Description
The SparkFun expLoRaBLE Thing Plus is a Feather-footprint development board with the NM180100 system in package (SiP), from Northern Mechatronics. Thanks to the NM180100, as well as the Ambiq Apollo3 microcontroller and the Semtech SX1262 LoRa transceiver, this Thing Plus is a highly integrated LoRa® module supporting both 868MHz and 915MHz bands and Bluetooth® Low Energy. On top of all else, the expLoRaBLE Thing Plus utilizes our handy Qwiic Connect System which means no soldering or shields are required to connect it to the rest of your system!
The NM180100 SiP includes a Semtech SX1262 LoRa module paired with the Apollo3 MCU, which is used in the SparkFun Artemis Module. This provides the board with compatibility in the Arduino IDE, through our Apollo3 Arduino core. With both the BLE and LoRa capabilities of the expLoRaBLE you will be able to operate as a Bluetooth enabled LoRa node.
You won't have to worry about how to hook up an appropriate antenna, either. The SparkFun expLoRaBLE Thing Plus has been equipped with a simple U.FL connector. With the U.FL you will have your choice of BLE and RF antennas to chose from but, personally, we recommend our Wide Band 4G LTE Internal FPC Antenna.
Specification
Northern Mechatronics NM180100 SiP
21 Multifunctional GPIO
Up to eight available 14-bit ADC channels
Up to twenty-one 16-bit PWM channels
Up to two UARTs
An available SPI Bus
Up to two I2C Buses
Thing Plus (or Feather) Form-Factor:
Dimensions: 2.3" x 0.9"
Two Mounting Holes:
4-40 screw compatible
28 PTH Pins
USB-C Connector
2-pin JST Connector for a LiPo Battery (not included)
4-pin JST Qwiic Connector
LEDs:
PWR - Red 3.3V power indicator
CHG - Yellow battery charging indicator
18 - Blue status/test LED (Pin 18)
RX - Yellow RX serial communication indicator
TX - Green TX serial communication indicator
Buttons:
10
Reset
JTAG/SWD PTH Pins
u.FL Antenna Connector - BLE & RF
Compatible with "The Things Network" LoRaWAN
NM180100 SiP General Features:
LoRa®:
863-870 MHz (Europe)
902-928 MHZ (US)
Maximum Transmit Power +22 dBm
Receiver Sensitivity -147.6 dBm
Bluetooth® 5 Low Energy:
2.402-2.480 GHz
Maximum Transmit Power +2 dBm
Receiver Sensitivity -95 dBm
Architecture:
Ambiq Apollo3 ARM® Cortex® M4 with FPU up to 96MHz
Arduino IDE through SparkFun Apollo3 Arduino Core
Flash: 1MB on-chip with external flash support
RAM: 384 kB
Security:
ISO 7816 secure interface
Secure Key Storage
Secure Boot
Secure OTA
External Flash Inline Encryption/Decryption