Introduction

Last updated on: January 12, 2023

Icarus SoM Development Kit (nRF9160)

Icarus SoM (nRF9160)
Icarus SoM (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:

  1. 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).
  2. 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.
  3. The Serial LTE Modem Application Firmware from Nordic Semiconductor. See the nRF9160 Serial LTE modem github page and its application description for more information.
  4. 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).

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: