Raspberry Pi Zero, 3, 2 Model B or newer
SD card with Linux-based operating system for Raspberry Pi
Hologram Nova USB Modem
GPS Hat for Raspberry Pi from SB Components
2.4A USB power supply (anything less will not power the modem), or in my case power bank
Hologram account
Hologram SIM card
Make sure the SIM is activated
I was using Python 3.9.2 version. Hologram SDK was not maintained for newer version of Python3, which I had as installed earlier.
Steps to install Hologram SDK were:
sudo apt-get update
curl -L hologram.io/python-install | bash
After a successful install plug in the NOVA USB modem and wait for one solid light and one blinking light.
Once we have lights, run:
sudo hologram version
Just to test that everything is working well, try these things to get estimated location and send message to the cloud:
sudo hologram modem location
sudo hologram send "Hello World"
More detailed explanation can be seen at:
https://www.hackster.io/hologram/add-cellular-to-a-raspberry-pi-with-hologram-nova-ea5926
I have used Hologram IoT Dashboard. There I have configured data routes, for routing data received by Hologram network to Firebase Realtime Database.
Example of my configuration is shown here:
Destination URL was https://gpstracker-84fdb-default-rtdb.europe-west1.firebasedatabase.app/datatoadd.json?auth=*******
Payload for data was {"DeviceID":"<<device_id>>","Timestamp":"<>","AddedData":"<>"}
It was necessary to create Firebase applications for mobile phone and Realtime Database for storing GPS positions of car.
Data routed to realtime database would look like this:
