SparkFun Expands MicroMod Ecosystem with New Swappable Function Boards, Main Board Carriers
The increasingly modular MicroMod system now has swappable communications and sensing boards, along with two new carrier boards.
SparkFun has once again expanded its increasingly popular MicroMod ecosystem, adding function boards for Wi-Fi and LoRa connectivity, an environmental sensor board, and two new main boards to host them.
SparkFun launched the MicroMod family last year, using the M.2 edge connector to make it easy to mix and match processors with feature-packed carrier boards — and to easily upgrade a project should a more powerful or better-suited processor come along in the future. It's been growing the ecosystem ever since, and has now introduced a new board type alongside the Processor and Carrier Boards: Function Boards.
The new Function Boards are designed to add features that a Processor Board might lack, whether that's connectivity or otherwise. Two models — the MicroMod WiFi Function Board ESP32 and DA16200 — add Wi-Fi connectivity, while a third offers 915MHz LoRa connectivity suitable for use with The Things Network and other LoRaWAN networks. A fourth Feature Board packs an SGP40 air quality sensor, an SHTC3 temperature and humidity sensor, and an STC31 carbon dioxide sensor for environmental monitoring projects.
Using any of the new Function Boards, though, will mean picking up a new Carrier Board. Where the original batch of Carrier Boards were designed to link a Processor Board to devices on the Carrier Board itself, the new Main Boards accept both a Processor Board and a Feature Board — with variants available to accept either one or two Feature Boards, depending on your needs.
The move brings the same modularity to connectivity and sensing as offered in processors, and means that a single Main Board could be used for multiple projects simply by swapping out the Processor and Feature Boards as required. It also, presumably, signals the impending release of additional Feature Boards.
The new MicroMod Main Boards are priced at $14.95 for the single- and $17.95 for the double-Feature Board variants, while the Feature boards themselves cost $14.95 for the WiFi Function Board ESP32, $29.95 for the WiFi Function Board DA16200, $39.95 for the LoRa Function Board, and $149.95 for the Environmental Function Board.