NB | DEV KIT - Hardware Manual (Version 1.0)

Content

Version History

VersionDateChanges
1.0
 
Initial Version
1.0.1 Extending the description of the serial adapter board

Components

The NB | DEV KIT hardware consists of two boards:

  1. The EX-COM210 NB-IoT communication board, including the NB-IoT modem, a microcontroler, an SMA Antenna connector and and a micro SIM card slot.
  2. The EX-EVL210 USB/RS232 serial adapter board, including three different external connectors to be able to communicate with the EX-COM210 board.

Both boards are plugged in together via header pins. The following figure shows the complete NB | DEV KIT and its components.

EX-EVL210 USB/RS232 serial adapter board

UART Interface selection

The EVL210 has three serial UART interfaces, which can be used to interact with the EX-COM210 NB-IoT board:

Label
Connector type
Voltage level
Comments
J102female screw terminals3.3Vpin mapping: U1 = TX, U2 = RX, U3 = GND
J103micro USB connector5VThe micro USB connection is also the power supply, therefore it must always be connected (even if not used as UART).
J104RS232 connector12V

In order to the select the desired serial interface, the jumper on J101 has to be changed:

Interface
Connected jumper pins
screw terminalsJ4 J2
mirco USBJ1 J2
RS232J3 J2

Peripherals

The reset button triggers a hard reset of the EX-COM210 NB-IoT board. Any state of the microcontroller and the NB-IoT modem will be reset, therefore a (Re-)Attach is needed.

There are also three status LEDs:

  • LED1 indicates the power status of the EX-COM210 board
  • LED2 indicates if the microcontroller is updating its status; in normal situations the LED should blink every second
  • LED3 indicates if the NB-IoT modem is attached to a NB-IoT cell (LED on = attached, LED off = detached)
  • LED4 indicates if a modem procedure (attach, transmit, receive, ...) is ongoing

The EX-COM210 NB-IoT communication board

  • Microcontroller
    • Controls the modem
    • Communicates with user via UART interface
  • NB-IoT Modem
    • Attaches device to NB-IoT nework
    • Transmit & receives data via NB-IoT network
    • Reads cell information (if attached)
  • Micro SIM card slot
    • Micro NB-IoT SIM card to be inserted to be able to attach to NB-IoT network
    • Cut corner of SIM card to be positioned in the left bottom corner of the card slot
  • SMA Antenna connector
    • Attach antenna to be able to transmit and receive NB-IoT signals

UART Interface

When using the UART interface to communicate with the device, then the following parameter shall be used:

ParameterValue
Baud Rate115200
Flow ControlNone
Data Bits8
Stop Bits1
ParityNone

EX-COM210 Stand-alone usage

The EX-COM210 can be used as a standalone device when unplugged from the EX-EVL210. Then the user needs to take care of the correct PIN connection and power supply.
The following figure shows the PIN assignments.

PINAssignmentDescription
1GNDGround
3RESETMicrocontroller reset
73V3_A3.3V voltage for ADC measurements
103V33.3V voltage for microcontroller
113V3_SARA3.3V voltage for NB-IoT modem
14GNDGround
15ANTAntenna
16GNDGround
23LED1LED 1
24LED2LED 2
25UART_TXTransmission pin of external UART
26UART_RXReception pin of external UART
27LED4LED 4
28LED3LED 3
29GNDGround

Warning

All unused pins MUST NOT be connected.