Particle Launches Its M-HAT, Bringing Easy Cellular Connectivity to the Raspberry Pi Family
Add-on board delivers LTE Cat. 1 connectivity with 3G fallback, a low-power communications processor, pass-through GPIO, and more.
Particle has put its M-HAT, a Hardware Attached on Top (HAT) add-on for the Raspberry Pi family of single-board computers, into general availability — making it easy to add cellular connectivity with an on-board communications coprocessor to your projects.
"M-HAT [is] the next-generation HAT designed to elevate edge computing, IoT, and machine learning applications," Particle says of its new communications board. "Whether you're deploying AI [Artificial Intelligence] models at the edge, transmitting remote telemetry, or managing battery-powered devices, M-HAT provides the tools to optimize energy efficiency and extend device uptime."
The M-HAT was unveiled by Particle founder and chief executive Zach Supalla at the company's Particle Spectra 2024 summit, alongside the "EtherSIM+" that provides its connectivity. This, Supalla explained at the time, is an updated version of the company's earlier EtherSIM embedded Subscriber Identity Module (eSIM), with support for data plans of up to 2GB per month — "a true eSIM," Supalla said, "not just an embedded SIM but a reprogrammable SIM."
The Particle M-HAT launches in two variants, both supporting any Raspberry Pi with a 40-pin general-purpose input/output (GPIO) header and both built around a B-SOM system-on-module. The North American variant uses the B-SOM B504e with LTE Cat. 1 cellular module with 3G fallback on frequencies used in the Americas via a Quectel EG91-NAX cellular modem and global navigation satellite system (GNSS) receiver with a Nordic Semiconductor nRF52840 communications coprocessor; the Rest of World variant swaps this out for a B-SOM B524 with Quectel EG91-E, offering LTE Cat. 1 with 2G and 3G fallback on European, Middle East, and African frequencies.
Both models include USB Type-C and 5-12V power inputs, a bundled 9,450mAh lithium-polymer battery, pass-through GPIO connectivity, a Grove connector for solderless hardware expansion, an input/output (IO) expansion header, on-board real-time clock and watchdog, temperature sensor, RGB status LED, and physical mode and reset buttons, plus a dedicated UART serial interface supporting up to 921kb/s. Both also support ultra-low-power sleep modes, and can run in a limited way with the Raspberry Pi powered down thanks to an on-board Arm Cortex-M4F processor running at up to 64MHz.
The M-HAT is now available to order in North America and Rest of World variants on the Particle store, though pricing has followed the rest of the technology industry and increased since its unveiling at Particle Spectra 2024: the North American version is priced at $128.80, with the Rest of World variant at $142.90. Both versions are in-stock and shipping, with more information available in Particle's documentation and a supporting "blueprint" guide.