mPCIe WWAN modem USB breakout board¶

• Table of contents
• mPCIe WWAN modem USB breakout board
  • Version history
  • Pictures
  • Design Files, Schematics, Component Placement
  • Where to buy
• Commercial Support

This is a small break-out board for miniPCIe (mPCIe) type cellular / WWAN modems.

It allows you to insert a mPCIe modem from any vendor, and it will provide you with:

• mini USB socket for connection to a USB Host (like your PC/Laptop or Embedded System)
• 5V DC input for power supply (USB supply usually insufficient for a modem)
• all unused mPCIe pins on a 2.54mm break-out header
• SIM card slot for a 2FF-sized SIM, USIM or RUIM card

Particularly the break-out header is useful to get access to various signals exported in a non-standard fashion by some modem models, such as digital audio PCM.

Version history¶

v3

• relocate SIM slot from bottom of PCB to top side
• add three SMA sockets and U.FL sockets to PCB to allow for SMA-attached antenna/cabling by means of using U.FL to U.FL jumper cables between modem and board

v2

• first public version
• no SMA sockets on PCBA
• smallest PCB footprint
• SIM slot on bottom of board to save PCB size

v1

• initial version, design verification production run

Pictures¶

Design Files, Schematics, Component Placement¶

The design was done in EAGLE and the design files can be found in the mpcie-breakout directory of osmo-small-hardware.git (https://gitea.osmocom.org/electronics/osmo-small-hardware).

PDF renderings of schematics and component placement are available as mpcie-breakout.pdf and mpcie-breakout_brd.pdf

Where to buy¶

The general idea of Open Hardware projects is that anyone is allowed to build the design. So feel free to take the design files and build it yourself, either modified or unmodified. Please make sure you always

• attribute the original author (Attribution)
• release any changes to the design files under the same terms (Share Alike)

If you would like to buy a fully-assembled version of this board, you can order it from https://shop.sysmocom.de/miniPCIe-WWAN-Modem-USB-break-out-board-v3-kit/mpcie-breakout-v3-kit where it is sold as a kit with accessories as seen below:

Commercial Support¶

Commercial support as well as development, system integration and training services for this project are available from sysmocom