SODAQ SARA AFF (Arduino Form Factor)

Overview

The SODAQ SARA is a developers board in the standard Arduino form factor. It comes with a powerful 32 bits microcontroller, two grove sockets to easily connect any sensor, two JST connectors to connect your battery and solar panel, onboard charge circuit, accelerometer, GPS and NB-IoT or Cat M1.

Version	Technology	Shop
N211	NB-IoT
R410	NB-IoT, LTE-M	SODAQ SARA AFF R410
R412	NB-IoT, LTE-M, 2G	SODAQ SARA AFF R412

Getting Started

Follow the getting started guide to verify you use the correct URL and update your boardfiles to the latest version.

Features

Microcontroller	ATSAMD21J18, 32-Bit ARM Cortex M0+
Compatibility	Arduino M0 Compatible
Size	Arduino Uno form factor, 53.4 x 68.6 mm
Operating Voltage	3.3V
I/O Pins	23
Analog Output Pin	10-bit DAC
External Interrupts	Available on all pins
DC Current per I/O pin	7 mA
Flash Memory	256 KB
SRAM	32KB
EEPROM	Up to 16KB by emulation
Clock Speed	48 MHz
Power	5V USB power and/or 3.7 LiPo battery
Charging	Solar charge controller, up to 500mA charge current
LED	RGB LED, LED on D13
NB-IoT	uBlox SARA N2XX, R4XX Series
GPS	uBlox SAM M8Q
Accelerometer/Magneto	LSM303AGR
USB	MicroUSB Port

Pinout

Pin definitions

Some things like the onboard LED and the RGB LED are used on multiple boards. To make it more easy you can use the definition name.

Example: pinMode(13, OUTPUT) and pinMode(LED_BUILTIN, OUTPUT) will do the same.

Pin description	Pin number	Definition
Grove Pin 1	D14 or A6
Grove Pin 2	D15 or A7
Red LED	D16	LED_RED
Green LED	D17	LED_GREEN
Blue LED	D18	LED_BLUE
Onboard LED	D13	LED_BUILTIN
GPS Enable	D26	GPS_ENABLE
Power Pin SARA	D27	SARA_ENABLE
Enable Pin SARA	D29	SARA_TX_ENABLE
Reset Pin SARA	D28	SARA_RESET
GPS Timepulse	D25	GPS_TIMEPULSE
MISO (SPI)	D12	MISO
SS (SPI)	D10	SS
MOSI (SPI)	D11	MOSI
SCK (SPI)	D13	SCK
Accelerometer Interrupt 1	D19	ACCEL_INT1
Accelerometer Interrupt 2	D20	ACCEL_INT2
Magnetometer Interrupt	D21	MAG_INT
USB Detect	D22	USB_DETECT
Status pin Sara	D23	SARA_STATUS
Charge Status	D24	CHG_STAT

Testpads

D+/D- is connected to the SARA module USB pins
USBP/USBN is the USB pins of the ATSAMD21 MCU
SWDIO/SWCLK is programming pins of MCU
TX>SARA and RX<SARA are connected to the UART between MCU and SARA module

There are also some small test pads on the top side of the PCB, but these are mostly used during hardware verification in the production process, and don’t really offer any useful functionality.

Schematics

SODAQ SARA AFF R3 schematic
SODAQ SARA AFF R2 schematic
SODAQ SARA AFF R1 schematic

Firmware Upgrade

Contact your u-blox representive to obtain the latest firmware.

R4

With the command ATI9 you can check your firmware version.

The latest firmware version for the R412 is M0.12.00,A.02.19.
The latest firmware version for the R410 is L0.0.00.00.05.12,A.02.19.

Note

From these firmware versions it's required to set a MNO Profile.

1. Contact u-blox for the latest firmware and update tool.

2. Use the USB to connect directly to the u-blox module
   The text on this side should say: USB SARA module

   Note

   On older revisions the USB cable needs to be soldered on.

3. Install EasyFlash.

4. Reboot PC.
5. Put the firmware file in the installation directory.
6. Disable the Serial communication from the microcontroller to the module.
7. Set the microcontroller in bootloader mode by double pressing the reset button.
8. Or load the passthrough sketch.
9. Open EasyFlash as administrator.
10. Select R4 and USB, leave baudrate empty.
11. Hit Start and relax till the update is successful.

N2

With the command ATI9 you can check your firware version. Result N2 should be: 06.57,A10.08

Note

The N2 modules need to be updated to 06.57,A07.03 before updating to 06.57,A09.06.
The N2 modules need to be updated to 06.57,A09.06 before updating to 06.57,A10.08.

1. Load the passthrough sketch on your board.
2. Open UEUpdater.
3. Select the correct firmware file.
4. Press the Update button and wait for 60 seconds.
5. The program tells you the update is complete.
6. Your module is updated!