Brick Mobile Phone

I am a 13 year old technology fanatic. Because of my love of electronics and interest in programming I wanted to do a project that combined the two. I chose to make a mobile phone. While I had a few challenges to overcome I learnt quite a few new things about the GSM module and phone communication in general.

I decided to make the phone from commonly available off the shelf parts. The only part that I could not get standard was the housing, although I am sure that one could be adapted if you did not have access to a 3D printer.

Step 1: Materials

Parts List:

o 3D printed parts

§ 3D printed main housing

§ 3D Printed Lid

§ 3D printed battery box

o 6 row AA battery holder

o 2 pin microphone

o 2 pin speaker

o Seeed Studio GPRS Shield V1.0

o SIM Card

o Wave Flexi 868MHZ 90 Degree SMA Antenna

o SPST Standard Toggle Switch

o Standard 3 pin infrared red receiver (used to connect to the Car MP3 remote)

o Car MP3 remote

o Arduino Uno

o LCD1602 Arduino Compatible LCD Keypad Shield - 2x16 Character Backlit Display

o Ancillaries

§ Glue sticks

§ 0.5mm wires

§ 6 AA batteries

§ Strip connectors

Tools Required:

o Multimeter

o Soldering iron

o 3D printer

o Glue gun

o Wire cutters

Step 2: Wiring Design

I used Fritzing software to do my schematic design. It is a freeware software package that can be downloaded at http://fritzing.org

Step 3: Wiring & Assembly

1.Battery Power Circuit

a. Wire the positive from the battery box to the switch

b. Connect from the switch to a +ve connector strip

c. Wire the negative to a –ve connector strip

2. Arduino

a. Upload the code

b. Connect from the –ve connector strip to the ground

c. Connect from the +ve connector strip to the Arduino pin labeled 5v or VCC

3. LCD Screen to the Arduino

a. Wire the LCD screen/module to the Arduino Uno as per the wiring schematic

4. Infrared Sensor

a. Connect the infrared sensor output to the Arduino, pin 13

b. Connect the sensor power supply to the +ve and –ve connector strip

5. GSM Module

a. Wire from the –ve and +ve connectors strip to the GSM module power supply using 2 female header pins

b. Connect the TX and RX female headers to the 10,11 pins on the Arduino Uno

c. Solder the speaker and microphone +ve and –ve wires to the microphone and speaker jack of your GSM module

6. Assembly

a. Place the switch into the switch hole with the +ve strip connecter

b. Attach the aerial onto the main housing

c. Place the microphone and speaker into the correct slots and hot glue in place

d. Place the LCD screen and Arduino into the screen slot

e. Place the SIM card in the GSM module

f. Place the GSM module at the bottom and connect the female headers to the module

g. Attach the GSM module and aerial connecter using the supplied wire

h. Place batteries in battery holder

i. Place battery holder on top of the GSM module

Step 4: Functionality

The phone has the basic functions of a mobile phone:

It can make and receive calls, send and receive SMS's