TinySine 3G Arduino Shield Qickstrat Guide
TinySine SIM5320X 3G shield has better coverage, GSM backwards-compatibility and even sports a built-in GPS module for geolocation & asset tracking. This all-in-one cellular phone module with that lets you add location-tracking, voice, text, SMS and data to your project in a single shield.
This shield packs a surprising amount of technology into it's little frame. At the heart is a powerfull GSM cellular module with integrated GPS. On its own, this shield can't do anything. It requires a microcontroller to drive it! We suggest and use an Arduino but any 3-5V microcontroller with a UART can send and receive commands over the RX/TX pins.
Hardware and Software required:
STEP1: Install Library
To begin reading sensor data, you will need to Install Library as follows:
- Download Arduino Library and unzip it.
- Copy the Adafruit_FONA folder to Arduino libraries folder. Typically in your (home folder)/Documents/Arduino/Libraries folder.
- Re-start the Arduino IDE if it is currently running.
STEP2: 3G Baud Adjustment
If you have a Tinysine 3G shield, the first time you use it you may need to run the FONA3G_setBaud example to set the baud rate manually to 4800bps rather than 115200.
- Stack your 3G shield on the Arduino main board,then plug in the USB cable from your computer to the Arduino board.
- We'll be using software serial to talk with the module,set TX-2,RX-3 on the 3G shield. And press the small POWER button for 4 seconds to power on.
- Select your board type and serial port from the Tools menu,Open up File->Examples->Adafruit_FONA->FONA3G_setbaud and upload to your Arduino wired up to the module.
- Once uploaded to your Arduino, open up the serial console at 115200 baud speed to begin the tester sketch.
STEP3: Send SMS Test
In order to use the phone parts of 3G shield you will need a 2G or 3G Mini SIM card. Luckily, Nearly any cell phone shop can sell you a SIM card. You can get a pre-paid or post-paid SIM but we kinda like the pre-paid kind.
Note: Micro SIMs won't fit - so make sure its a "Mini" SIM. Sometimes these are just called plain "SIM" cards since the huge-size SIMs are rarely used. Mini SIMs are 1" x 0.6" / 25mm x 15mm. these are by far the most common size.
- Insert a Mini SIM card in the SIM card holder on the back, and connect the GSM antenna.
- Put the 3G shield on the Arduino board,then plug in the USB cable from your computer to the Arduino board.
- We'll be using software serial to talk to the module,we choose TX—2,RX—3on the 3G shield. And press the small POWER button for 5 seconds to power on.
- Select your board type and serial port from the Tools menu, Open up File->Examples->Adafruit_FONA->FONAtest and upload to your Arduino wired up to the module.
- Once uploaded to your Arduino, open up the serial console at 115200 baud speed to begin the tester sketch.
- Enter the “s”in the send column and click “send”.Serial monitor will print output “Send to #”,then enter the phone number you want to send and click “send”.finally enter the message you want to send and click ”send”.
Note: Make sure you also have Both NL & CR for the serial command sender option. This means when you send data to the Arduino via the console, it will put a newline/return at the end.
STEP4: GPS Test
GPS does work without a SIM but of course you cannot send or receive texts, calls, etc! We strongly recommend using an active antenna with the GPS(External GPS Antenna (needs a uFL to SMA adapter too)), while we could get a fix with a passive antenna it took a long time.
Note:For more rapid and accurate positioning,please put the GPS antenna outside or around the place where there is no obstacle to prevent the search to locate the satellite.
- Connect the GPS antenna to the 3G shield and Put it on the Arduino board,then plug in the micro USB cable from your computer to the 3G shield.
- Power supply to the Arduino board using 9V DC power and press the small POWER button for 4 seconds to power on.Then the computer will recognize a multi-type USB connection. If you are the first time to download the drive and choose to install the appropriate driver according to your computer system.
Open device manager there are 4 devices created:
- A communication port
- A Sim Tech HS-USB diagnostics 9000
- A Sim Tech HS-USB NMEA 9000 (this is the raw GPS NMEA output)
- A Sim Tech HS-USB AT port 9000 (this is how you can send commands to the module!)
3.Download the SIMCom NMEA GPS DEMO and open it,click
set the corresponding port number and MODEL choose Other.
4. Enter the “AT+CGPS=1”in the command column and click “send”，then wait a moment can view the current location of the longitude,latitude,altitude etc.
