Command Manual (https://adafru.it/tFz) - All the basic commands that the module supports (please note some are not supported by the FONA 808, such as FM radio, external audio, or bluetooth) SIM808 Hardware design (https://adafru.it/tFA) SIM808 Specifications (https://adafru.it/tFB) SIM808 GSM Location App Note (https://adafru.it/tFC) SIM808 v1 GPS AT commands (https://adafru.it/fhm) SIM808 v2 GPS AT commands (https://adafru.
Test Reports SIM808 CE Certificate (https://adafru.it/tFU) Supplier's Declaration of Conformity (https://adafru.it/tFV) FCC TCB BT (https://adafru.it/jSb) R&TTE Statement of Opinion (https://adafru.it/jSc) FCC Part 15B Test Report (https://adafru.it/jSd) FCC Part 15C Test Report (https://adafru.it/jSe) FCC RF Test Report (https://adafru.it/jSf) FCC TCB (https://adafru.it/jSA) EMC Test Report (https://adafru.it/kDQ) GPS Test Report (https://adafru.it/kDR) RFG Test Report (https://adafru.
Schematic Click to embiggen © Adafruit Industries https://learn.adafruit.
© Adafruit Industries Last Updated: 2018-08-22 03:48:29 PM UTC Page 57 of 57