Arduino Releases GSM Shield, Includes World Wide Data Tariff

Arduino teamed up with Telefónica Digital to design a tool that would greatly simplify the process of building Internet of Things applications based on the GSM mobile phone network, the largest wireless network on the planet.

The Arduino GSM Shield is easy to set up. Simply mount the module onto the Arduino board, plug in a SIM card from an operator offering GPRS coverage and follow a few simple instructions to start controlling your world through the internet anywhere there is coverage.

The team has developed a software library that takes care of all the complicated operations needed to connect to the internet, make and receive phone calls and to make and receive text messages. Working together, Arduino and Telefónica have made this board fully compatible with the other network interfaces available for Arduino. Code written for the Ethernet or Wifi Shield can be adapted for this shield by changing just a few lines of code.

As usual for Arduino, the design of this product is fully open source, easy to use and part of an integrated system of software and hardware: using Arduino, in fact, means working in an integrated system that allows to interact outwards in different ways but always with the same simple programming language and an uniform working environment.

Probably the most groundbreaking feature of this GSM shield is that every unit comes with a Telefónica SIM card ready to be plugged in and used (any other GSM/GPRS SIM card can also be used). Telefónica has created an optimal tariff for worldwide data communication. A very simple activation process is available through the BlueVia website (https://bluevia.com/en/page/tech.arduino) where users can login with their Arduino account and be online in minutes.

The Arduino GSM Shield will be available in two versions:

A000043 Arduino GSM Shield (integrated antenna) MSRP: 69EUR+Taxes

A000044 Arduino GSM Shield (antenna connector) MSRP: 69EUR+Taxes

The first one is available from 11th of March directly from Arduino store and from the 25th of March also from all the other distributors. The second one will be available in 5 weeks.

Arduino will also provide three kind of antennas for the A000044.

X000003 small antenna

X000004 medium antenna

X000005 Antenna with cable

High res images, video, Arduino blog post and Arduino store:

Main Features of Arduino GSM Shield

Connect to the Internet: the Arduino GSM Shield connects your Arduino to the internet using the GPRS wireless network. Just plug this module onto your Arduino board, plug in a SIM card from an operator offering GPRS coverage and follow a few simple instructions to start controlling your world through the internet.

Make/receive calls: plug a sound speaker at the connector at the bottom of your shield and you can get your board to play the sound while you make/receive voice calls.

Send/receive SMS: do you want your Arduino to SMS you when a sensor reaches a threshold? Or do you want to remotely activate a device? This feature is very easy to implement.

Hardware, software and documentation are freely available and open-source. This means you can learn exactly how it's made and use its design as the starting point for your own circuits.

Requires the Arduino board (not included)

Technical specification of the Arduino GSM Shield

The Shield uses a radio modem M10 by Quectel. It is possible to communicate with the board using (AT commands).

The GSM library was especially tailored for this shield. It adjusts its footprint depending on whether you add more or less of the initial blocks to it.

The board implements the Arduino R3 layout and is compatible with 3.3v boards.

The shield contains a number of informational LEDs: On, Status and Net.

Operating voltage 5V (supplied from the Arduino Board)

Connection with Arduino on pins 2, 3 (Software Serial) and 7 (reset)

Photos

Purchasing

You can purchase the Arduino GSM Shield from the Arduino store for about $90