Introduction
Last updated on: January 12, 2023
Icarus SoM Development Kit (nRF9160)
The Icarus SoM DK is a single board development kit for evaluation and development on the Icarus SoM. The Icarus SoM features the nRF9160 SiP from Nordic Semiconductor, a low-power 3-axis accelerometer and an on-board eSIM. The development kit provides interfacing to the SoM through USB-C, a set of user LEDs, a reset and user button, a battery charging port, and a external nano SIM connector. The board is also Arduino Uno Rev3 compatible which makes using external shields possible.
What's in the box
Your Icarus SoM DK board comes pre-programmed with the following:
- The latest (at the time of production) modem firmware from Nordic. The modem inside the nRF9160 contains a host processor that takes care of the cellular communication (if you want to update your modem firmware, check out this guide).
- The MCUboot bootloader: A secure bootloader for 32-bit microcontrollers which provides you with the option to upload firmware to the Icarus using the USB-port and the Actinius Programmer application. MCUBoot is used in combination with the Zephyr RTOS on the nRF9160. It also Over-The-Air (OTA) updates.
- The Serial LTE Modem Application Firmware from Nordic Semiconductor. See the nRF9160 Serial LTE modem github page and its application description for more information.
- Certificates that make it possible to register your board on our online IoT Platform actinius.io.
NOTE:
If you erase any of the above firmware components from your board, you can revert to the original firmware using the Actinius Programmer application. A J-Link programmer is required to program the Icarus SoM DK with its factory firmware (MCUBoot + SPM + Application).
If you erase any of the above firmware components from your board, you can revert to the original firmware using the Actinius Programmer application. A J-Link programmer is required to program the Icarus SoM DK with its factory firmware (MCUBoot + SPM + Application).
Getting started
- Register for an account at actinius.io. Here you can register and manage your Icarus Bee and eSIM, as well as receive data from firmware such as the Actinius Asset Tracker.
- Use the Actinius Programmer application to upload ready-to-use, pre-built firmware applications and samples.
- Follow the Getting started guide for setting up the toolchain(s) and development environment on your computer.
- See the Board files page to download the latest board files for your board and nRF Connect SDK version.
- Check-out some samples and tweak the code. The nRF Connect SDK contains a wide range of samples which are compatible with the Icarus SoM DK, alongside our own samples. Some good starting points: