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Blues Notecarrier® Datasheet: Notecarrier Pi v1.0

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. However, the Notecarrier Pi v1.0 is compatible with all available Notecards:

Differences Between Notecarrier Pi and Other Notecarriers

There are several key differences between the Notecarrier Pi and other Blues Notecarriers. Specifically, the Notecarrier Pi:

Has no support for battery monitoring or charging.
Supports 3V3 only and is powered directly by the Raspberry Pi.
Doesn't offer I2C clock stretching (therefore I2C errors are more common).
Doesn't support the Notecard's AUX 1-4 pins (therefore card.aux is not supported).
Provides serial access via AUX RX/TX (therefore there is limited support for card.aux.serial).

Package Configuration

Notecarrier Pi (Raspberry Pi Hat) v1.0

Notecarrier Pi (CARR-PI) is designed for drop-in development with a Raspberry Pi or compatible Single Board Computer. This Notecard must be powered by a Raspberry Pi or compatible SBC.

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Front	Back

Pre-soldered stackable 40-pin header for plugging directly into a Raspberry Pi and stacking additional Pi hats.
Notecard edge connector socket and mounting screw receptacle.
Micro-USB port to power Notecarrier and provide a USB Serial command interface to Notecard.
External Nano-SIM slot for additional carrier connectivity.
DIP switches (shown below) to configure diagnostic serial port, attention pin, and active GPS support.
Requires user provided U.FL cellular/Wi-Fi antenna and optional U.FL active GPS antenna.
PCB Dimensions: 56mm x 65mm
Center of Mounting Holes: 52mm x 61mm (measured from the edge of the PCB to the center of the furthest mounting hole)

1 Grove I2C port for attaching external peripherals to your project.

warning

Due to the power requirements of the Notecard, some Raspberry Pi 2 and 3 models include a current-limiting fuse that will power-cycle the device when the Notecard's modem is on and transmitting. To avoid these issues, we recommend using only Raspberry Pi 4 or 5 devices with the Notecard and Notecarrier Pi.

Power Information

The Micro-USB port on the Notecarrier Pi is a data-only port and does not provide power to the Notecarrier. Make sure to power your project with a Raspberry Pi, or use an alternate power method, including:

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 V+ pin.

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

warning

Typical USB ports may only be capable of supplying 500 mA of current, which might not be enough to power Notecard during a cellular connection to a GSM network (which can spike to 2A). In this situation, you're advised to supplement power to your Notecarrier with an external source (e.g. a LiPo 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 Pi 40-Pin Header

Notecarrier Pi is configured as a Pi Hat. As such, the Notecarrier Pi follows the standard 40-pin Raspberry Pi Model B+ layout.

note

The Raspberry Pi 40-pin GPIO connector used has 0.64mm square pins.

Pi 40-pin Header Pin Usage

Pin #	Pin Name	Dedicated	Description
1	3V3	N	3.3VDC power
2	5V	N	5VDC power
3	SDA	N	I2C data (Notecard has onboard 10K pull-up resistors)
4	5V	N	5VDC power
5	SCL	N	I2C clock (Notecard has onboard 10K pull-up resistors)
6	GND	N	Ground
8	AUX_RX	Y/N (DIP)	High-speed diagnostic interface
9	GND	N	Ground
10	AUX_TX	Y/N (DIP)	High-speed diagnostic interface
14	GND	N	Ground
20	GND	N	Ground
25	GND	N	Ground
30	GND	N	Ground
31	ATTN	Y/N (DIP)	Configurable interrupt signal
34	GND	N	Ground
39	GND	N	Ground

DIP Switches

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

Notecarrier Pi DIP switches

ACTIVE GPS - When turned ON, 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 OFF if Notecard is used with a passive GPS antenna! However, we recommend an active antenna for best performance.
SERIAL TXRX - When turned ON, enables serial communication with Notecard via Notecard AUX_RX and AUX_TX via Raspberry Pi GPIOs 14 and 15 (Pins 8 and 10). Typical applications will use I2C for Notecard interactions, with this AUX serial port providing useful debugging features for developers.
ATTN - When turned ON, connects Notecard ATTN to Raspberry Pi GPIO 6 (Pin 31).

Specifications

Electrical Characteristics

DC Characteristics

Description	Minimum	Maximum	Unit
Supply Voltage	2.5	5.5	V
Supply Current	500	2000	mA

Absolute Maximum Ratings

Description	Minimum	Maximum	Unit
Storage temperature	-35	70	°C