As a side-projects, I'm building various Embedded/IoT open-source hardware devices to learn, share, try new technologies. BWLC1A is one of those device
Initially, I roughly design the device to meet the following points:
Slim and small
Cellular connectivity
GNSS -based location tracking
Low-cost
Battery-powered and Rechargeable
Working on the schematics, I was able to achieves those points and choses the following components and design:
Credit card sized board
SIMCom A7670 for LTE CAT-1 Connectivity
Quectel L76L-M33 GNSS Module
ESP32-S3 as the main MCU, for low-cost and possibility of adding bluetooth tracking
Once the initial schematic is done, my friend Theo, was able to help me on layouting and tracing the initial design in KiCAD. The following was the initial design of the device.