Arduino-shaped development board ships with a Nordic Semi nRF9160 module

Actinius Icarus SoM DK development board follows the Arduino Uno form factor and is equipped with the company’s Icacus SoM based on Nordic Semi nRF9160 system-in-package with LTE Cat-M, NB-IoT, and GPS connectivity.

The development kit provides an eSIM on the module and an additional Nano SIM socket on the mainboard, Arduino headers for a wide range of I/Os and compatibility with Arduino Shields, a set of user LEDs, reset and user buttons, and a battery charging port.

Icarus SoM DK specifications:

• Icarus SoM
  • SiP – Nordic Semi nRF9160-SICA system-in-package with Arm Cortex-M33 MCU, 1024 KB flash, 256 KB SRAM, and LTE Cat-M1 (eMTC), Cat-NB1 (NB-IoT), and GPS  connectivity
  • Storage – 64Mbit SPI flash
  • On-board eSIM
  • Antennas – 2x u.FL connectors for LTE and GPS
  • Sensor – Low power 3-axis accelerometer
  • I/Os – 2x 20 castellated holes with GPIOS, I2C, SWD, Reset, SIM card signals, and power pins
  • Supply Voltage – 3.3V
  • Dimensions  – 28 x 18.5 mm
• Nano SIM card on main board
• USB – 1x USB Type-C for power and programming via FTDI UART Bridge
• Expansion
  • Arduino Uno Rev3 headers with
    • Up to 18x General Purpose IO
    • Up to 6x 12-bit, 200 ksps ADC
    • Up to 3x SPI master/slave
    • Up to 4x I2C master/slave
    • Up to 4x UART (also with CTS/RTS)
    • I2S (Inter-IC Sound Interface)
    • Digital microphone interface (PDM)
    • 4x pulse width modulator (PWM) unit
  • 6-pin SPI header
• Debugging – Serial Wire Debug (SWD) on 1.27mm connector
• Security
  • Arm Trustzone
  • Arm Cryptocell 310
  • SSL/TLS
• Misc – Neopixel RGB LED, user button, Reset button
• Power Supply
  • 5V via USB Type-C port
  • 4.35V – 10.2V via Vin pin for example for solar panels
  • 3.2V – 4.2V Li-Ion/LiPo battery with battery voltage reading, USB charging
  • Low-noise, low-power power supply with output up to 400mA
  • Safety – Over-voltage protection, under-voltage protection,
• Dimensions – 68.5 x 55.2 mm (compatible with Arduino boards and shields)

Most I/Os can be configured and mapped with EasyDMA. The Icarus SoM DK board comes pre-programmed with the latest modem firmware (Zephyr OS based) from Nordic, the MCUboot bootloader, and the Serial LTE Modem Application firmware.

The board also embeds certificates enabling registration with the actinius.io IoT Platform, and is supported by the OTAU Platform from the company for secure OTA firmware updates. You’ll find more technical details and instructions to get started on the documentation website.

Actinius is taking pre-orders for the Icarus SoM DK development kit for €119.49 excluding VAT with 10MB of free data for 3 months. Shipping will start in November.

Jean-Luc Aufranc (CNXSoft)

Jean-Luc started CNX Software in 2010 as a part-time endeavor, before quitting his job as a software engineering manager, and starting to write daily news, and reviews full time later in 2011.

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