Connecting SARA U260 to Photon

Hello,

I want to build a device with both Wifi and Cellular connectivity. Is it possible to connect Sara U260 (the cellular modem used in Electron) to Photon and use the same firmware of Electron?

I can also try modifying the electron firmware and integrate it to Photon firmware but I need some kind of confirmation saying that “this is okey to do”

thanks a lot for your help :smile:
rifo

Hello folks,

While searching I came across the Redbear DUO, it has an STM32 cortex M3 and a Broadcom Wifi/BLE SOC. I guess I should be fine adding the SARA U260 to it.
Between, they also use the Particle Cloud Solution and IDE so everything seems to be fine

Will update you about the developments.
Feel free to comment about the solution

rifo

Hello folks,

One more alternative board came up, it’s photon redboard from Sparkfun.
https://www.sparkfun.com/products/13321

With respect to photon, more pins are brought out and we can have access to Uart 2 (rx,tx,rts,cts) with minor solder work. I listed the steps that I think are necessary for having the uart connection

  1. desolder R8, R9, R10
  2. solder wires to the side connecting to photon

This way we have access to all uart 2 pins.

After this, we should change the functionality of pins PA0,1,2,3 to Uart 2 and we should be done

Ofcourse, there is also the option of using gpio pins for RTS, CTS but I don’t know how this would effect the modem data throughput.