Open Acoustic Devices

AudioMoth® Dev Datasheet

[email protected]
August 23, 2021

This datasheet describes the AudioMoth Dev hardware, a development version of the acoustic monitoring device
AudioMoth. This document is intended for skilled users with suitable levels of design knowledge to integrate the
development board into other boards or products.

Contents

1 AudioMoth Dev overview 2

2 Mechanical Specification 4

3 Maximum Ratings 4

4 Electrical Specification 5

5 Applications Information 6

5.1 Connecting a power supply . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5.1.1 Advanced power capabilities . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6

5.2 External microphone Compatibility . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5.3 Connecting an external switch . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5.4 Adding External LEDs . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

5.5 Connecting an external board . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 7

 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

1 AudioMoth Dev overview

AudioMoth Dev is the development version of the standard AudioMoth, which uses JST-PH headers to expose
useful peripherals for modular expansion.

Ex Mic

Green
USB

µSD
Red
Power input
LED signal output
GND
3.3V - 6V (IN) c5 Green LED (Out)
c4 Red LED (Out)
GND

GPIO
U1_TX#2 GPIO b9
U1_RX#2 GPIO b10 Power output
TIM2_CC0#0 GPIO a8 3V (OUT)
GPIO a7 GND
Manual bootloader
f0 SWCLK
Switch input
d8 CUSTOM
c6 USB/OFF
MEMS Mic GND DEFAULT

CUSTOM (C) USB/OFF (U) DEFAULT (D)

Switch

On Off On

C-U - U-D

Figure 1: Top layer of AudioMoth Dev

Ex Mic
Green

USB
µSD

Red

Serial debug
Manual 3V (Out)
bootloader SWDIO f1
switch SWCLK f0
SWO f2
MEMS Mic
RESET
GND
Switch

Figure 2: Bottom layer of AudioMoth Dev

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 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

AudioMoth Dev is an acoustic monitoring development platform, with the following features:

• Silicon Labs Wonder Gecko microcontroller

– 48MHz 32-bit processor
– DSP instruction support and floating-point unit
– 256kB Flash
– 32kB RAM plus an extra 256kB of external SRAM
– For full details of the Wonder Gecko microcontroller please see the Wonder Gecko reference manual.
• On-board analog MEMS microphone, Sensitivity -38 dBV/Pa, 63 dBA SNR, 10Hz to 192kHz
• Sample rates up to 384kHz
• 3.5 mm jack socket for external electret condenser microphones
• Micro-USB B port for power, configuration and for reprogramming the Flash
• 5 separate JST-PH style headers for board-board/board-case integration
– 2pin JST-PH header for connecting external power supplies (3.3V to 6V)
– 2pin JST-PH header for powering external 3V boards or products from AudioMoth Dev
– 3pin JST-PH header for external red and green LED’s
– 3pin JST-PH header for an external switch
– 4pin JST-PH header for multi-function 3V General Purpose I/O (GPIO)
• 6-pin serial wire debug port
• MicroSD card connector compatible with up to 1TB capacity

AudioMoth Dev is powered by an ultra low power (ULP) Silicon Labs EFM32WG380F256 ARM Cortex-M4F 32-bit
micro-controller, chosen for its large number of in-built features and ULP consumption (211 µA/MHz in run mode
and 20 nA/MHz in shutoff mode). The overall hardware utilises features such as cascaded operational amplifiers
for microphone pre-amplification, 12-bit ADC with 16-bit oversampling, DMA for data routing in low energy
modes, SPI for high-speed MicroSD card communications and USB for device configuration. DMA routing uses
the additional feature of the external bus interface (EBI) to synchronise with an external IS61LV25616AL4 4-Mbit
static random access memory (SRAM) IC to improve on the internal 32-kB RAM for audio buffering.
AudioMoth Dev can be configured to record at many sample rates, making it suitable for monitoring sounds
from different source types. These include: anthropogenic noise, such as gunshots, chainsaws or engine noise (8
kHz sample rate); audible wildlife, such as bird, insect or frog vocalisation (48 kHz sample rate); and ultrasonic
wildlife, such as bat or amphibian calls (384 kHz sample rate). The device can be used in multiple deployment
scenarios, such as scheduled or triggered acoustic monitoring in remote areas, handheld acoustic monitoring,
large-scale acoustic monitoring projects, long-term acoustic monitoring projects, environmental monitoring for
education, and large scale citizen science projects.
All usable IO pins are exposed on the top layer of the AudioMoth Dev board (See Figure 1). The main usable
GPIO pins of the microcontroller are exposed on the left 4-pin JST-PH header. These can be used to communicate
with other boards. External red and green LEDs can be driven by the 3-pin JST-PH header in the middle of the
board. AudioMoth Dev uses two 3V regulators. One used for digital circuitry and one for analog circuitry. These
regulators can run from a wide range of input voltages (3.3V to 6V). A 2-pin JST-PH header is exposed on the left
for this power input. This allows flexibility in powering the unit from various sources such as a single Lithium-Ion
cell, 3 AA cells in series or a 6V lantern battery. Sourced from the digital regulator, 3V can also be supplied using
the other 2-pin JST-PH header, which is exposed on the right side of the board. Configuring and reprogramming
AudioMoth Dev can be done using USB and the AudioMoth Configuration App and AudioMoth Flash App desktop
apps, respectively.
The bottom layer of the board is the user interface, showing where all edge overhanging peripherals are
located in white silkscreen (See Figure 2). For debug and trace, six pads are exposed and configured to standard
J-Link serial wire output (SWO). Serial debug and trace use the standard Silicon Labs tool, Simplicity Studio.

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 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

41.98
35.48
25.74 6.27
8.07

00
15.92

2.
8.00
18.75
48.31

34.37
4.46

17.11
9.90
57.97

1.63
5.03

Figure 3: Mechanical drawing of AudioMoth Dev showing dimensions in milimeters

2 Mechanical Specification
AudioMoth Dev consists of a single credit-card sized (58 x 48 x 8 mm) PCB, which includes a side-mounted switch,
USB port, red & green light emitting diode (LED), 3.5 mm jack socket and MicroSD card port. The acoustic
sensor is located inside the silkscreened microphone symbol on the bottom PCB layer. Behind the drill hole sits a
bottom ported Knowles MEMS microphone. Figure 3 shows the mechanical drawing of AudioMoth Dev, which is
designed to be used for device expansion and integration into other boards or products, such as external modules
or enclosures to support alternate battery supplies. The board has various JST-PH connectors to access individual
peripherals and hence it is compatible with off-the-shelf JST-PH wire assemblies from well known distributors.

3 Maximum Ratings
Maximum operating conditions for the AudioMoth Dev are:

• Operating Temp Max 85◦ C

• Operating Temp Min -40◦ C
• 3.3V minimum input voltage
• 6V maximum input voltage
• 3V maximum output voltage
• Maximum 100mA output current

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 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

4 Electrical Specification
TEST CONDITIONS: temperature 23±2°C, running AudioMoth Firmware Basic version 1.5.0.

Parameter Conditions Min Typ Max Units

Supply voltage 3.3 4.1 6 V

Supply current Energy Mode 0, no SD card operation 19 21 23 mA

Energy Mode 1, no SD card operation 8 10 12 mA

Average current during SD card write 21 33 44 mA

Sleep current, no external mic - 65 - µA

MEMS mic specifications

Sensitivity 94 dB SPL @ 1 kHz -41 -38 -35 dBV/Pa

Signal to Noise Ratio 94 dB SPL @ 1 kHz, A-weighted - 63 - dB(A)

External mic socket for electret condenser mics

Supply voltage - - 3 - V

Pre-amplification

AudioMoth Configuration App low, mid

Variable gain and high gain. 20×log (Audio output 27.2 30.6 32.0 dB
voltage / Audio input voltage).

Storage

MicroSD card Formatted to exFAT - 32 1000 GB

Power to external boards

Supply voltage - 3 - V

Current available to external boards

Supply Current when AudioMoth Dev is writing to SD 40 50 99 mA
card, in Energy Mode 0 and when asleep

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 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

5 Applications Information
5.1 Connecting a power supply
Care must be taken to check the wires are correctly orientated when connecting batteries to AudioMoth Dev.
Most RC standard JST-PH wire assemblies can be used. Red should line up with the ’+’ silkscreen and black the ’-’
silkscreen (Figure 4).

Figure 4: Wiring of power input

5.1.1 Advanced power capabilities

AudioMoth Dev can also be powered directly by batteries up to 20V; however, the 3V regulator on AudioMoth Dev
will experience high temperatures, possibly causing irreversible damage to the device. The temperatures need to
be accounted for when using larger batteries (Table 1). Power sources over 6V should only be used by advanced
users. The power dissipated by the device is equal to:

P = IOU T (M AX) (VIN − VOU T ) + IGN D (VIN )

The regulator temperature rise is approximately equal to:

T = P (150◦ C/W )

The maximum regulator temperature will be equal to the regulator temperature rise above ambient plus the
maximum ambient temperature.

Battery voltage (V) Temperature above ambient (°C)

6 17.1
8 29.4
10 41.7
12 54
14 66.3
16 78.6
18 90.9
20 103.2

Table 1: Temperatures above ambient that can be reached when recording to SD card with >6V batteries

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 AudioMoth Dev Datasheet

5.2 External microphone Compatibility

AudioMoth Dev is compatible with plug-in power electret condenser mics. For a detailed guide see the ’Using
AudioMoth with External Electret Condenser Microphones’ application note.

5.3 Connecting an external switch

The bottom right edge JST-PH header can be used to connect an external 3-way switch to AudioMoth Dev (Figure
1). When using an external switch the on-board switch must be in the USB/OFF position. The switch is configured
as ON-OFF-ON, where OFF is the middle position (U) (Table 2).

CUSTOM (C) USB/OFF (U) DEFAULT (D)

On Off On

C-U - U-D

Table 2: External 3-way switch configuration. NOTE: The on-board switch must be in the USB/OFF position

5.4 Adding External LEDs

The middle 3-pin JST-PH header exposes the driving pins that allow external LEDs to be used. These are useful to
show LED events on enclosures. The pins expose the red LED signal, the green LED signal and ground ’-’. The
LED signals are driven at 3V and will need external circuitry with tuned resistor values to account for varying LED
brightness.

5.5 Connecting an external board

External boards can be powered by the 2-pin JST-PH header on the middle right edge of the AudioMoth Dev board
(Figure 1). AudioMoth Dev supplies a regulated 3V supply with a maximum of 100mA current. Approximately
40mA of this current should be reserved for use by AudioMoth Dev, leaving 60mA available to the external board.
As well as power, the 4-pin JST-PH header on the left edge of AudioMoth Dev can be used to communicate
with other boards. The 4-pin JST-PH header exposes four GPIO pins that directly connect to the microcontroller.
These pins can be controlled in any number of ways using custom AudioMoth firmware. The pins available include
b9 (GPIO and UART TX), b10 (GPIO and UART RX), a8 (GPIO and Timer compare capture pin) and a7 (GPIO).

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