SparqEE’s first Kickstarter Project – CELLv1.0

Previous Kickstarter projects have provided usable, open source Bluetooth and WiFi technologies, but the SparqEE CELLv1.0 is the first to bring cellular to the table.

“I’ve been on plenty of projects where a simple cellular connection would have been a game changer to have,” says SparqEE co-founder Chris Higgins, “and as far as the CELLv1.0 not having an on-board processor, a critique I recently received, every year there’s a better MCU but I constantly reuse my breakout boards. We wanted to give people something they could use on any project well into the future and on any board, not just the current rev of the Arduino or Raspberry Pi.”

The CELLv1.0 kit will include the cellular board, a jumper board to allow Arduino, Raspberry Pi, or any development board, an antenna, and power cable. As per Kickstarter fashion, SparqEE also offers several dev boards and shields such as GPS, accelerometer, relay, and a connection to the Arduino and Raspberry Pi, made available through Kickstarter’s donation reward system.

“The CELLv1.0 is a completely open source project that goes several steps further. Not only are all the design files, schematics, layouts, and code available, but we’re providing a complete ecosystem for users including a freely available server and software available using a simple and straightforward RESTful API.”

SparqEE was recently asked about how the cellular providers played into this project: “With M2M applications and anything cellular, the providers are one of the biggest hurdles. Since our goal is to make cellular as ubiquitous as bluetooth and wifi we needed to take care of everything, including the providers. So we put together a SIM card offering that works anywhere in the world, is the easiest to setup, no minimums, and is the lowest cost I’ve ever seen. For example, for a tracking application we’re working on, a 1MB plan is going to run at about $2/month” – check out SparqEE.com/products/sim for more info.

The team is looking forward to their debut on Kickstarter and is already working towards building the community and support surrounding the CELLv1.0.

For more information on the SparqEE CELLv1.0, visit the Kickstarter page here or feel free to contact SparqEE at info@sparqee.com There’s also a community help forum available at forum.sparqee.com where you can share your projects and ask for help.