---
title: Hackster Tutorial - Hands-On with Cellular IoT on the Raspberry Pi 5
description: This Hackster tutorial shows you how to add low-bandwidth cellular connectivity to the Raspberry Pi 5.
source_url: https://dev.blues.io/blog/hands-on-cellular-iot-raspberry-pi-5/
canonical_url: https://dev.blues.io/blog/hands-on-cellular-iot-raspberry-pi-5/
markdown_url: https://dev.blues.io/blog/hands-on-cellular-iot-raspberry-pi-5.md
---

# Hackster Tutorial - Hands-On with Cellular IoT on the Raspberry Pi 5

![Hackster Tutorial - Hands-On with Cellular IoT on the Raspberry Pi 5 banner](https://dev.blues.io/images/blog/posts/hands-on-cellular-pi5/banner.jpg?v=669b5dbf)

December 14, 2023

## This Hackster tutorial shows you how to add low-bandwidth cellular connectivity to the Raspberry Pi 5.

- [Raspberry Pi](https://dev.blues.io/blog/tag/raspberry-pi)
- [Cellular](https://dev.blues.io/blog/tag/cellular)

[![Rob Lauer](https://dev.blues.io/images/blog/authors/rob-lauer.jpg?v=57fb21a7)](https://dev.blues.io/blog/author/rob-lauer/)

[Rob LauerSenior Director of Developer Relations](https://dev.blues.io/blog/author/rob-lauer/)

What is now virtually an annual tradition, our friends at Raspberry Pi have released the latest model of the single board computer we all know and love, the [Raspberry Pi 5](https://www.raspberrypi.com/products/raspberry-pi-5/).

![raspberry pi 5](https://dev.blues.io/images/blog/posts/hands-on-cellular-pi5/pi-5.png?v=51d13a5e)

Sporting a new board layout, better performance, and new interfaces, the Pi 5 is an exciting product to behold. There's also (finally) a [real-time clock](https://www.raspberrypi.com/documentation/computers/raspberry-pi-5.html#real-time-clock-rtc) on the Pi that can wake up your Pi from sleep mode - and it's programmable - which makes using the Pi in battery-powered edge deployments *slightly* more realistic.

*For example:*

- [What's Destroying My Yard? Pest Detection With Raspberry Pi](https://www.hackster.io/tjvantoll/what-s-destroying-my-yard-pest-detection-with-raspberry-pi-890c3a)
- [Busted! Create an ML-Powered Speed Trap](https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/busted-create-an-ml-powered-speed-trap-b1e5d1)
- [Remote Birding with TensorFlow Lite and Raspberry Pi](https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/remote-birding-with-tensorflow-lite-and-raspberry-pi-8c4fcc)

In these scenarios, access to WiFi is difficult or impossible and the only valid connectivity options tend to be either cellular or LoRaWAN.

Enter the [Blues Notecard](https://blues.com/products/notecard/). Designed around low-power and low-bandwidth connectivity scenarios, the Notecard provides an easy (yet powerful) way to add wireless connectivity via **prepaid Cellular, WiFi, or LoRa** to virtually any physical device (yes, the Pi included).

![pi5 with notecarrier](https://dev.blues.io/images/blog/posts/hands-on-cellular-pi5/pi5-notecarrier.jpg?v=33f0f232)

## Cellular on the Raspberry Pi 5 in Action

In this project, we will create a Python application that acts as both a **person counter** and a **temperature/pressure/humidity tracker**. We'll use the Blues Notecard to sync data with the cloud. We can then use the [Datacake](https://datacake.co/) platform to generate a cloud-based dashboard of the routed data.

*The app workflow looks something like this:*

1. Detect a person's face using the Pi's camera and OpenCV.
2. Keep a count of the number of faces detected.
3. Send the count of faces along with temp/pressure/humidity data to the cloud every minute.
4. Show a report of accumulated data on a cloud-based dashboard.

## View the Project on Hackster

**The complete cellular IoT tutorial for the Raspberry Pi is [available here on Hackster](https://www.hackster.io/rob-lauer/hands-on-with-cellular-iot-on-the-raspberry-pi-5-8c9e44).**

*If you're interested, last year we put together this video on utilizing cellular on the Raspberry Pi 4, Zero, and Pico:*

[Video: Hackster Tutorial - Hands-On with Cellular IoT on the Raspberry Pi 5](https://www.youtube-nocookie.com/embed/4zE6mM0TX9M)

## What's Next?

After reading through the tutorial, you can get your own [Blues Notecarrier Pi hat](https://shop.blues.com/products/carr-pi?utm_source=dev-blues\&utm_medium=web\&utm_campaign=store-link) and [any Notecard](https://shop.blues.com/collections/notecard?utm_source=dev-blues\&utm_medium=web\&utm_campaign=store-link) to get started with cellular on the Pi. Just consult the [Blues Quickstart](https://dev.blues.io/quickstart.md) to get started.

Happy Hacking on the Pi! 🥧