smôl ARTIC R2

The Sparkfun smôl ARTIC R2 is a compact board that provides the ability to send and receive short bursts of data via the ARGOS satellite network. This tiny device is perfect for projects that require satellite communication, be it wildlife tracking, environmental monitoring, or emergency medical information transfer. The smôl ARTIC R2 is designed to be small in size and energy-efficient, making it perfect for applications that require minimal power consumption and space.

The ARGOS system, created in 1978 by CNES, NASA, and NOAA, has revolutionized satellite communication. The system is expanding to include 25 nanosatellites to complement the 7 traditional satellites carrying ARGOS instrumentation. The smôl ARTIC R2 is designed to work with this system, allowing you to transmit and receive data anywhere on Earth, including the Polar regions.

The smôl ARTIC R2 is certified by Kinéis and has a lower current draw compared to other satellite communication systems. It operates from 3.3V and comes with on-board flash memory for fast boot times. It also allows for reduced power transmission to conserve battery life. The device works with a simple, lightweight quarter-wave wire antenna.

The Sparkfun Arduino Library makes it easy to configure the ARTIC R2 chipset, predict the next satellite pass, receive allcast and individually-coded messages, and transmit messages using ARGOS 2, 3, and 4 encoding.

The smôl ARTIC R2 is part of the smôl ecosystem, a range of small processor boards, peripheral boards, power boards, and accessories. These are designed to be physically small and have minimal current draw, making them ideal for applications like wildlife tracking or long-term monitoring. The smôl boards are designed to stack one on top of the other, using 16-way 0.5mm-pitch Flexible Printed Circuits (FPCs) for interconnectivity.

The smôl ARTIC R2 is 40.6mm long, 10.7mm wide, and 4.5mm high, and weighs only 1.5g. It comes with an ARTIC-R2 Chipset with a serial interface for communication with MCU and programmable DSP core on board to ensure flexibility. The device also includes a 26MHz temperature-compensated crystal oscillator for maximum stability and SST25VF020B Flash memory for fast boot times.

Before purchasing, please ensure your project meets the requirements of the ARGOS satellite system. The system is currently restricted to specific programs and applications related to environmental protection, awareness or study, or protecting human life.