GSM GPRS Shield V1.0

Overview

Hook your Arduino up to GSM/GPRS cell phone network with GPRS shield! You can use your Arduino/Seeeduino or other main boards to dial a phone number or send a text to your friend via easy to use AT commands now. This new version features a quad-band low power consumption GSM/GPRS module SIM900 as well as a compact PCB antenna. Meanwhile, improvements on interfaces and basic circuit have been taken to make it more concise and reliable. And there’re two choices for you to communicate GPRS shield with the main board -- UART or SoftwareSerial

Specification

Compatible Arduino UNO/Seeeduino directly ; Other main board via jumpers Selectable interface UART, Software serial Quad band support 850/900/1800/1900MHz Communication support Standard - GSM 07.07 & 07.05 and Enhanced - SIMCOM AT Commands Operation temperature -40°C to +85 °C Protocol support 0710 MUX protocol, embedded TCP/UDP protocol, FTP/HTTP, FOTA, MMS, embedded AT Certification of SIM900 CE, IC, FCC, ROHS, PTCRB, GCF, ICASA, REACH, AT&T Dimensions 68.58 * 53.34mm Consumption Power supply 5v via 5V pin, 6.5~12v via Vin pin

Cautions

• Make sure your SIM card is activated.
• GPRS Shield doesn't come with ESD precautions. Take special care when handling it in dry weather.
• The factory default setting for the GPRS Shield UART is 19200 bps 8-N-1. (Can be changed using AT commands).

Introduction

• Serial port select

There’re two choices for you to communicate GPRS shield with the main board while plugging the two jumpers on to the SWserial or HWserial positions. If using SWserial, D7 and D8 will be used by SIM900 of GPRS Shield; if using HWserial, D0 (RX) and D1 (TX) will be used.

• Power on/off by D9

Unsolder pad JP default. Solder it if you wanna use software to power on/off the GPRS shield. Set the D9 to a high level, it means the button is pressing. The pad of JP besides the ISP port.

• Breakout of SIM900

Some pins of SIM900 are break out beside the ISP port, there're LINEIN_R, LINEIN_L, ADC, PWM1, PWM2, GPIO1~GPIO6, GND, FW_update (DISP_CLK, DISP_DATA, DISP_D/C, DISP_CS), RI, DCD, DSR, CTS, VDD_EXT, LDTR, LRTS. And those pins are pointed from SIM900 without any setting.

• RTC battery holder

It can provide 3v volts to VRTC of SIM900 from CR1220 battery.

• Power

Replace the original LDO circuitry with DC-DC circuitry -- TD1410. Heat dissipation gets lower and efficiency gets higher up to 80%+. Meanwhile, the output can up to 4.15V/2A. And there're two input of power supply: 5v pin: Soft start circuitry is added in the new version to smooth out the power shock at the moment the shield turns on, preventing the shield from unexpected reset issue. More detailed changes please refer to Related Reading : Version Tracker Vin pin: The range of input voltage are between 6.5v to 12v.

• Antenna

The type of Antenna connector is IPEX, and the maximum transit power of SIM900 is 30dBm(1w). More information please see the Specification of GPRS Antenna.

• LED Status Description

LED	Status	Function
Power indicator (Green)	Off	Power of GPRS Shield is off
	On	Power of GPRS Shield is on
Status indicator (Red)	Off	Power off
	On	Power on
Net indicator (Green)	Off	SIM900 is not working
	64ms On/800ms Off	SIM900 does not find the network
	64ms On/3000ms Off	SIM900 finds the network
	64ms On/300ms Off	GPRS communication