Companion development boards for easy prototyping and deployment.

Notecarriers are available in several form-factors to facilitate rapid prototyping. Depending upon the variant, a Notecarrier may be designed with direct host integration, size optimization, integrated cellular/Wi-Fi and GNSS antennas, or even to be soldered directly into a solution for low-volume production.

Functional Description

Notecarriers are designed to bridge the gap between prototype and production for the Notecard. The Notecard is designed to be socketed directly onto the circuit board using an edge connector socket, along with a customer's MCU, sensors, and controls. While such a model provides a highly modular configuration for the final product, it can make prototyping unnecessarily difficult.

Notecarriers offer breakout connections for the Notecard, as well as circuitry to provide power management, protection and signal amplification.

Features

• Simple. Provides breadboard compatible pins or solderable mask for direct connections.
• Compatible. Level shifters ensure compatibility with 3.3V or 5V equipment.
• Convenient. Powered by a USB connector (requires 2A supply).
• GPS Ready. Models are either active GPS compatible, or feature a built-in antenna to enable GNSS connectivity.

Compatible Notecards

Due to differences in the physical size of Notecards, certain Notecarriers are only compatible with certain Notecards. The Notecarrier B v2.1 is compatible with:

• Notecard Cellular
• Notecard Cellular (Legacy)
• Notecard WiFi
• Notecard LoRa

Package Configuration

Notecarrier B (Basic) v2.1

Notecarrier B (CARR-B) is designed for building highly customized hardware solutions.

• Notecard edge connector socket and mounting screw receptacle.

• Micro-USB port to power Notecarrier and provide a USB Serial command interface to Notecard.

• Requires user provided U.FL cellular/Wi-Fi antenna and optional U.FL active GPS antenna.

• JST PH connector for a LiPo battery.

• Qwiic connector for connecting I2C peripherals.

• LiPo charging circuit.

• PCB Dimensions: 52mm x 46mm

• Center of Mounting Holes: 41mm x 41mm (measured from the edge of the PCB to the center of the furthest mounting hole)

Power Information

All Notecarriers can be powered by connecting directly to the USB port. However, most installations will not have USB power available, so several alternate power options are provided by the various Notecarrier models:

• attaching a LiPo battery.

  The LiPo battery must be a single-cell 3.7V battery with a 2-pin JST PH connector.

• applying 2.5-5.5VDC to the VBAT or VMAIN pins.

  Commonly provided via DC power supply or non-rechargeable battery.

GPS (GNSS) Antenna Requirements

All Notecarrier models are designed to support active GPS, and several Notecarrier models provide built-in antennas ready to be connected to a Cellular Notecard using the included U.FL cables.

Active GPS Ready

The Notecarrier B, Notecarrier Pi, and Notecarrier R models do not have integrated GPS antennas, but support active GPS by providing circuitry to enable bias voltage to be supplied.

The Notecarrier is built to support either an active or passive GPS antenna, and has a DIP switch to enable you to select your configuration. The DIP switch connects the Notecard's VACT_GPS_OUT to VACT_GPS_IN to support active GPS antennas that accept voltages in the 3.3V-4V range*.

*VACT_GPS_OUT is only powered when the cellular modem is active.

Header Descriptions

Notecarrier B Dual 10-pin Headers

Specifications

Electrical Characteristics

DC Characteristics

Absolute Maximum Ratings

Ordering Information

• Notecarriers
• Development Kits

Design Files

Open source hardware designs for all Notecarriers are maintained in the note-hardware GitHub repository.

Notecarrier Schematics

The following are a set of interactive KiCanvas-powered schematics of the Notecarrier B v2.1.

Terms and Conditions

Visit Blues Hardware Terms & Conditions.

Revision History

Contact Information

Blues Inc.
https://blues.com
50 Dunham Ridge Suite 1650
Beverly, MA 01915
support@blues.com