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.

• Notecard Outboard Firmware Update. Capable of updating host firmware, without support from the currently executing host firmware.

Tested Notecard Outboard Firmware Update MCUs

The following is a list of Feather-compatible MCUs that we've tested and ensured are ready for Notecard Outboard Firmware Update:

• Adafruit Feather nRF52840 Express
• Adafruit Feather STM32F405 Express
• Blues Swan (version 3 and greater)
• Blues Cygnet

Compatible Notecards

Due to differences in the physical size of Notecards, certain Notecarriers are only compatible with certain Notecards. However, the Notecarrier F v1.3 is compatible with all available Notecards:

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

Package Configuration

Notecarrier F (Adafruit Feather Socket) v1.3

Notecarrier F (CARR-F) is designed for drop-in development with any Adafruit Feather or compatible microcontroller. It includes two female pin headers (12-pin and 16-pin) for directly plugging in a Feather compatible board. It also includes Qwiic/Stemma QT I2C ports for attaching external peripherals to your project. This Notecarrier is also capable of supporting the Notecard's Outboard Firmware Update functionality, which allows you to update the firmware running on your host, without any cooperation of the host firmware.

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• Adafruit Feather compatible header socket.
• Notecard edge connector socket and mounting screw receptacle.
• Micro-USB port to power Notecarrier and provide a USB Serial command interface to Notecard.
• Requires an external LTE antenna or LTE + GPS antenna.
• External Nano-SIM slot for additional carrier connectivity.
• JST PH connector for a LiPo battery.
• JST PH connector for a solar panel.
• JST PH connector on for Primary Cell Battery or DC input on V+
• 2x JST SH 3.3V I2C port (Adafruit STEMMA QT and Sparkfun Qwiic compatible).
• I2C Level shifter isolating Notecard power draw from Feather.
• Active/Passive GPS toggle switch
• Ultra low power ATTN/F_EN enable switch
• Notecard Outboard Firmware Update enable switch
• LiPo charging circuit.
• PCB Dimensions: 103mm x 51mm
• Center of Mounting Holes (Notecarrier): 99mm x 47mm (measured from the edge of the PCB to the center of the furthest mounting hole)
• Center of Mounting Holes (Feather): 11mm x 49mm and 29mm x 49mm (measured from the edge of the PCB to the center of both sets of mounting holes)

Pins Shared Between Feather and Notecarrier

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.

• attaching a solar cell (must be accompanied by LiPo).

  The solar charging circuit is designed for use with a 4.5-7V solar panel.

• applying 2.5-5.5VDC to the V+ pin.

  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.

Header Descriptions

Notecarrier F Dual 24-Pin Headers

DIP Switches

There are three DIP switches are located on the back of the board. The switches are used to reserve exclusive access to the GPIO pins.

1. GPS_ANT - When switched ACTIVE (default), applies 3.9VDC to the center conductor of the Notecard GPS antenna connector to power the low-noise amplifier (LNA) of an active GPS antenna. This switch must be PASSIVE if Notecard is used with a closed-loop, passive GPS antenna! An active antenna is recommended for best performance.
2. AUX - When switched DFU (default), enables Notecard Outboard Firmware Update with a compatible MCU via the Feather's F_RX, F_TX, F_B0, and F_NRST. This completely isolates the pins from the external headers, so it is important to note based on the peripherals you use in your design.
3. FEATHER_EN - When switched ON (default), connects the EN pin of the 3.6V regulator to N_VIO to keep power all the time. When in the N_ATTN position connects the EN pin of the 3.6V regulator to the ATTN pin on the notecard for low power scenarios.

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 F v1.3.

Notecarrier F

Notecarrier F Feather

Notecarrier F I/O

Notecarrier F Notecard Connectors

Notecarrier F Power Input

Notecarrier F Power Rails

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