4G LTE‐E click (Europe)
PID: MIKROE-2527
4G LTE-E click carries the LARA-R211 multi-mode cellular module from u-blox. The board is
designed to use 5V power supply. I/O voltage levels could be 3.3V or 5V. It communicates with
the target microcontroller over UART interface, with additional functionality provided by the
following pins on the mikroBUS™ line: AN, RST, CS, PWM, INT.
Note: The North America version of the 4G LTE click is also available.
LARA-R211 overview
With a range of interface options and an integrated IP stack, the modules are designed to support
a wide range of data-centric applications. The unique combination of performance and flexibility
make these modules ideally suited for medium speed M2M applications, such as smart energy
gateways, remote access video cameras, digital signage, telehealth, and telematics.
4G LTE-E click overview
The board has a rich set of components to simplify development: two SMA connectors, a
MicroUSB port, as well as a SIM card slot.
The LARA-R211 module specifies data rates of up to 10.3 Mb/s for Download, and 5.2 Mb/s for
Upload. The network protocol stack includes support for TCP, UDP, PPP, MMS, FTP, SMTP,
SMTPS, HTTP, HTTPS, PING, and SSL. It covers following LTE bands: 3, 7, 20.
Antenna interfaces - The module has two RF pins with a characteristic impedance of 50 Ω. The
primary antenna pin (ANT1) supports both Tx and Rx, providing the main antenna interface,
while the secondary antenna pin (ANT2) supports Rx only for the LTE Rx diversity
configuration.
A diversity antenna only covers the Rx frequencies, and its job is to acquire an independent
sample of data. The application in which you are using the click board can then choose the
receive signal it wants to use.
Free u-blox software
u-blox offers m-centre, a free evaluation software for all their cellular modules. It is an easy to
use graphical interface where you can configure the module and save the changes on EPROM.
You can also view and edit SIM phonebook entries, send text messages, and communicate with
the wireless module using AT commands.
4G LTE explained
Simply put 4G is the fourth generation of the cellular network standard. This fourth generation
does not support traditional circuit-switched telephony service, but all IP based communication
such as IP telephony.
If you are not familiar with cellular network standards and protocols and are not sure whether
you need GSM or 3G or 4G, read our learn.mikroe.com article about 2G/3G/4G to get a better
understanding.
LTE or Long Term Evolution, or 4G LTE as it is most commonly called has different categories
defined. There are nine different ones so far. LARA-R211 module supports the LTE Cat 1.
Key features
LARA‐R211 cellular module
o Data rates of up to 10.3 Mb/s for Download
o Data rates of up to 5.2 Mb/s for Upload
o Covering the following LTE bands: 3, 7, 20
SMA antenna connectors
Micro USB connector
Micro SIM card holder
UART interface
5V power supply
Specification
Product Type
Applications
On-board
modules
4G LTE
medium speed M2M applications, such as smart energy gateways, remote
access video cameras, digital signage, telehealth, and telematics, and more
LARA-R211 cellular module from u-blox
Data rates of up to 10.3 Mb/s for Download, Data rates of up to 5.2 Mb/s for
Upload, Covering the following LTE bands: 3, 7, 20, Micro SIM card socket,
SMA antenna connectors, micro USB connector
Interface
UART
Power Supply 5V
Compatibility mikroBUS
Click board
L (57.15 x 25.4 mm)
size
Key Features
Pinout diagram
This table shows how the pinout on 4G LTE-E click corresponds to the pinout on the
mikroBUS™ socket (the latter shown in the two middle columns).
Notes
Pin
Pin
Notes
mikroBUStm
Module status STA 1 AN
PWM 16 RI Ring indicator
Power up module PWK 2 RST
INT 15 CTS UART Clear to send
UART Ready to send RTS 3 CS
TX 14 TXD UART Transmit data
Not connected NC 4 SCK
RX 13 RXD UART Receive data
Not connected NC 5 MISO SCL 12 NC Not connected
Not connected NC 6 MOSI SDA 11 NC Not connected
Power supply +3.3V 7 3.3V
5V 10 +5V Power supply
Ground GND 8 GND GND 9 GND Ground
Jumpers and settings
Designator Name
JP1
I/O
SEL.
Default
Position
Left
Default
Option
3V3
Description
Power Supply Voltage Selection 3V3/5V, left position
3v3, right position 5v
Buttons and LEDs
Designator Name Type (LED, BUTTON...)
LD1
NET
LED
LD2
STAT. LED
Description
Network status LED.
Module Power On status.
Programming
Code examples for 4G LTE-E click, written for MikroElektronika hardware and compilers are
available on Libstock.
Code snippet
The following code snippet shows the SMS composing function. The SMS_RECEIVER is a
phone number which will receive the SMS.
01 void C4G_replyToCaller()
02 {
03
char tmp[ 30 ];
04
char cmdContent[ 30 ];
05
char replyContent[ 256 ];
06
strcpy( cmdContent, "AT+CMGS=" );
07
strcat( cmdContent, SMS_RECEIVER );
08
strcpy( replyContent, "4G LTE by MikroE rocks!" );
09
AT_cmdDouble( cmdContent, replyContent );
10 }
https://shop.mikroe.com/click/wireless‐connectivity/4g‐lte‐e_2 5‐1‐17