I have recently discovered the smartEverything prototyping board for Sigfox. This board was used during the SigFox maker tour and It is really nice for creating some prototypes and evaluate the technology.

The board is an Arduino board based on an Atmel SAM D21 MCU (Cortex M0) with 256KB of flash and 32K SRAM running @48Mhz

The most important part is concerning the sensors available on the card and this is clearly the best point about this board : you have a lot of them available : crypto authentication chip, BLE module, GPS, NFC, Accelerometer / gyroscope / magnetometer, Pressure / Humidity / Temperature sensor, proximity light / sensor, RGB Led, Led & push button. It can be powered by USB or external 2xAA batteries.

The board cost is about 106€ and can be found at RS. It is provided with a sigfox network access to the backend.

This post detail how to get start with the board

Configure the board

The first step to use the board is to install the required software to the Arduino environment. For this, you have to go in Tool / Card Type / Board Manager. Then choose the board type SAMD Board to install the right compilation tools.

Then you have to install the partner AMEL-Tech board software from Tool/Card Type / Board Manager menu.

Now the card can be selected in the Arduino software list as the Smart Everything Fox (Native USB Port). I lost a lot of time where my board was not detected… so, be careful of your USB cable. Mine was not working correctly… On MacOsX the board is detected with no need of any additional driver.

Now you can do your first HelloWorld

#include <Arduino.h>

void setup() {
   SerialUSB.begin(9600);
   delay(200);  // requiered delay for letting usb to init
   SerialUSB.print("Hello World !");
}

void loop() {   
}

Now you can install the library to get exemple on how to use the different board sensors. For this go to Sketch / Add Library / Manage Library menu ; select partner in the filter box and install the smarteverything libraries. This will add the lib and add the associated exemples.

Send a Sigfox message

The sigfox module is based on a Telit module responding on AT command. The AT command to send a message is AT$SF (Send Frame). Here is a code to send a message over SigFox with the kit :

#include <Arduino.h>

void setup() {
   SerialUSB.begin(9600);
   delay(200);
   SerialUSB.println("Hello World !");

   SigFox.begin(19200); // default baudrate to be use
   SigFox.print("+++"); // set the module in command mode
   delay(500);
   SigFox.print("AT$SF=010203\r"); // send the sigfox message
 
}

void loop() {
 if (SigFox.available() > 0) {     // just print what modem 
 SerialUSB.write(SigFox.read());   // send back ... OK
 }
}

The modem respond to different command like :

• AT/V : get version
• ATS192? : get the ID

Next steps

Come back later for some update of this post about the kit. This is the end of my first session with it. … it is late no 😉

Devkit summary :

Global Note : 4 (****) / 5

Public for SmartEverything dev-kit
- beginner makers : ****
- average makers  : *****
- advanced makers : *****
- educational : *****
- Pro : *** 

Prototyping capability of the product
- *****
  Really large thanks to the long list of included sensors

Quality of devkit
- ****
  High quality devkit

Quality of the documentation
- *** 
  Could be improved with more sample code

Capability to be integrated in a prototype
- **
  you can extend the kit but not reduce it.

Pros
- Long list of sensors
- Arduino environment
- Price regarding the number of sensors

Could be better
- Price if you do not need all sensors
- Sample code & documents