The goal of this guide is to provide everything you need to set up, configure, and start collecting data from your Sparrow Development Kit. Let’s start with a quick overview of what Sparrow is, then look at what’s in your Sparrow Development Kit box, and finally get everything up and running.<aside>
👉 Got feedback? https://www.notion.so/blueswireless/Sparrow-Quickstart-Feedback-fcfe595acb934681887678eba8a4fc53
</aside>
What is Sparrow?
Sparrow is a technology that enables one or more Nodes to communicate with a paired Gateway using a LoRa radio. That gateway, in turn, can then communicate with the cloud over Wi-Fi or cellular.
...
Your Sparrow Developer Kit contains the items shown below. Let’s quickly define what each of these items are before discussing how to hook everything up.
...
1. Notecarrier-AL with a pre-installed Wi-Fi Notecard
The Wi-Fi Notecard is a System-on-Module that makes it easy to send data over a Wi-Fi network. The Notecarrier-AL is a companion board that houses the Notecard.
2. Essentials Board
A microcontroller that acts as the radio that performs the LoRa-based communication with the Sparrow Reference Nodes. The Essentials board also provides connectors for power (Lipo and coin cell) and external sensors with Qwiic and female headers.
3. Reference Nodes
Enclosed boards that include a temperature/humidity sensor, a PIR motion sensor, and a dual-AAA-battery holder for power.
4. Female-to-Female JST SH (Qwiic) connector
A Qwiic JST connector you’ll use to attach the Essentials Board to the Notecarrier-AL.
5. STLINK-V3MINI
A stand-alone debugging probe for STM32 microcontrollers. You can use this to debug and update firmware on both the Essentials Board and Reference Nodes.
...
1) Remove the four screws from the back of each of the two Reference Node enclosures, and insert two AAA batteries in each. Leave the backs of the enclosures off for now.
...
2) Connect your Essentials Board to your Notecarrier-AL using the included Qwiic cable.
...
3) Ensure the DIP switch on the Notecarrier-AL is set to 3V3, as 3V3 is a requirement when using a Wi-Fi Notecard.
TIP: The end of a safety pin works well for flipping DIP switches.
...
4) Use the included Micro USB to USB-A data cable to connect the Notecarrier-AL to your computer. After a few seconds you should see green LED lights on both the Notecarrier-AL and Essentials Board.
...
5) [OPTIONAL] Connect a LiPo battery to the JST connector labeled
LIPOon the Notecarrier-AL. The LiPo battery can power the gateway if you want to run everything without a USB connection after you complete this setup. The LiPo battery will charge when the Notecarrier-AL is connected to power through USB.
...
Set up Notehub
Notehub is a cloud service that receives data from the Notecard, and can route that data to your own cloud apps and services. You’ll need to set up a Notehub account and project to receive sensor data from your reference nodes.
...
4) Copy your new project’s ProductUID, as that’s the identifier Notehub uses to associate your Notecard to your project.
...
5) With that ProductUID on your clipboard, next navigate to the Notecard Playground in your web browser.
...
6) Click the Connect button and select your Wi-Fi Notecard.
...
NOTE: Not seeing your Notecard? Make sure you’ve connected your Notecarrier-AL to your laptop with a micro-USB-to-USB-A cable.
7) Issue the following command to connect associate your Notecard with your newly created Notehub project, making sure to substitute
<productUID>with your own value.Code Block {"req":"hub.set","product":"<productUID>","mode":"periodic"}
...
8) Finally, issue the following command to connect your Wi-Fi Notecard to your home Wi-Fi network, making sure to substitute
<ssid name>and<password>with your own values.Code Block {"req":"card.wifi","ssid":"<ssid name>","password":"<password>"}
...
And with that, you now have Notehub set up, and your Notecard is ready to send local data to Notehub from your hardware. Your last step is to pair your devices so you can see data flow all the way through.
...