Gboard 800

Overview

Gboard 800 is a unique Arduino board which features a SIM800 GSM/GPRS/BT module, an XBee socket, nRF24L01+ module interface and an ATMega328P controller. This board can be added wireless XBee / nRF24L01+ control as well as GSM/GPRS connectivity to your projects. It’s great for anything from home automation to robot control. The possibilities are endless!

Gboard 800 can be used as a GSM/GPRS data transfer or wireless communication project development platform. Gboard supports wide range power supply and Micro SD for mass storage. There are some 3pin electronic brick/ sensor brick interface breakout on board, which offers an easy way for a quick prototyping. The board requires FTDI basic board to upload sketch, you can use our Foca board to do it.

Note:

1. Gboard 800 has a micro USB connector only for debugging or firmware uploading.
2. When you upload sketch to Gboard, please choose the board Arduino Duemilanove w/ ATmega328.
3. The bootloarder file is ATmegaBOOT_168_atmega328.hex, you can find it in the directory arduino\hardware\arduino\bootloaders\atmega
4. The serial interface (bootloader connection) is 3.3v, not the typical 5v as on many Arduino boards - anyone using an alternative to the Foca board must take note not to risk damage.

Specification

PCB size	88.1mm X 60.7mm X 1.6mm
Power supply	7-23V DC
Microprocessor	Atmega328
Indicators	PWR, Status, NET
RoHS	Yes

Electrical Characteristics

Specification	Min.	Typical Value	Max.	Unit
Power Voltage	7	-	23	VDC
Input Voltage VH (Target Voltage = 3.3V)	3	3.3	3.6	V
Input Voltage VL:	-0.3	0	0.5	V
Current Consumption	-	100	500	mA

Hardware

Note:

• Baterry Socket: you can connect a Li-ion battery onto the socket to power the board up instead of DC external power supply, the input voltage is from 3.4V~4.4V.
• Debug Port: it is a debugging interface for SIM800 so that you can upgrade firmware and debug software.

Pin Map

• Nrf24L01 Socket

Index of Interface	Name of Interface	Index of Arduino
1	GND	-
2	3V3
3	CE	D8
4	CS	D9
5	SCK	D13
6	MOSI	D11
7	MISO	D12
8	IRQ	-

• SD Card Socket

Index of Interface	Name of Interface	Index of Arduino
1	SD_CS	D10
2	SD_MOSI	D11
3	3V3	-
4	SD_SCK	D13
5	GND	-
6	SD_MISO	D12

UART Setting Jumpers

The SIM800 module and XBee module communicate to Atmega 328 through UART. Because they could not communicate in same port in the same time, there are two UART setting jumpers to configure the UART communication. The figure of UART setting jumpers is as below.

(Figure of UART setting jumpers)

D0 and D1 are hardware UART ports of Arduino. D2 and D3 are digital GPIO of Arduino. There are two configurations to set the UART communication.

Description	UART Setting Jumpers Connection	Figure
Hardware UART to SIM900, Software UART to Specific	ST – D0(Hardware Rx of Arduino) SR – D1(Hardware Tx of Arduino) XT – D2(Software Rx/Tx of Arduino) XR – D3(Software Rx/Tx of Arduino)
Software UART to SIM900, Hardware UART to Specific	XT – D0(Hardware Rx of Arduino) XR – D1(Hardware Tx of Arduino) ST – D2(Software Rx/Tx of Arduino) SR – D3(Software Rx/Tx of Arduino)

ST: UART Tx of SIM900 module

SR: UART Rx of SIM900 module

XT: XBee Tx of XBee module

XR: XBee Rx of XBee module

Power and reset connection of SIM800

In the GBoard, the PWRKEY and RESET pins of SIM800 module connect to Arduino as list below.

Arduino pin	SIM800 pin	Enable
D6	PWR	High level Active
D7	RESET	High level Active

Revision History

Rev.	Description	Release date
v1.0	Initial version	2014-12-10

Download

• File:IM141125007 - Gboard 800 - schematic.pdf
• File:SIM800 Series_Bluetooth_Application Note_V1.01.pdf
• File:sim800_hardware_design_v1.05.pdf
• File:SIM800_Series_AT_Command_Manual_V1.05.pdf

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