Waveshare SIM7070G

Low Power Cellular IoT Communication HAT for Raspberry Pi

The Waveshare SIM7070G HAT for Raspberry Pi has global support for LTE Cat-M1, NB-IoT, GPRS and EDGE, as well as GNSS positioning. It can be easily attached to the 40 GPIO pins of the Raspberry Pi as well as to microcontrollers such as the Arduino or STM32.

Prerequisites

Monogoto SIM
Waveshare SIM7070G HAT
Raspberry Pi 2, 3, 4 or Zero

Getting Started with the Waveshare SIM7070G

Insert the Monogoto SIM card at the bottom of the Waveshare HAT.

This guide explains how to connect the Waveshare HAT to the Raspberry Pit. It is also possible to connect your Windows, MaxOS or Linux machine to the Waveshare HAT directly allowing you to configure the SIM7070G modem without the need for a Raspberry Pi.

To do so, connect your computer to the micro USB port of the Waveshsare HAT and connect to the modem using PuTTY (Windows), minicom, screen or miniterm (Linux/MacOS). When using Windows, this driver is required.

Connect the LTE and GNSS antennas and add the Waveshare HAT to a Raspberry Pi using the 40 GPIO pins.

Power the Raspberry Pi and connect to it using SSH, or by connecting a keyboard and mouse.

Click and hold the PWRKEY for about 1 second, until the NET LED starts blinking red.

Enable the hardware serial, allowing the Raspberry Pi to communicate with the Waveshare HAT. To do so, open the Raspberry Pi Software Configuration Tool by entering the following command in your terminal:

sudo raspi-config

Select: 3 Interface Options > P6 Serial Port

Answer <No> to “Would you like a login shell to be accessible over serial?”

Answer <YES> to “Would you like the serial port hardware to be enabled?”

Install minicom to be used as the tool to interface with the SIM7070G modem:

sudo apt-get install minicom

Alternatives to minicom for Linux or MacOS are miniterm or screen, feel free to use your application of choice. When using Windows to connect to the Raspberry Pi, you can use PuTTY

Connect with the modem via port ttyS0 using minicom:

minicom -D /dev/ttyS0

Enter AT, if the modem responds with OK you successfully connected to the SIM7070G modem.

In case you don’t manage to open the ttyS0 connection or don't receive an OK:

Try rebooting the Raspberry Pi and try again
Double check if the NET LED is blinking red. If not, click and hold the PWRKEY button for 1 second
Be patient, it may take some time before the modem responds

Connect the SIM7070G to Monogoto

Visit the SIMCom SIM7070G documentation for a detailed guide on connecting the modem to Monogoto.

pageSIMCom SIM7070G

Test the connection by sending a PING

A PING test can be performed to test if the modem has an active data connection with a mobile network.

Activate a data connection for PDP index 0:

AT+CNACT=0,1

Expected response: +APP PDP: 0,ACTIVE

Select the PDP index 0 for the PING test:

AT+SNPDPID=0

Expected response: OK

Send 5 PINGs to IP address 8.8.8.8 with a timeout of 20 seconds.

AT+SNPING4="8.8.8.8",5,1,20000

If the connection is active, you will see 5 PINGs with a number representing the response time in milliseconds. Example response:

+SNPING4: 1,8.8.8.8,104
+SNPING4: 2,8.8.8.8,93
+SNPING4: 3,8.8.8.8,145
+SNPING4: 4,8.8.8.8,75
+SNPING4: 5,8.8.8.8,157

Deactivate the PDP index after completing the PING test.

AT+CNACT=0,0

Expected response: +APP PDP: 0,DEACTIVE

Great work on connecting the SIM7070G to Monogoto! Have a look at the Things logs in the Monogoto Console to find more details about the established connection.