G-Duino GSM/GPRS/GPS & Accelerometer shield for Netduino

Kickstarter Link Project Link

The G-Duino is born

While researching a solution to my problem, I found a chipset that pretty much met all the requirements; it was the SIM908. This chipset allows me to have data, text, and voice capabilities for my Netduino along with the ability to provide accurate GPS positioning data. On top of these vital requirements for the project, the SIM908 provides battery monitoring and charging capabilities. Using the ST Micros LIS302DL I was able to satisfy the remaining requirements for the project (accelerometer and motion data). Therefore, with the SIM908 chipset and LIS302DL I began building a shield that would satisfy all my project requirements. I ended up putting the project on hold for a little bit due to other projects taking precedence. Then the day was upon me, again , where I needed similar functionality for a work project, and the G-Duino project was back in the spotlight with top priority. I have built three of these boards based on G-Duino PCB rev 1, shown in the photo, and am building up revision 2 of the board with the accelerometer and motion data sensor prior to launching my Kickstarter campaign. I am currently building the software libraries for the Netduino to simplify and demonstrate the use of this shield with all of its capabilities. My Kickstarter Video shows the device being used as a vehicle black box, capable of tracking the vehicle that it is in and allowing the interested party to communicate with the device in real-time and also receive alerts from the device. I also show how it can be connected to a smoke detector and can alert you when the alarm is tripped, which is a great feature if you are not using a monitoring system such as ADT. The device could be set up to dial 911 and communicate the alarm and location of the house. The last demo that I plan on video-taping over the next couple weeks of my campaign is one where the Netduino and the G-Duino shield is used to navigate a rock crawler with live interactivity with the rock crawler from your smartphone or internet connected computer.

The G-Duino, with it's integrated TCP/IP stack, only requires a simple AT command set to establish connectivity for your projects, simplifying development and minimizing development time for almost any project that you can dream up that requires data or voice communication capabilities (the second revision provides audio jacks and headers for full use of the SIM908 voice capabilities).

This shield has many more possibilities and can be used to add connectivity, geographical positioning data, and detection of movement and acceleration to your Netduino projects. Having two-way communication with your product without the need of a network and the ability to accurately track the location of your project opens up a whole new realm of possibilities for the inventor creating devices. Some application ideas for the G-Duino shield are a GPS tracking devices, unattended vehicle operation, remote data acquisition, SMS remote control, security system, voice command recognition, voice communication, and the list goes on. The next section talks about the technical specifications of the G-Duino.

Technical specifications for the G-Duino

General Specifications

Quad Band 850 / 900 / 1800 / 1900 Mhz
GPRS Multi-Slot class 10
GPRS Mobile Station class B
Compliant to GSM phase 2 / 2+
Class 4 (2W @ 850 / 900 MHz
Class 1 (1W @ 1800 / 1900 MHz)
Low Power Consumption
Normal Operating temperature: -40ºC to +85ºC
Control via AT commands


Specifications for SMS via GSM/GPRS

Point-to-point MO and MT
SMS cell Broadcast
Text and PDU mode


Specification for Audio

Tricodec Half rate (HR), Full rate (FR), Enhanced Full rate (EFR)
Echo Cancellation

Specifications for Data Transfer

GPRS Class 8/10: max 85.6 kbps downlink
PBCCH support
Coding Schemes CS 1, 2, 3, 4
CSD up to 14.4 kbps
USSD
Non Transparent Mode
PPP-stack
Integrated TCP/IP stack


Specification for GPS

Receiver type: 42 Channel, GPS L1 C/A code, High-performance STE engine
Sensitivity Tracking: -160 dBm, Cold starts: -143 dBm
Time-To-First-Fix Cold start: 30s (typ), Hot starts: 1s (typ)
Accuracy Horizontal position: <2.5m CEP


Specification for Accelerometer

<1 mW power consumption
± 2g/± 8g dynamically selectable full-scale
Programmable multiple interrupt generator
Embedded self test
10000g high shock survivability


Other Features

Input power 5-12vdc
low power consumption 1.0ma in sleep mode with gps engine powered down.
Battery monitoring and charging capability
Real Time Clock
2 GPIO lines and 1 ADC that can be accessed via AT commands
LED's indicating power status and network status
Easy accessible SIM socket


If this sounds interesting, stop by our Kickstarter Page.

Kickstarter Link Project Link

And you already have Netduino drivers ready too for all that?

And you already have Netduino drivers ready too for all that?

They will be ready by the release of the product, so far the drivers for GPS, Accelerometer and SMS Messaging are all working along with an implementation of using the SIM908 TCP/IP stack for data communication, so I am able to send and receive data via web services. I am working on a lower level network driver so that the system.net functionality can be used. Right now it is a wrapper that sends byte data to a destination or retrieves byte data from a destination.

-George Vigelette

That sounds awesome! It sounds like a very complete module and I think it is great to have these community driven extensions available. It would be far beyond my skill set to make this functionality myself. I was looking into a bike-tracker not too long ago. Since my bike gets stolen regularly, I thought is would be nice to be able to call my bike and ask where it is Thank you for sharing this.