Small Breakout for SIM900 GSM Module

27 May 2011 719 views No Comment

Some post ago we presented a PCB to mount the SIM900 module. The projects is used
in our GSM remote control and the Arduino GSM Shield.
The dimensions arent big (1.751.95 inches) but in some cases they are too important
for a projects, so.


..we have developed a small PCB GSM module to build device like localizators (coming
soon ), bugs or other small devices.
The Schematics
The schematic is the same of the old module.
The printed circuit board, measuring about 1.351.5 inches, has a pin strips (10 pin x 2)
used to connect with the circuit board of the remote control device.
Lets now take a look at the electrical scheme, which displays the connections.
The pin 1 (ON/OFF) is used by a microcontroller to turn the GSM module on and off.
The module is turned on or off according to the logical level applied to their PWR line
(pin 1 of GSM1) . The PWR line is equipped with an internal pull-up resistance and is
active at logical zero; therefore, in order to switch the cellular module on, the
microcontroller sets PWR at a high logical level (contact 1 of the pin-strip) and causes
transistor T2 to saturate; this transistor will then sets the PWR line at a low level.
Remember that the power on or off signal is only a pulse of about 2 seconds.
Reset monitoring is handled similarly. The module can be reset by simply causing the
microcontroller to send a logical 1 via the RST line, at which time the T3 transistor
saturates and sets the NRESET line of GSM1 at a low level.
Lets now proceed with UARTs control lines (i.e., TXD, RXD, DTR, RTS, CTS, DCD),
which are connected to the external area through the pin-strips contacts, respectively,
12, 14, 10, 2, 4 and 6.
The audio device, with two contacts for the microphone (with differential input) and two
more for the loudspeaker, uses contacts 15, 13, 11, 9, which correspond, respectively,
to MIC1P and MIC1N (positive and negative of the microphone) and SPK1P and
SPK1N (respectively, positive and negative of the loudspeaker). The RI signal
(indicating incoming calls) goes out through contact 8 of the pin-strip.
In this case, the GSM connector modules antenna is a 90 MMCX directly connected
on the printed board of the cell phone.
Lets now talk about transistor T1, used here to locally control the cell phones reception
LED: its base is polarized from the current logical level on pin 52 (NETLIGHT) for
GSM1. The transistors collector is where the line to contact 3 of the pin-strip starts; this
line is connected with the LED line, which the microcontroller uses to get information
regarding the presence of GSM network as well as regarding the connection status of
the module (e.g., whether the network is available or not).
The Pin Out
1 3 5 7 9 11 13 15 17 19
ON/OFF LED VRTC ADC SPK1N SPK1P MIC1N MIC1P VCC VCC

2 4 6 8 10 12 14 16 18 20
RTS CTS DCD RI DTR TXD RXD RST GND GND


The bill of material

C1: 220 nF (0805)
C2: 100 nF (0805)
C3: 470 F 6,3 VL (CASE-D)
C4: 470 F 6,3 VL(CASE-D)
C5: 100 nF (0805)
LD1: led green (0805)
D1: -
R1: 15 ohm (0805)
R2: 15 ohm (0805)
R3: 15 ohm (0805)
R4: 10 kohm (0805)
R5: 4,7 kohm (0805)
R6: 10 kohm (0805)
R7: 330 ohm (0805)
R8: 10 kohm (0805)
R9: 4,7 kohm (0805)
R10: 10 kohm (0805)
R11: 4,7 kohm (0805)
T1: BC817
T2: BC817
T3: BC817
GSM1: GSM module SIM900
SIM: Slot SIM-CARD
- Antenna connector MMCX 90
- Strip male 2x10 via 2mm
- PCB