5G Modem Carrier Board Quectel modem support?

Sam Kiley

Hello, we purchased some standalone voxl2's + 5G modem carrier boards with quectel modems in the past. I forget exactly, but I believe we received these Quectels from Modalai when they were sold together on the website (i might be remembering incorrectly).
More recently, we purchased the Starling 2 Max and the 5G modem boards (without a modem). We plan to use some Quectel RM502N-GL like we have in the past. Today, it was discovered that the old 5G carrier boards detect the quectel on lsusb, while the new ones do not at all. I narrowed it down to the new 5G modem carrier boards and even have the following photo showing resistors are different. Do you know if there is a compatibility change that wasn't made clear on the website?
The board on the left works with quectel

Vinny

Hi @Sam-Kiley
We do try to state on there directly the following:

So yes, if you bought a 5G card from us in the past for Quectel, it was a different SKU, likely MDK-M0090-3-01-00, not the current offering for Sierra MDK-M0090-3-02-00

We do not make the Quectel variants anymore since we source the Sierra's to be NDAA compliant.

salman3141

@Vinny To confirm, the 5G carrier board currently available to purchase on the store page (MDK-M0090-3-02-00) currently only supports the EM9291 module? Will any other 5G modules (EM9190/9191, the RM520N-GL, RM550V, SM8262A) work with this carrier board with some modifications to the board? While i don't have a preference for a specific module, I would like to be able to use the modules I already have.

Thanks!

Vinny

Hi @salman3141
We are tailored for Sierra wireless EM9291, but also some of the older EM919X (the spec we designed to is 919x), so the EM9291 was considered a drop-in replacement to the EM919X.

You risk damaging your modules if you install other than the above EM919x or compatible units.

It would take a considerable effort by our team (several weeks), assuming we had all the hardware integration docs, to validate if other modules can work (even with HW mods) and be supported by our SDK.

Thanks

salman3141

@Vinny Understood, thank you for the quick response! Also, is the kit SKU MRB-D0012-4-V2-C28-M24-T9-K0 discontinued?
Based on some searches through the forum, I understand that there is a conflict with the 5G and GPS config currently, is that why they are not available for purchase?

I’m looking to purchase a Starling 2 Max with the 5G modem add-on board (M0067 and/or M0090?), is there a kit configuration that would include both?
Or would I have to purchase the kit and the board separately using the store links below?

https://www.modalai.com/products/starling-2-max?variant=49010342527280

https://www.modalai.com/collections/accessories/products/mdk-m0090?variant=40594936463411

And if I do purchase them separately, I would still have an issue with the 5G and GPS co-existing, correct?

Thanks

Vinny

Hi @salman3141
I'm not sure of all the details of which kits/skus are no longer available.
Please feel free to start a new forum post asking about SKU availability and the appropriate folks will respond.

I do know our team is working on improving GPS performance across our entire fleet and are planning on better and more tightly integrated custom designs in the future. I cannot however promise any availability dates but we are aware of some performance inconsistencies and have not ignored it.